What should be done about the Leinster Final Fiasco?

[mckieran]

what about all of the rank decisions that went against meath in the first half? do they carry less weight?

Yes, of course they carry less weight. You cannot compare a decision in the first half to a decision regarding the last kick of the game. Thats just ridiculous.

[Armaghgeddon]

The GAA will side with Louth on this one, an extra day out at Croke park will mean more €€€€€€

However county boards will challenge reults more often if a team is hard done by.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

The GAA will side with Louth on this one, an extra day out at Croke park will mean more €€€€€€

However county boards will challenge reults more often if a team is hard done by.

They cannot and should not. It would be such a ridiculous precedent.

[muppet]

The GAA will side with Louth on this one, an extra day out at Croke park will mean more €€€€€€

I can see it now.

Gaa announce replay.
Gaa insist some rule means same ref has to officiate.
Last minute goalmouth scramble and Sludden incorrectly allows Louth winning 'goal'.
And it begins again.

[Mac2]

This crying is embarrassing lads. Teams lose games on bad referreeing / umpiring every week.

Shut up and get on with it

Actually, it is very rare for a team to lose on a decision that was so obvious as this. I am not a Louth guy and am completely neutral here. But that has to be one of the worst decisions I have ever seen by a ref (And I have seen bad ones)

what about all of the rank decisions that went against meath in the first half? do they carry less weight?

the severity of the poor refereeing decision is the decisive factor?

Game over. meath win. hope an lu come back strong in the qualifiers

There is an issue over the quality of refereeing & particularily their ability to keep up with the play, if the ref had been in the square I'm sure he'd never had awarded the goal. Regardless of this I don't think the level of abuse being dished out to refs is fair, this is evidenced by the fact that a lot of counties are finding it difficult to fill the quota of refs they require.

[DuffleKing]

what about all of the rank decisions that went against meath in the first half? do they carry less weight?

Yes, of course they carry less weight. You cannot compare a decision in the first half to a decision regarding the last kick of the game. Thats just ridiculous.

No, its not.

That there are people deluding themselves that there will be a replayed ordered is ridiculous. only way there's a replay is if meath offer it. end of story.

Honestly, this crying is embarrassing

[muppet]

what about all of the rank decisions that went against meath in the first half? do they carry less weight?

Yes, of course they carry less weight. You cannot compare a decision in the first half to a decision regarding the last kick of the game. Thats just ridiculous.

No, its not.

That there are people deluding themselves that there will be a replayed ordered is ridiculous. only way there's a replay is if meath offer it. end of story.

Honestly, this crying is embarrassing

Meath County Board are meeting tomorrow to discuss the situation.

[MR99]

The big wrong here is with the Central Council rules.  Sludden was is view would not have been great, he would have seen the ball going into the net and not seen a foul as such so unless he seen a foul he has to award the goal, that is the rules.

He is not permitted to consult the umpires on what happened as that is not their role, THAT IS THE RULES!  He had to call it as he seen it and from where he was it would have looked like a goal, he didn't see a foul and the ball ended in the net.   The real problem is the rules he had to go by!  The GAA need to give the umpires more authority in these cases, they don't at the minute so dont blame Sludden, blame the rules.

In any case, if you go by the umpires reactions, look carefully and you will see the umpire on the other side immediately reach for the flag before he realised he had the white flag!

And if you are a Louth man blame the corner back for carrying the ball into a tackle when time was virtually up instead of moving the ball on down the pitch!!

The real solution would be for the CCC to ask the ref to review a video of the incident, let him decide if he made a mistake and then order a reply if necessary.  This would put less pressure on the Meath County Board.  Can Galway ask for a replay to for their game, after all the penalty that was given against them yesterday was never a penalty

[muppet]

The big wrong here is with the Central Council rules.  Sludden was is view would not have been great, he would have seen the ball going into the net and not seen a foul as such so unless he seen a foul he has to award the goal, that is the rules.

He is not permitted to consult the umpires on what happened as that is not their role, THAT IS THE RULES!  He had to call it as he seen it and from where he was it would have looked like a goal, he didn't see a foul and the ball ended in the net.   The real problem is the rules he had to go by!  The GAA need to give the umpires more authority in these cases, they don't at the minute so dont blame Sludden, blame the rules.

In any case, if you go by the umpires reactions, look carefully and you will see the umpire on the other side immediately reach for the flag before he realised he had the white flag!

And if you are a Louth man blame the corner back for carrying the ball into a tackle when time was virtually up instead of moving the ball on down the pitch!!

The real solution would be for the CCC to ask the ref to review a video of the incident, let him decide if he made a mistake and then order a reply if necessary.  This would put less pressure on the Meath County Board.  Can Galway ask for a replay to for their game, after all the penalty that was given against them yesterday was never a penalty

That is subjective. In your opinion it wasn't a penalty however in the refs opinion it was. There is at least reasonable doubt on that one and it is not as cut and dried as today's which is in the Frank Lampard 'goal' territory.

Still not a single post claiming it was a legitimate goal. That says it all.

[Louth Exile]

If the ref says he would have awarded a penalty had the goal not stood, why not bring them back tomorrow for the penalty! If a goal is scored, Meath win, if the Meath lad takes his point its a replay, and if its a save then Louth win. Last kick of the game, so no rebound - all you'll need is two lads!

I'd take that!!

In any case, if you go by the umpires reactions, look carefully and you will see the umpire on the other side immediately reach for the flag before he realised he had the white flag!

Whatever else about the umpires, I'd say he knew which flag he had, I noticed it too and figured he was anticipating crossing the flags to signal a disallowed goal!

My thoughts on the matter and what I would feel was justice:
1. We don't want to be awarded the game, that would be as unsatisfactory to us as the current state of affairs should be to Meath. A replay is the only way that justice can be served. It is very unfortunate that the only way that this can come about is if Meath offer it! What I would fear is that if they don't offer it that this could turn into this generations "Black Flags" incident and leave a lot of bad feeling between the counties, that is unfortunate as the CCC has that much power in other areas they should be able to act on this, but they can't.
2. Sludden should never be let leave Tyrone again! He carries the responsibility for the decision today. His umpires probably should have shown a bit of bottle and aided the situation instead of being sheep, but they are ultimately not the problem. Anyway, with Sludden out of the intercounty scene, so too are the umpires effectively. One thing that struck me about the game thread was the amount of comments by trusted posters during the course of the game about how dreadful he was. The TV pictures clearly show that the "big man" (see I avoided using the word stout, or any other such derogatory term!) was well behind the play and had a far from ideal view of the action. Yet, even though his own umpire never went near raising a flag he chalked it up as a goal without question!! The TV angle closest to his view does not look anything like Sheridan legally struck the ball into the net, so how does he give it?? Anyway, that should be the last he is ever seen of outside Tyrone and leave an end to it.
3. The physical attacks on Sludden: These gobs***es are not representative of Louth Support and their actions have done serious damage to our campaign for justice. Most of us felt angry after the final whistle, I know I did! But while we understand how they felt, their actions cannot be condoned and they should have shown more self restraint. They can all be easily identified and I would think that there are at least four who should get life time bans. In a week when the county board did an excellent job in fundraising, a lot of this could be diminished if we are slapped with a big fine, because of their actions. Ridiculous comments tarring us all with the one brush are uncalled for, I hope they are banned from the GAA for life.

Anyway, that pretty much covers all the bases I think. It was GUBU!! No wait it wasn't unprecedented!!

[mountainboii]

Us Armagh ones tried to warn yous about Sludden. Pity he wasn't found out on the big stage before he got to ride us a couple of times this year. The one positive from today is that he'll not be appearing at another intercounty fixture anytime soon.

[mannix]

bad umpire, ref could not see the play in enough detail, poor sportsmanship from meath if they do not offer a replay
its about time that the camera is brought in to give defintive answers to this problem. each team should be allowed 3 or 4 reviews per game in championship.

[Zapatista]

If these things tend to even out over time what non goal did Louth not score and get credit for or if its oovertime do they have to wait 50 years to be awarded a non goal!!

I heard Fitzpatrick on the radio say 'we've been waiiting 50 years for a bit of justice'

Louth haven't been good enough for 50 years. That's not a burden on anyone but Louth. This poor wee Louth is a joke. It shouldn't have any bearing on the result.

[Zapatista]

The GAA will side with Louth on this one, an extra day out at Croke park will mean more €€€€€€

However county boards will challenge reults more often if a team is hard done by.

It's not upto the GAA it's upto Meath. Meath will do the right thing and go straight to the QF as Leinster Champions.

[Lar Naparka]

If these things tend to even out over time what non goal did Louth not score and get credit for or if its oovertime do they have to wait 50 years to be awarded a non goal!!

I heard Fitzpatrick on the radio say 'we've been waiiting 50 years for a bit of justice'

Louth haven't been good enough for 50 years. That's not a burden on anyone but Louth. This poor wee Louth is a joke. It shouldn't have any bearing on the result.

You're dead right, Zap; Fitzer was a bit OTT in his reaction. But I'd allow him considerable leeway here as he was reacting in the immediate aftermath of the game.  Louth's lack of success over the last 50 years had no bearing on the result yesterday and neither does the fact that they ought to have had the result sewn up long before the end. It all comes down to what happened in the goalmouth in the last 30 seconds yesterday.
I don't know what's going to happen next but if the result stands, Meath will find they had a hollow victory and will be taunted for years to come for hiding behind the rule book.