Glen and Bride delegates lash ‘injustice’ of €10,000 fines
The comment was made by Bride Rovers delegate John Arnold while Glen Rovers stalwart Liam Ó Tuama said the committee which decided on the fines ‘should be thrown out.’
Ó Tuama, who has had a lifelong involvement with the Blackpool club, complained about the way the issue was handled. Initially, both clubs received €7,500 fines, reduced to €1,500 but at the cost of being thrown out of the competition after a hearing. Then after being re-admitted, the fines were increased €10,000.
Commenting that in the past a club could lodge an appeal with the Munster Council and ‘if they lost, they lost.’
“You have a different set up now. They (committee) came along and threw both teams out and when they got their arses kicked or it was pointed out that something went wrong, we were both back in again after another hearing and fined €10,000. You wouldn’t fine a bunch of gurriers that amount. It was a disgrace. Our club has done a lot of service to the GAA in Cork over the years. We are no angels, we are the same as anyone else.
Board Chairman Jerry O’Sullivan defended the Hearings Committee, insisting that they treated their task ‘with the seriousness it deserved.’ And, he pointed out that the disciplinary system was the same as what operated throughout the Association.
“It is wrong to criticise them and even if I wanted it I would not have that authority to get rid of them.’’
John Arnold said that apart from the severity of the fines – “I don’t know was there ever an inter-county team fined more than that in the last 50 years” – what upset his club most was what he described as the ‘complete over-the-top coverage the incidents were given in some sections of the media.
Claiming this ‘unfortunately might have influenced the thinking of the committee,’ he added that some of the comments in the immediate aftermath ‘over the airwaves were out of all proportion.’
“Nobody commented on the fact that the game ended in a draw and went to extra time which was played in a sporting manner. We took our beating, both teams shook hands. But, the way it was portrayed it looked as if there was blood spilt on the stand, there was blood spilt in the tunnel!’’
Meanwhile former Cork selector John Corcoran (St. Mary’s) complained about the effect of the inter-county programme on players who were members of Cork teams. Saying that something would have to be done next year to ‘alleviate the pressure’ on inter-county players, he said it was ‘unfair’ on players involved in the All-Ireland football semi-final against Dublin to have to play a club game two nights later.
He also raised the issue of games being fixed in midweek, pointing out that it incurred clubs in extra expense of bringing players home from different parts of the country.
His hope would be that no county championship matches would be played until the Friday after inter-county games and that where possible no matches would be played in midweek.
Douglas delegate Der O’Regan said the issue was a particular problem for dual clubs because of the uncertainty about when games are played. “If the county wins they are played in certain times of the year, if they lose you mightn’t play for six months. From the club player’s point of view we’ll have to seriously look at it.
“Having the whole season confined to the final six weeks and playing every weekend is totally unacceptable. It’s a disaster for the players.
Pointing out that this was a matter for the County Board to decide, the chairman pointed out that at the request of the clubs the championships were even ‘more condensed’ this year than in previous seasons. “No matter what you do there are only so many weeks in the year, you can’t do the impossible.”
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