Wexford GAA hands down bans, fines after fracas

The Wexford County GAA Disciplinary Committee has dealt with the ugly face of games - attacks on referees - by handing down the heaviest of penalties following the attacks on match official, John Denton.

The Wexford County GAA Disciplinary Committee has dealt with the ugly face of games - attacks on referees - by handing down the heaviest of penalties following the disgraceful attacks on match official, John Denton.

Following the violence which erupted at the end of the Duffry Rovers and Horeswood county senior football championship semi-final, the Duffry Rovers club have been handed a whopping €2,500 fine.

But at the meeting of the County Disciplinary Committee on Friday night, under the Chairmanship of retired Sergeant, Noel Matthews, they also came down heavily on the players involved.

As a result of the appalling scenes witnessed at the end of the game, Duffry Rovers player and team captain, Tomas Kavanagh, has been handed a 96 week ban, which will keep him out of both hurling and football until September 2005.

Another player involved in the violence JJ Doyle (Duffry Rovers) was banned for 48 weeks while the two Fitzhenry brothers, Noel and Damian, also received bans. A fourth Duffry Rovers player, Larry Doyle, received a 12 week ban.

Noel Fitzhenry, one of the teams longest serving players, was banned for 24 weeks, while Damian Fitzhenry, who received a red card from referee John Denton minutes before the end of the game, was banned for four weeks.

The bans are effective from September 27, the date of the game.

But one of the rampaging supporters has received one of the heaviest bans. Paddy Tobin, a Duffry Rovers supporter, was banned for three years from attending all venues where games are played under the auspices of Wexford GAA Board, to take affect from the date of meeting, October 10.

The Wexford County GAA Disciplinary Committee focussed at the violence at the end of the game, sending out a clear message to clubs and supporters, that they will not accept any attacks on referees, while also clearly emphasising that the lack of discipline by players will no longer be accepted.

Denton was the subject to vicious assaults at the end of the game as County Board Officers and stewards tried to escort him from the pitch, while he was further attacked in the referees dressing room where one of the Duffry Rovers player gripped him by the throat holding him against the wall.