GAELIC GAMES:GAA PRESIDENT Christy Cooney has said the association does not want to get to a stage where security fencing is commonplace in grounds up and down the country in order to prevent people entering the pitch.
Coming in the wake of the violent scenes during the Dromid Pearses versus Derrytresk All-Ireland junior football semi-final last Sunday in Portlaoise where supporters and substitutes could be seen vaulting the hoardings to get involved, Cooney stressed that the GAA doesn’t favour “penning people in”.
“We’ve put on a pilot (project) in Croke Park over the last two years and it worked extremely well,” he said.
“There was nobody coming in onto Croke Park from the stands in any of our games. We want that situation to operate in every county ground and every club ground and for people to respect the players in particular because by coming onto the pitch they’re causing problems for players. We don’t want that. It worked extremely well in Croke Park.
“Hopefully in the next year or two we’ll be in a position to take down the barrier that we have on Hill 16. We want everybody to operate at that level and respect each other and respect the players.
“I haven’t seen anything on (Portlaoise) but from what I’ve heard it’s totally unacceptable and the CCCC (Central Competitions Control Committee) either have the referee’s report or are awaiting the referee’s report. I know they’re asking both clubs for whatever video evidence they have available and I’d ask both clubs to fully co-operate with the requests the CCCC have made of them.
“I’d like that that matter would be expedited as quickly as possible and the clubs would co-operate and we’d get out of it whatever is necessary to be done. CCCC are going to go through their process . . . and will make their decisions accordingly. That’s where we are.”
Asked if he thought the punishments currently handed out after these kinds of incidents were appropriate, Cooney replied that there are limits to what the GAA can do. “You know what happened in the Louth/Meath game,” he said. “There were people that came onto the field and certain matters were taken up by the Gardaí and went through due process. You know there were issues in Antrim last year and that the Antrim County Board dealt with that very strongly. You know that there were issues in Tyrone and the Tyrone County Board dealt with that very strongly.
“We’ll always deal with issues like that in a fair and just manner. We have to respect people when they’re going through that process and not tarnish everyone with the same brush. I’m sure there were a lot of people in Portlaoise that had no involvement in the situation and went there for the purpose of supporting their team. People who have misbehaved have to be dealt with and CCCC will do that.”
