| Legal
angle on McCartan - 14/12/03
By TERRY McLAUGHLIN, DOWN DEMOCRAT
Sunday Independent, November 17, 2003
THE legal and administrative minefield
that the GAA has been plunged into since the exclusive revelations
in last week’s Sunday Independent surrounding the attempt
to arrest James McCartan inside Croke Park has taken a new
twist.
And it will hinge on the fact that McCartan is left handed.
It can be revealed that the central allegations against
the Down player, made by both Westmeath full back Ken Larkin
and his goal keeping colleague, Aiden Lennon, will be the
subject of a detailed rebuttal backed by physical evidence.
If necessary Down will call upon the services of psychological
and physiological experts to underpin their case.
Both Larkin and Lennon alleged in their submission to a
preliminary hearing of the Games Administration Committee
that the Down player had used “his clenched right fist”
to punch the Westmeath full back from behind.
Down however will contend that if the injury sustained by
Larkin had, as alleged been the result of a deliberate and
pre-meditated act by McCartan rather than an accidental
collision, the player would have instinctively used his
natural left hand to strike out.
Trainee Garda Ken Larkin has already made it clear that
he intends to pursue litigation through the Courts against
James McCartan, although the Down player has to date received
no writ.
The impact of the decision by Garda to get involved in the
circumstances surrounding an on pitch incident that left
Larkin with a broken jaw has created a precedent that the
GAA will not be able to ignore.
Downpatrick based lawyer Aidan Donnelly, a leading member
of the Antrim GAA squad for over eight seasons, said the
Association now had to answer certain fundamental questions.
The result of the attempt by three Garda officers to try
and take away James McCartan for official questioning as
he left a disciplinary hearing of the GAA has diluted the
power and the authority of the Association.
“In many ways that could be viewed as a positive step forward
if it acts as a wake-up call for the Association, by making
it prepared to look openly at its own failings,” argues
Donnelly.
What is now not in doubt is that huge question marks must
now be left hanging over the ability of the GAA to control
its own affairs, particularly in the context of hearing
allegations of violence and assault.
With the spectre of litigation through the civil courts
now a looming reality on an increasing scale the GAA will
have to ask itself it is worth becoming involved at all
in trying to make definitive and binding judgements.
For the consequence of those judgements will be that they
can eventually be used in a court of law, outside the GAA,
as a lever to determine guilt and innocence and damages.
Aiden Donnelly says the spotlight has now been placed firmly
on the way the GAA handle the interpretation of the official
rulebook in games under its control.
While making it absolutely clear that he was only prepared
to speak in general terms rather than specific cases such
as that currently making the headlines between Down and
Westmeath, Donnelly’s contention is that the GAA’s own failings
over many years has now placed the entire Association in
the dock.
The dramatic involvement of the Garda inside Croke Park
has, he says, been a situation waiting to happen.
And while the revelations have embarrassed and infuriated
the hierarchy of the Association the GAA has only itself
to blame, Donnelly added.
“It is inevitable that this kind of involvement by the Police
is going to continue. People play Gaelic sport for no financial
reward. They cannot afford to be off work or studies because
of injury.
“On football pitches there are things that have gone on
in terms of violence that would have merited a custodial
sentence if they had happened outside the confines of a
stadium.
“The GAA still makes great play about the physical aspect
of the game and how that is somehow supposed to make it
more attractive, more of a macho man’s environment.
“All the usual clichés are used to defend the unacceptable.
“How often do we see players squaring up to one another
and throwing punches, only for a token warning to be given
rather than a ruthlessly firm application of the rules,
be applied?
“If players going out on the pitch knew that foul play was
going to be punished, across the board, then there would
be a dramatic reduction in the current ambiguity.”
The perceived reluctance says Donnelly, of the GAA to take
a firm and unequivocal stance on issues of sporting violence
has led to a culture of regular pitch confrontation.
In particular, said Donnelly, “there needed to be questions
asked of all the supporting officials, not just the referees.”
“Every time a football game is played there is a minimum
official count of a referee, four umpires and two linesmen.
In major championship games there is the added involvement
of a fourth official to oversee issues like player and blood
substitutions.
“In the vast majority of cases the supporting officials
don’t seem to have any difficulty in alerting the referee
to the small, niggling issues.
“However when it comes to acting firmly and decisively on
the really important issues the reluctance to become involved,
to make the hard and difficult calls, too many would appear
to want to take the route of least resistance.”
Meanwhile the waiting continues for both James McCartan
and Ken Larkin. The only certainty for both players is that
they face a long and traumatic disciplinary and legal confrontation
that will have reaching consequences for the GAA.
The hard reality is that the controversial involvement of
the Garda in the internal workings of the GAA has opened
a can of worms that won’t go away, no matter how rigorous
the behind doors fumigation exercise inside Croke Park.
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