Cavan club banned for 6 months

Real1995 · June 24, 2008, 10:01:54 AM

Cavan disciplinary chiefs have banned Ballinagh's senior team for six months following an assault on a referee.

The club are expected to appeal the suspension but, if it stands, they will not be able to participate in the 2008 Cavan senior championship or league.

A spectator at the game against Killygarry, alleged to have struck referee Gerry Sheridan as he left the pitch, has been banned for 96 weeks.

Three players have received suspensions ranging from four to 12 weeks.

Another supporter has been banned for 24 weeks, and a third for eight weeks.

The Ballinagh club had already been on a warning after previous incidents.

Ballinagh, the reigning Ulster Intermediate Club champions, hosted the Divison One game aganst Killygarry on Wednesday 18 June.

The clubs had been scheduled to meet again in the first round of the county championship.

"Ballinagh were already on a warning from the Fingal Ravens intermediate semi-final," said Cavan PRO Mark Gillick.

"They were dealt with by Croke Park for that. In a way, this is kind of a repeat incident which is why the suspensions were so serious."

screenexile · June 24, 2008, 10:05:56 AM

Fair play to the Cavan County board! If only other County Boards would take notice we could maybe clean up our games a bit!

Sounds like this Ballinagh are a rough crowd though. 2 Incidents like this in a year isn't too good.

thebandit · June 24, 2008, 10:13:16 AM

About time, we wont have a ref left in the country with the amount of abuse they are getting

Hardy · June 24, 2008, 10:37:23 AM

Well done Cavan Co. Board. The standard has now been set.

How do you ban a spectator, though and what is he banned from?

Zapatista · June 24, 2008, 10:52:53 AM

That's going to be hard for any club to come back from. I'd bet that guy hasn't showed his face about town in a while. I would be raging if I was an innocent member of that club. Fair play to CCB.

kevmy · June 24, 2008, 11:04:05 AM

Quote from: Hardy on June 24, 2008, 10:37:23 AM
Well done Cavan Co. Board. The standard has now been set.

How do you ban a spectator, though and what is he banned from?

He's banned from attending all official GAA events I believe. But it usually works out as not being allowed to attend any matches, train any teams (I think) and if he's also a member of the club board I think they have to step down the duration of the ban

BallyhaiseMan · June 24, 2008, 11:33:38 AM

Its probably going to cost my club relegation from Division One as we played them on Sunday after it was known they were going to be banned for 6 months.
Our two rivals for Relegation however have yet to play Ballinagh and both will get a Free 2 points each.

Maximus Marillius · June 24, 2008, 11:56:53 AM

Quote from: BallyhaiseMan on June 24, 2008, 11:33:38 AM
Its probably going to cost my club relegation from Division One as we played them on Sunday after it was known they were going to be banned for 6 months.
Our two rivals for Relegation however have yet to play Ballinagh and both will get a Free 2 points each.

priceless afteryour last PM

mylestheslasher · June 24, 2008, 11:59:47 AM

Let me say before I start that I think it is a disgraceful act to assault a ref and I recognise that serious action has to be taken. However, this must also be balanced with the fact that a team consists of 30 or so panel members or more, a group of selecters, fundraisers etc who are all amateur and who are now being punished by the act of one thug who went to watch a game. Personally, I would prefer to see the culprit sit in front of a judge and get a conviction for assault, plus a life ban from the GAA. So, basically punish the man and not the whole club by association. But I suppose the GAA have to be seen to take a hard line on this sort of thing so it is a difficult punishment to meat out. Its a pity as Ballinagh represented the county very well on the field in last yrs Ulster intermediate championship.

Main Street · June 24, 2008, 01:08:50 PM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on June 24, 2008, 11:59:47 AM
Let me say before I start that I think it is a disgraceful act to assault a ref and I recognise that serious action has to be taken. However, this must also be balanced with the fact that a team consists of 30 or so panel members or more, a group of selecters, fundraisers etc who are all amateur and who are now being punished by the act of one thug who went to watch a game. Personally, I would prefer to see the culprit sit in front of a judge and get a conviction for assault, plus a life ban from the GAA. So, basically punish the man and not the whole club by association. But I suppose the GAA have to be seen to take a hard line on this sort of thing so it is a difficult punishment to meat out. Its a pity as Ballinagh represented the county very well on the field in last yrs Ulster intermediate championship.

It's not that complicated, there is a collective club responsibility for crowd control. The club did not take the first warning serious enough.
I bet they will take this one serious.

NAG · June 24, 2008, 01:09:21 PM

Great hard line taken in this instance.

It is harsh on the innocent parties but it is up to them as much as everyone else to show respect for the ref and make sure that he is able to perform his role in a safe environment.

well done to the Cavan County Board for taking this line, wish all other county boards would do the same when dealing with assualts on refs. This is the only way to stop this sickening trend going upward.

anglocelt39 · June 24, 2008, 01:49:12 PM

I'm with my fellow county man Mylestheslasher on this one. The behaviour is totally out of order and as far as I'm concerned a session in the courts for some of the culprits would be very welcome. I also noted on the Cavan page that Ballinagh has over the years been a, ahem, challenging place to visit at the best of times. What exactly is gained from severely punishing the likes of Pauric Reilly, Niall McDermott etc. etc. I'm not 100% clear on. They are about as culpabale as the un-punished players on the park during the Dubs/Tyrone schemozzle.

Anyway, good to see the numerous high minded statements of support for the Cavan County board, from outside the County I might add.

Zapatista · June 24, 2008, 01:57:05 PM

Quote from: anglocelt39 on June 24, 2008, 01:49:12 PM
I'm with my fellow county man Mylestheslasher on this one. The behaviour is totally out of order and as far as I'm concerned a session in the courts for some of the culprits would be very welcome. I also noted on the Cavan page that Ballinagh has over the years been a, ahem, challenging place to visit at the best of times. What exactly is gained from severely punishing the likes of Pauric Reilly, Niall McDermott etc. etc. I'm not 100% clear on. They are about as culpabale as the un-punished players on the park during the Dubs/Tyrone schemozzle.

Anyway, good to see the numerous high minded statements of support for the Cavan County board, from outside the County I might add.

The punishment was possible to had out in this case. If anyone thought it would be unfair to hand down such a punishment to a club then the time to oppose it was before the ref was attacked. If you have a problem with punishment available then now is the time to change the rules not after you have commited the act warrenting the punishment. There is no point in saying - I wouldn't have done it if I knew this would happen - he shouldn't have done it as this could and did happen.

mylestheslasher · June 24, 2008, 02:52:59 PM

Quote from: Zapatista on June 24, 2008, 01:57:05 PM
Quote from: anglocelt39 on June 24, 2008, 01:49:12 PM
I'm with my fellow county man Mylestheslasher on this one. The behaviour is totally out of order and as far as I'm concerned a session in the courts for some of the culprits would be very welcome. I also noted on the Cavan page that Ballinagh has over the years been a, ahem, challenging place to visit at the best of times. What exactly is gained from severely punishing the likes of Pauric Reilly, Niall McDermott etc. etc. I'm not 100% clear on. They are about as culpabale as the un-punished players on the park during the Dubs/Tyrone schemozzle.

Anyway, good to see the numerous high minded statements of support for the Cavan County board, from outside the County I might add.

The punishment was possible to had out in this case. If anyone thought it would be unfair to hand down such a punishment to a club then the time to oppose it was before the ref was attacked. If you have a problem with punishment available then now is the time to change the rules not after you have commited the act warrenting the punishment. There is no point in saying - I wouldn't have done it if I knew this would happen - he shouldn't have done it as this could and did happen.

In fairness this is rubbish. There is no black and white punishment for a supporter striking a ref in the rule book, so how can you change the rule. The question is if it is fair to punish every decent person in the Ballinagh club (i.e. 99% of them) because of the action of 1 thug. Put yourself in the shoes of a Ballinagh player. You've been training since January twice a week, your going along ok in the league but you are getting ready to give the senior championship a rattle. You play a league game and after the game some sc**bag attacks the ref. Now you have no football for the rest of the year. I am all for very tough action in this incident, but not on those who have done nothing to deserve it.

On a side issue, it is also interesting to compare this punishment to that dished out to the Dublin statistician who headbutted a Monaghan player off the pitch. What ban did that individual get? As an employed member of the staff surely Dublin county team is more responsible for his actions than ballinagh are for a "supporters" actions. Yet there seems to be a million miles between the two punishments.

Zapatista · June 24, 2008, 03:24:24 PM

I didn't say it was black and white I did say it was possible. Perhaps the clubs could try to introduce a rule around stiking a ref. Either way the club and individual new it was wrong and knew there would be a punishment. I am not saying they deserve to miss out on the Championship but clubs have been kicked out of competitions before so it should have been considered by the individuals involved and the club before they started boxing. The were already on a warning. This guy was not the only contributer to the violence that day altough he was the one who hit the ref. I may be selfish in the fact it is not my club but if a club has a history of trouble it needs to be dealt with before it gets out of hand. If it is not dealt with by the club and it does get out of hand then the club should be held partly responsible.