GAA plan to give racism the red card

It has been arguably the GAA’s most gaping disciplinary loophole but straight red cards for incidents of racism on the field of play are finally coming.

Among the 63-strong list of motions which will be discussed and voted upon at next month’s Annual Congress is a proposal to instantly dismiss players who make racist comments.

Referees had already been somewhat upgraded in their powers following the introduction of the black card, which can be brandished for ‘abusive or provocative language or gestures’.

But presuming the red card suggestion passes its Congress vote then, for the first time, referees in both codes will be able to hand players straight red cards for racism.

It is proposed that the penalty be in line with ‘misconduct considered to have discredited the association’ which amounts to a minimum eight-week ban.

It is a significant response to the spate of racism allegations that have dogged the association in recent years.

Wexford’s Lee Chin was the most high-profile player to have suffered racist abuse, though a motion from his club, Sarsfields, proposing to tackle the problem was ruled out of order at last year’s Congress.

“There was a level of criticism from Wexford and so on, so there needed to be a rule to allow the referee to take action and I think this is a response to that,” said GAA director general Páraic Duffy.

“That’s the reason [for the proposal]. If the referee is aware of an incident on the pitch, he can take action at the time rather than wait until the game is over, put in a report and start the whole process. It is a more instant reaction to a serious incident.”

Duffy accepted the association has been tarnished to a degree by the various allegations of racism and also sectarianism which have occurred in recent years. “I think any incidents of racist, sectarian issues do damage the reputation of the GAA but, to be fair, the association has tried to deal with them,” continued the Monaghan official. “What this does is give the possibility of the incident being dealt with on the day itself.”

The racism motion has the backing of the standing committee on playing rules and Central Council so is virtually guaranteed to pass.

Duffy was keen to distance himself from either praising or criticising the many motions that will be presented before Congress, but admitted a separate proposal seeking to replace time-based suspensions with match specific bans, at all levels of the game, is probably most significant.

At present, players are given match bans, generally for one game, for red cards picked up in the Allianz Leagues and championship but the punishment in all other competitions and at club level is time-based.

At club level, it means players can receive a four-week ban at a busy time of the year and miss a lot of action compared to a player who is banned at a quiet time and misses relatively little.

The anomaly has also affected county players like Dublin’s Denis Bastick in 2013, who picked up a four-week ban for a red card in a pre-season tournament, the O’Byrne Cup.

The midfielder missed two Allianz League games because of the resulting suspension, whereas if he’d been sent off in the league itself, the punishment would have been a mere one-game ban. It has taken a long time to bring forth a motion extending match bans to club level and Duffy admitted at a briefing yesterday that it has been “a very difficult motion to frame”.

The extensive motion 35 proposes also to apply a one-match ban to any player ordered off the field for a third time inside 48 weeks.

This includes double yellow card offences and red cards derived from yellow and black card infractions.

The job of applying the one-match bans will fall to the relevant disciplinary body, the county CCC at club level or the provincial or national CCC at inter-county level.

This disciplinary body will have the final say on when the ban is served, leading to some potentially intriguing decisions.

For example, they could conceivably order a player sent off in the O’Byrne Cup to fulfil the ban in the following year’s competition, clearing him for the league.

At club level, it will be interesting to see how a ban picked up in a challenge game before a county final would be applied.

Again, the ban could potentially be set aside to be served in a different competition, though this would naturally lead to criticism.