Brennan: The GAA's year of living too dangerously

Eddie Brennan reckons the GAA can perilously close to an escalated referees strike this year.  'If you were to ask them what matches are the most difficult, they would say under-age matches at club grounds'

Eddie Brennan: The bottom line is if you’re looking at who is responsible it starts first and foremost with the club and that’s where the buck stops. 

Expelling teams from current and future competitions for acts of violence is the only way that will make clubs and other units sit up and take notice, says former Kilkenny star Eddie Brennan.

Brennan, also a former Laois manager and a sergeant instructing in the Garda training college in Templemore, was appalled at the number of flashpoints this year, especially the assaults on referees in Roscommon and Wexford.

While he is encouraged by some of the proposals by the GAA such as increasing the maximum ban from 96 weeks to 240, he argues in favour of collective punishment.

For their involvement in the brawl in their Leinster intermediate club hurling quarter-final against Naomh Barróg last month, the Leinster Council’s competition control committee recommended Oulart-the-Ballagh not be allowed to represent Wexford in the province should they claim the county senior title last year.

Brennan does not refer to that case specifically, but he is completely in favour of the clubs being punished if their members have contributed to brawls or assaulted referees. 

“You have to be unpopular probably but teams have to be put out of competitions. You’re out of this year and next year. That to me is one that will make teams, chairpersons and clubs sit up and realise that it’s no longer acceptable.

“You fine a club and they may not pay it. Investigate then the particulars of the incident or incidents then and propose suspensions too but I think the only way you may get compliance is throwing teams out.

“The bottom line is if you’re looking at who is responsible it starts first and foremost with the club and that’s where the buck stops. They have to be told, ‘It’s you who should be controlling their mentors and your members’. When these incidents happen, it’s they who should be first asked by the county board what disciplinary action they’re going to take against the person.

“Gone are the days accepting these pow-wows are a part of it because there is an element of monkey see, monkey do. If the kids see that it’s acceptable for coaches and parents to encroach on a pitch and verbally abuse a referee and in some cases more, that has to be pruned very quickly.” 

Brennan knows every player subjects themselves to an element of risk of injury when they take to the field but the cowardly punch or hit away from play is beyond the pale. “There are acceptable actions on the pitch but when you see lads getting their jaw broken off the ball, getting teeth knocked out off the ball, a pow-wow turning into an all-out brawl involving people in the crowd, that’s not what the GAA is all about. Maybe it’s an Irish thing from our history and being rebels and not accepting authority or what have you but I think we’re long passed that now.

“We like to think we’re a civilised, modern society. Of course, we want to see two tribes go to war on the pitch in the context of a hurling or football match, but we can’t turn a blind eye or pretend to be dumb when the likes of Seán Cavanagh get seriously facial injuries like he did for his club a few years back. I’m talking about off-the-ball violence. And lads walking on technicalities is not good enough.” 

Referee lying injured during the St Aidan’s v St Dominic’s minor championship game in Roscommon last August.

Brennan has friends who coach in rugby clubs and in the wake of referees being subjected to physical abuse at GAA club games, he picked their brains about their superior attitude to match officials. “Culture and behaviour obviously stem from somewhere. If you’re at home and kicking the young lad in the hole, it’s probable he will kick other people.

“Why is that huge props, big second row men 6 ft 4, 6’ 5”, 6’ 6”, hard men, have so much respect for an official to not berate, shout or growl at him? The answer friends give me is that from a very young age you learn not to talk to the ref. There’s a protocol with the captain. So, it stems from when they were juveniles, when they started playing the sport. They’ve told me about the odd incident at under-age level but it’s self-policed by the coaches on the sideline rather than an official having to stop a game.” 

Brennan reckons the GAA can perilously close to an escalated referees strike this year. In September, match officials in Roscommon stood down following an incident in a minor football game in Ballyforan that left referee Kevin Naughton requiring medical attention.

“By no means is rugby or other sports perfect,” says Brennan, “but we have to tidy up and completely remove the ugly scenes we’ve seen this year where I can recall at least two match officials lying prostate on the ground having been struck by somebody intruding on the pitch.

"If you were to ask referees in the morning what matches are the most difficult, they would probably say under-age club matches at club venues. It’s there when there isn’t a spotlight. That’s where things can go wrong. The bottom line is if we don’t do something about this very quickly and very firm with it, we’re going to have a situation where referees put down tools and I could not blame them if they do.

“We probably dodged a bullet this year that that didn’t happen this year on the back of two incidents. Referees need to be protected and they shouldn’t be in a position where they are getting into the car and thinking, ‘Oh God, this could kick off today’.” 

At inter-county level, Brennan would like to see the communication lines improved between management and match officials. The idea of mic’d-up referees appeals to him as does pre and/or post-match conversations. “I think it would be important to talk to the manager as well as the captain beforehand to make it very clear what’s going to happen. What’s wrong with that? Give them a feel for it. The game moves very fast and it’s hard to provide feedback at times and think clearly and make decisions at 100 miles an hour but I think there should be a forum where managers and referees can interact.

“You don’t want to see shouting and roaring on the sideline or a manager pursuing an official. One of the worst images for me in the GAA is having to send for Gardaí and security to walk a referee off a pitch. That is something we should be trying to avoid at all costs. Referees being open to discussions with managers could help in that regard.

“I know on matchday everyone is in match mode but maybe there is an opportunity after a game to speak. You’d like to think there is a mechanism for openness and transparency. I think for a manager too it would be refreshing because you know in your heart and soul when the heat of battle dies down that the referee was under pressure too and you might be thinking a bit more clearly. You can then understand why he gave something.”