Bannon revives review process challenge

FORMER inter-county referee John Bannon is to make another attempt to change the controversial GAA rule which empowers the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) to request whistleblowers to review disciplinary incidents and impose retrospective suspensions.

And, even though a motion to amend the relevant rule failed at Congress in April, Bannon has persuaded his Longford club, Legan Sarsfields, to forward a similar motion to county convention.

He is opposed to the practice on a number of grounds, not least because of the pressure it places on referees, but also because of what he perceives as a lack of consistency in its application.

“If an incident is highlighted on The Sunday Game, it’s guaranteed to go back to the referee and then a player can be cited,’’ he stated.

Alternatively, incidents can happen in a game and if they are not shown on TV, or highlighted, nothing happens.

“For the referee it’s like ‘a gun to the head’ situation. If they send you a video, 99 times out of a 100 you are expected to upgrade your decision — and that almost certainly means a red card for the player concerned.’’

His personal view is that the CCCC should take “all responsibility” for decisions taken after reviewing incidents.

Explaining the reasoning behind his motion to this year’s Congress, Bannon said at the time “some part of me feels the CCCC don’t want to make decisions themselves. I brought that motion to Congress because it is something I feel strongly about.”

He had personal experience of the rule himself when asked to review an incident in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final involving Cork player John Miskella and Tyrone star Brian McGuigan.

Based on his stance that he was satisfied with the decision he made at the time, the matter was not pursued by the CCCC and Miskella played in the final.

The fact that he was retiring ruled out any possible censure from authorities, which he believes occurred in the case of Cavan referee Brian Crowe. Like Bannon, he declined to review an incident involving another Cork player in Croke Park a few years ago. “Brian did continue to referee for another year or two but he was ‘left abandoned’ in the sense that he only got a few games,’’ added Bannon.

Another motion submitted to the Longford convention (from Sean Connollys) seeks to ban rules experimentation until the ‘next official rule change year’ (2015).

Meanwhile, Kilmallock is the venue for the first convention in Munster next Monday (December 6), when Murroe-Boher are expected to table a motion calling for the establishment of a Hurling Board in Limerick. This is seen as a vote of no confidence in the county board’s handling of the strike which followed former manager Justin McCarthy’s decision to drop a number of senior players from the squad.