Among the most dominant themes of the GAA summer has been the disciplinary process, and it has given rise to one of the most interminable sagas of many a year, which has branched into a kind of postmodernism: Charlie Redmond Hits Out At What Jim McGuinness Said About What Jim Gavin Said About What Pat Spillane Said About Diarmuid Connolly.
While the rules dictate that Connolly deserved a suspension, the process by which it was administered was shrouded in controversy.
The incident was included in the referee's report, which then allowed the CCCC to make a ruling on it. This was somewhat surprising, given that the referee had been deemed to have made a decision on the incident by not disciplining Connolly at the time.
Joe Brolly voiced this issue:
The very odd thing about this case, and something that is rescuing the CCCC from a fatal legal problem, is that if is this hadn't been referred to in the referee's report, the CCCC would not have been able to act as the official had been fully aware of it at the time.
The only assumption which arises is that he didn't think that Diarmuid crossed the line and didn't warrant a punishment, and a card, because the sideline official, who is a very experienced, elite referee, clearly felt his [Connolly's] fingers touching him.
It's extraordinary if he [the linesman] took the view that he [Connolly] had crossed the line that he didn't immediately speak to his referee, who was standing beside him, and say 'this guy just pushed me', as you would with any other incident on the field of play, if a player struck another player.
It's a mystery as to how it wasn't dealt with on the field and subsequently it turned up in the referee's report as part of a quote-unquote debrief after the game, where the sideline official, as I understand it, told the referee at an unspecified time after the game, that 'Oh, I meant to tell ya, I was pushed by Diarmuid Connolly'.
Carlow manager Turlough O'Brien was on the touchline for that infamous Connolly moment, and speaking on Off The Ball last weekend, he said that he had great sympathy for Connolly, saying that the 12-week ban is "outrageous".
He also offered an alternative to the vexed process of discipline in the GAA, calling for a change in the process. Rather than the onus being put on the referees to include incidents in their post-match report, he advocates a rugby-style citing commissioner to review incidents from matches.
It's an interesting idea to take some pressure of referees, and get away from the perception that refs write these reviews focusing solely on the wording of the rules, allowing for little leeway.
My take on a lot of this is when referees send players off for an incident, they often write up the report by looking at the rule book first instead of describing what happened and I think then you can end up being charged with the more serious offence and once he does that - that's your suspension cast in stone, you can't deviate from that.
I'd go as far as saying we need an overhaul. We'd be far better off to have three or four citing commissioners to look at an incident after a game, make a ruling on it and that's it.
The process wouldn't work at all levels - it would only really work for the the inter-county championship, where all games are televised - but it is interesting nonetheless, and an alternative to a process we hear a lot of complaints about, but few alternatives.
The whole slot can be reviewed here.
See Also: Ex-Donegal Manager Slams Personal Abuse Of Rory Gallagher's Father After Galway Defeat
