Brolly fears DRA is influenced by politics
Derry’s 1993 All-Ireland winner is a Belfast-based barrister and has questioned the fairness of the process among county boards.
He has also claimed the decision which prevented Cork footballer Aidan Walsh from playing for DCU was unlawful.
Brolly advised the Dublin college in their failed attempt to persuade the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) to overturn an eligibility rule, which prevented Walsh and Michael Boyle lining out for them.
He fears the DRA is now being influenced by politics.
“At the lower levels, at the county levels and all, the GAA [disciplinary] system is exactly like... appearing in the GAA courts is exactly like going before the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland,” said Brolly.
“The higher courts are a different thing, particularly the DRA. The DRA is a respectable and respected court now. My concern for the DRA is that it’s looking to me as though they’re starting to become influenced by the politics.
“A few years ago, when Mr Justice O’Flaherty was one of the chairs, I thought they were taking an excellent independent direction. But I think now that, increasingly, their decisions are political.
“For example, I cannot, I do not have any rational explanation for the DRA’s decision to endorse the Higher Education rule which is clearly unlawful.
“I mean, if you brought that rule into the High Court, into the Four Courts, it would be struck down immediately. And yet they endorsed that.
“So I’m very, very disappointed in that, and I just think there’s a worrying drift towards politics in the DRA, when that should be something that’s pristine, something that’s removed, entirely independent.”
Dublin as a county are making the headlines after Sunday’s Allianz Division 1 final win over Tyrone, but Brolly remains unconvinced about their All-Ireland prospects.
He feels the likes of Walsh and Donegal’s Neil Gallagher would make hay against the Dublin midfield.
“The big question mark over the Dubs is, and I thought you could feel it certainly on Sunday... I mean, Tyrone are no mean team, but they’re very, very defensive and they’re not good at getting scores. You would have expected the Dubs to win by more, if they were really where they need to be. And they didn’t do that.
“And also I felt that a lack of confidence started to spread through the team. [Bernard] Brogan was taken off. Dean Rock’s two points came out of the blue at a time when it really looked as though Tyrone were more solid, more composed.
“So the big question mark is are the Dubs going to wilt? Are the Dubs going to be able to stay the distance? Because they looked, to me, like a team that are well capable of wilting under severe pressure.
“It depends who gets through; I mean, they might be lucky, Donegal might not get through.
“I thought the forwards in the Dublin team who were on the field eventually accepted their fate — ‘Right, we’ve got no room here, we’re not going to be able to get scores today, we’ll just handpass it about.’ Rock changed that when he came on.”
Brolly drew some ire in Mayo this past weekend when he posted a picture of himself with Jim McGuinness and Rory Gallagher on Twitter at Sunday’s Division 1 final in Croke Park.
On RTÉ’s League Sunday, he also spoke of his meeting with the Donegal management pair, which won’t have gone down well in Mayo considering Brolly highlighted acts of cynical play in their game in the lead-up to last year’s All-Ireland final between the counties. Brolly, who has made Donegal his favourites for the All-Ireland title, yesterday revealed he had spoken to McGuinness about addressing the issue of defending the crown.
“I asked Jim this at the weekend, ‘how do you deal with this sort of orthodox belief that has grown up that you can’t put All-Irelands back to back in football any more? How do you deal with that psychologically with the squad?’
“And he says, ‘Well, you don’t deal with it at all, we’re just preparing for the Tyrone game. You can’t project into the future, so all our concentration is on Tyrone’. And when he tells you it, you believe it.”
Brolly believes the winners of the May 26 Ulster quarter-final between Donegal and Tyrone will win Ulster — “those two teams are the two teams in Ulster that can control the tempo of a game... any talk of Monaghan or Derry is fanciful.”
He is a huge admirer of McGuinness, even if he says the Glenties man piggybacked on Mickey Harte’s plans.
“Dermot McNicholl, my old teammate, told me Jimmy was asked to make a motivational talk at St Pat’s Maghera, the current Hogan Cup winners.
“It’s a huge school. The teachers were a bit... ach, no... 45 minutes he spoke without notes and he said they walked tall out of the assembly room, all the teachers, and the place was buzzing for the next day, talking about how inspiring it had all been. He’s a very extraordinary person, and that’s going to be very important this year.”
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