The furore surrounding the departure of Davy O'Halloran and Nicky O'Connell from the Clare hurling panel and the punishment which ushered their decision to leave has caused much debate over recent weeks.
Newstalk's Colm Parkinson has been particularly vociferous regarding the strict rules to which modern inter-county players must adhere. The former Laois footballer turned media member got his hands on a code of conduct for one inter-county team and read out some of the rules on Tuesday night's Off The Ball.
Which team the document came from was not revealed.
The first rule will come as no surprise. A pretty standard guideline for most sides these days one would think.
1. An alcohol ban is implemented on January 1st. A mid-season drink is permitted when the manager and three or four senior players allow it.
The second seems a little bit draconian.
2. There should be no mention of the team or the GAA in general on social media as it is a distraction.
Parkinson mentioned that one member of the panel tweeted a picture of himself in hospital recovering from injury. This was deemed to be in breach of social media policy as it was GAA related. He was suspended because of the tweet.
3. There is to be no interaction with the media allowed.
Again no revelations there. The next one seems particularly ridiculous.
4. Football boots must be predominantly black in colour. There is a designated senior player who decides whether your boots are acceptable or not.
Does the 'designated senior player' have to chaperone teammates whenever they are purchasing new boots?
5. No ankle socks can be worn outside your county socks and no tape to be worn on your sleeves or socks.
Forget about overtraining and fixture congestion, ankle socks and tape are the real menace in modern GAA.
6. No highlights in your hair.
Do people still get highlights in their hair? What about bleached hair, is that banned?
Something which was not on the county's initial list of banned items was hair bands. When a senior player turned up wearing one, it was added.
You can listen to Colm Parkinson and Joe Molloy discussing the code of conduct below.
Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
