Assaults at GAA games

[Eire90]

too many small man in a small village syndrome idiots in gaa nothing will change to small man in a small village culture is gone


These people also claim to be part of some sort of gaa family so they dont see refs as part of the gaa commmunity or other players these people claim to be a community seems to me they are infiltrating the gaa as a avenue to spread their toxic stuff.

[rosnarun]

If he was from your club how many people your club would give witness statements to the Garda or PSNI do you think? The answer is less than 1. That is the issue.
That guy should be looking at a criminal record. But is it any different from a corner forward striking the corner back?

The GAA are there own worst enemy on this. Shitty appeals, people getting off and it gives the impression that you can do whatever you want.

Striking a match official is worse than giving a corner back a belt.
Also Gardaí are more respected than PSNI. ..

How? They are both people. There should be no hierarchy.
That's an utterly ridiculous statement to make.

Rugby makes the distinction.

https://rugbydome.com/why-are-rugby-referees-respected-and-called-sir/

Its called Culture.

Culture is hard  to change and slow to change. But you have to start somewhere and I think a basic thing of getting a long ban and upholding the word of the referee on appeal are the small basics that make a difference.

very seldom you would see a rugby match and not have a series of assults, maybe not of refs though.
A lot of that is a lot of the refs they grew up with were the  'Masters' in their posh Private schools and it would not do to assult them

[Eire90]

was the guy that struck the ref another  hanger on does gaa have a hanger on problem.

[Milltown Row2]

Sure you just make an appeal and get off anyway so they should not bother have referees anymore, let everyone at it and we can have faction fighting like the good old days. And before you throw stones at the GAA ask yourselves how many times has your club or county made appeals against the decision of a referee. There is a culture in the GAA of their being no accountability for anything so why would you stop abusing the ref, players, mentors, coaches etc and that culture is from top to bottom and from bottom to top.

As someone with experience of this, as soon as punishments come out clubs have a tendency of closing ranks and circling the wagons, especially if the punishments go beyond the individual and affect the club itself. That is when the murky world of appeals and attempts at mitigating punishments comes into it's own.

The individual should be identified and dealt with, if he is a mentor he should be banned from mentoring/coaching/managing teams again, no appeals either especially if its been recorded..

If the club has a history of this stuff then yeah hitting the club will be a good thing, but if its some buck eejit then what can ya do?

When clubmen laugh it off and blame the ref for it anyways then "he had it coming to him". Zero tolerance, I would even endorse moving the ball forward if the line was giving off, and multiple times if thats what it takes to get past the abuse. Decision is given and its never changed, why the need to go on

[trailer]

Sure you just make an appeal and get off anyway so they should not bother have referees anymore, let everyone at it and we can have faction fighting like the good old days. And before you throw stones at the GAA ask yourselves how many times has your club or county made appeals against the decision of a referee. There is a culture in the GAA of their being no accountability for anything so why would you stop abusing the ref, players, mentors, coaches etc and that culture is from top to bottom and from bottom to top.

As someone with experience of this, as soon as punishments come out clubs have a tendency of closing ranks and circling the wagons, especially if the punishments go beyond the individual and affect the club itself. That is when the murky world of appeals and attempts at mitigating punishments comes into it's own.

The individual should be identified and dealt with, if he is a mentor he should be banned from mentoring/coaching/managing teams again, no appeals either especially if its been recorded..

If the club has a history of this stuff then yeah hitting the club will be a good thing, but if its some buck eejit then what can ya do?

When clubmen laugh it off and blame the ref for it anyways then "he had it coming to him". Zero tolerance, I would even endorse moving the ball forward if the line was giving off, and multiple times if thats what it takes to get past the abuse. Decision is given and its never changed, why the need to go on

Hit the club, ban them from that competition or whatever. It would be a start and would begin to stamp it out. It is only a matter of time until someone is punched and kilt or leave with life changing injuries.

But the reality is nothing will be done. We've been talking about this since time began.

[gallsman]

If he was from your club how many people your club would give witness statements to the Garda or PSNI do you think? The answer is less than 1. That is the issue.
That guy should be looking at a criminal record. But is it any different from a corner forward striking the corner back?

The GAA are there own worst enemy on this. Shitty appeals, people getting off and it gives the impression that you can do whatever you want.

Striking a match official is worse than giving a corner back a belt.
Also Gardaí are more respected than PSNI. ..

How? They are both people. There should be no hierarchy.
That's an utterly ridiculous statement to make.

Rugby makes the distinction.

https://rugbydome.com/why-are-rugby-referees-respected-and-called-sir/

Its called Culture.

Culture is hard  to change and slow to change. But you have to start somewhere and I think a basic thing of getting a long ban and upholding the word of the referee on appeal are the small basics that make a difference.

very seldom you would see a rugby match and not have a series of assults, maybe not of refs though.
A lot of that is a lot of the refs they grew up with were the  'Masters' in their posh Private schools and it would not do to assult them

Complete and utter certified nonsense.

[Milltown Row2]

If he was from your club how many people your club would give witness statements to the Garda or PSNI do you think? The answer is less than 1. That is the issue.
That guy should be looking at a criminal record. But is it any different from a corner forward striking the corner back?

The GAA are there own worst enemy on this. Shitty appeals, people getting off and it gives the impression that you can do whatever you want.

Striking a match official is worse than giving a corner back a belt.
Also Gardaí are more respected than PSNI. ..

How? They are both people. There should be no hierarchy.
That's an utterly ridiculous statement to make.

Rugby makes the distinction.

https://rugbydome.com/why-are-rugby-referees-respected-and-called-sir/

Its called Culture.

Culture is hard  to change and slow to change. But you have to start somewhere and I think a basic thing of getting a long ban and upholding the word of the referee on appeal are the small basics that make a difference.

very seldom you would see a rugby match and not have a series of assults, maybe not of refs though.
A lot of that is a lot of the refs they grew up with were the  'Masters' in their posh Private schools and it would not do to assult them

Complete and utter certified nonsense.

Rosnarun, that's pure balls and has nothing to do about ref's getting physically abused on the pitch,

[Brendan]

Refereeing 12 years now (vast majority has been underage games) and you could count on one hand the amount of times I've felt physically threatened, each time I reported it I was never told if there was a punishment of any sort, even if there was I doubt it was enforced. However it doesnt put me off doing the job as 99% of the time it is enjoyable, my opinion will probably change very quickly if it ever crosses from being a threat to an actual assault!

[Rudi]

was the guy that struck the ref another  hanger on does gaa have a hanger on problem.

I believe both teams involved had between 6 / 7 managers/ mentors / coaches / trainers. Having 12 -14 mentors & only one refereeing official on a pitch at a given time is a huge issue. Very intimidating for the lad / lassie on their own. 4 club mentors only should be inside the fence. I see clubs where the local village idiot ends up on the pitch doing linesman / umpire / stuck in a dugout, shouting & roaring like an ape. Every club seems to have a few, GAA club officials are afraid of them.
Some referees are afraid of making big calls during a game, therefore lose respect & the game can end up in turmoil. I also hate to see mentors / players / supporters trying to influence the referees decision making. I just see a huge amount of agression out there at the moment.

[Sportacus]

Terrible incident and I hope the ref recovers fully.  As for yer man, may he never be near a game again. 

But we have a wider problem in the GAA that club committees are all voluntary and can be close knit, and it’s really putting them in an impossible position asking them to throw one of their own out.  In this case it would be clear cut and couldn’t be argued with, but if you’ve ever sat on a committee there’ll be times when someone should be disciplined but the repercussions in family circles, neighbours etc is a horrendous dilemma.  That’s why blind eye gets turned and then bang, something like this can happen.  You can have all the safeguarding policies in the world but the amateur nature of the GAA and it’s parish/family structure throws up this problem.

[Rudi]

Terrible incident and I hope the ref recovers fully.  As for yer man, may he never be near a game again. 

But we have a wider problem in the GAA that club committees are all voluntary and can be close knit, and it’s really putting them in an impossible position asking them to throw one of their own out.  In this case it would be clear cut and couldn’t be argued with, but if you’ve ever sat on a committee there’ll be times when someone should be disciplined but the repercussions in family circles, neighbours etc is a horrendous dilemma.  That’s why blind eye gets turned and then bang, something like this can happen.  You can have all the safeguarding policies in the world but the amateur nature of the GAA and it’s parish/family structure throws up this problem.

Good post & exactly how it is.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

We had an amazing experience where one of our underage players was physically attacked by adults and players in Antrim league.


Guess what because we weren't from Antrim the referee didn't notice it, nothing in his report at all about pitch invasion and assaults. He was right beside it lol

[Baile Brigín 2]

Terrible incident and I hope the ref recovers fully.  As for yer man, may he never be near a game again. 

But we have a wider problem in the GAA that club committees are all voluntary and can be close knit, and it’s really putting them in an impossible position asking them to throw one of their own out.  In this case it would be clear cut and couldn’t be argued with, but if you’ve ever sat on a committee there’ll be times when someone should be disciplined but the repercussions in family circles, neighbours etc is a horrendous dilemma.  That’s why blind eye gets turned and then bang, something like this can happen.  You can have all the safeguarding policies in the world but the amateur nature of the GAA and it’s parish/family structure throws up this problem.

Other sports have the same issue and punching a ref gets you a 3 year ban. No if's. No buts.

It's a cultural issue as in the GAA community tolerate it. There will be some pearl clutching and nothing will happen.

[Stall the Bailer]

A few things that could be done to help prevent this are,
Limiting the number of people inside the wire.
Only those inside the wire are the starting players, limited number of subs eg. 5  one medic and 2 of the management team (they are not allowed inside unless they have they required vetting, safeguarding and coaching certs). All names on the team sheet. Only club officials who have underwent official GAA training for umpiring or linesman can do that role.
Meaning clubs would need to ensure everyone has the required training if the person is to be inside the wire.
Would stop the local lunatic being involved as they see themselves above training courses. Would also mean the club would need to put a lot people forward for the training to ensure someone can be inside the wire.
Strong sanctions on anyone entering the playing area if not one of the listed names on the team sheets.

[rosnarun]

If he was from your club how many people your club would give witness statements to the Garda or PSNI do you think? The answer is less than 1. That is the issue.
That guy should be looking at a criminal record. But is it any different from a corner forward striking the corner back?

The GAA are there own worst enemy on this. Shitty appeals, people getting off and it gives the impression that you can do whatever you want.

Striking a match official is worse than giving a corner back a belt.
Also Gardaí are more respected than PSNI. ..

How? They are both people. There should be no hierarchy.
That's an utterly ridiculous statement to make.

Rugby makes the distinction.

https://rugbydome.com/why-are-rugby-referees-respected-and-called-sir/

Its called Culture.

Culture is hard  to change and slow to change. But you have to start somewhere and I think a basic thing of getting a long ban and upholding the word of the referee on appeal are the small basics that make a difference.

very seldom you would see a rugby match and not have a series of assults, maybe not of refs though.
A lot of that is a lot of the refs they grew up with were the  'Masters' in their posh Private schools and it would not do to assult them

Complete and utter certified nonsense.

Rosnarun, that's pure balls and has nothing to do about ref's getting physically abused on the pitch,

not at all .
Rugby is such a small closeted world, every one knows every one and that leads to a form of respect.
and as for the the assaults' they just use different names for it .
Argybargy spirited  passionate being some of them.