Brennan: Match bans good in theory but too impractical

MATCH specific bans in Gaelic games are a fine idea in theory but would not work in practice, according to GAA president Nickey Brennan.

Annually, the question is asked as to why the association persists with a disciplinary system which suspends players for a specific period of time rather than on the basis of individual games.

Under the current structures, players banned for the same offence in the same game stand to miss a different amount of games. Some miss no time on the field at all if their offences occur at certain fallow periods of the year.

The issue has come into sharper focus this week with Jimmy Dunne, chairman of the Central Competitions Control Committee, again calling for the system to be changed to cater for match suspensions.

The recent Dublin-Meath fracas resulted in three Meath players receiving four-week suspensions and yet none of them will miss a single minute.

“I’d love to think (match bans) were possible but it is quite impractical because you could have a player sent off last week in a game.

“When is his next game going to be in the competition? He might not be selected so it would be a very difficult administrative process,” said Brennan. “Does it impact on club and county? It’s not as if they are playing for the same team every week as is the case with other sports that use match bans. I don’t think it is an issue that will be forgotten about. It will continue to be raised. I am just not sure that it is practical.”

Asked then if the disciplinary procedure was flawed, Brennan agreed but added that it was an ongoing process.

Speaking at the launch of the GAA Football Championship, the president expressed the hope that disciplinary matters would not overshadow the games themselves.

“Discipline is a topical subject and you know my views on it. I have been at it for two years.

“Hopefully the message is getting across. I would like to think that, come September, we will be looking back and talking about an exciting championship and a competitive championship.

“Yes there will be the odd knock. Yes there will be the odd sending off. That is the real world and we can live with that but we don’t want any bad behaviour. ”If there is, we will do the appropriate thing as we have been doing recently.”

Behaviour in the stands has garnered almost as much publicity as that inside the white lines in recent weeks with a trend developing of objects being hurled at players from the stands. Kieran Donaghy had a wooden spoon thrown his way in Mayo last month, Ciaran Whelan was on the receiving end of a cup of tea and Westmeath’s Fergal Wilson had fruit lobbed in his direction in Navan on Saturday.

“We’ll be asking counties that they have to take responsibility for crowd control better.

“That’s the bottom line. It’s not an acceptable part of our game and it can lead to difficulties.”

Meanwhile, Brennan was unwilling to comment on the criticism pointed his and Croke Park’s way by the Wexford county board who maintain that the decision to allow Cork re-enter the National Leagues having missed two rounds was illegal under association rules.

They were left fuming after their case was dismissed on a technicality by the DRA.