Wexford club suspend member at centre of alleged assault

The club at the centre of an alleged assault on a referee in Wexford at the weekend have revealed they have indefinitely suspended the member involved

The club at the centre of an alleged assault on a referee in Wexford at the weekend have revealed they have indefinitely suspended the member involved. File pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

The club at the centre of an alleged assault on a referee and an umpire in Wexford at the weekend have revealed they have indefinitely suspended the member involved.

A statement released by St Joseph's GAA club on Monday night said: "Following a meeting of the executive committee of St. Joseph’s GAA club , a decision has been taken to suspend indefinitely with immediate effect the club member at the centre of the alleged incident at our junior football game on Sunday morning.

"A full investigation is now underway by our club disciplinary committee along with Wexford GAA Co Board and the CCC."

Following a meeting of the executive committee of St. Joseph’s GAA club , a decision has been taken to suspend indefinitely with immediate effect the club member at the centre of the alleged incident at our junior football game on Sunday morning.

— St. Joseph's GAA Club Wexford (@stjosephswexgaa) September 26, 2022

Wexford chairman Micheál Martin has said that the GAA is now at 'crisis point'.

“There is an unacceptable level of questioning authority across society, in the GAA it's the challenging of referees,” Martin told RTÉ. “You see it in professional sport at elite sport and it trickles its way down.

"I think we've reached crisis point in this at the moment and it's something all policy makers both from ourselves and county level, right through to national level in terms of the association, but also policy makers in sport are going to have to sit down again and see how we can address this.

"We can't pass the buck and say that Government can solve this, but I would like to see the policy makers across sport and in the relevant departments sit down together and see how we can address this issue. It's incumbent on all of us to ensure we don't have an ongoing physical or verbal threat to referees."