by
Seamus Morris

It’s been interesting times of late with a bit of the old controversy istill seeping round the place.

The intercounty season may have ended, but the GAA is still filling the pages of the press, still feeding a sporting public who never seem able to sate their appetite for news and information.

This time the controversy relates to where the law of the land and the playing field fit with each other. For some time now it has been a tight squeeze, neither fitting comfortably, an unhappy, untidy outfit resulting. Yet things finally came to a head with the court case last week of ‘wee’ James McCartan and Kenny Larkin.

The Down man, a former All Ireland winner, was accused of punching his opponent deliberately and causing a fracture of the jaw. Wee James proved as elusive though as he was in his halcyon playing days with the Mourne men, provoking rumours at one time of a possible extradition from the North (well, not quite, but it wasn’t entirely implausible). The court case, like wee James’ punch, was swift, delivering a telling blow to his reputation. De Scribe does not wish to go into the intricacies of the case, they have been dealt with already in the media. Rather, what needs to be examined is the climate that meant that this case has been the exception rather than the rule.

Another article in this stable speaks of a utopian world where both parties in the case could have come to some agreement, not bothered with the aul courts, ‘shure Jaysus isn’t the aul Gaah great, we’re all buddies here, twas only an accident’. Bullshit. McCartan struck his opponent, this was not an act of camaraderie or friendship. It is therefore galling to here some in the Association speak of Larkin taking the case in tones of near disgust. This young man was about to embark on a course as a trainee Garda, he feared that his livelihood may have been put at risk, that his plans for his future would have to be changed, all because of an act of wanton violence on the part of another player who acted as a gurrier, a guttersnipe. No hard man is James, rather he is the coward.

There has been a tradition in the GAA, and there is no other way of putting it, of turning a blind eye to blatant violence. Where soccer had the spectre of violence on the terraces, GAA had it on the pitch. It was at all levels, including the very top of the game. When television coverage was not as prevalent as it is today, when players were not under the microscope as they are now, things were carried out in a more laissez faire attitude.

The so-called hard man was revered, spoken of in hushed tones. Full backs who would stop at nothing to deter their man from scoring were held up in high esteem. They were revered as examples of real manhood, admired from a distance, spoken of in hushed tones. This rubbish was spouted and supported in every parish in the land, the status quo maintained.

In the late 1980s the two main football teams were Cork and Meath. Their battles, from 1987 to 1990, were the mainstay of the football world, awaited with the same anticipation as a world heavyweight fight. Look back at these matches on television and you will see them as less games of football but more as battles, interspersed with some attempt at the round ball game. Many of those players, particularly on the Meath team, were cynical, obtrusive and negative. De Scribe defies anyone to watch those matches and then feel the urge to go out on a pitch and emulate what they have just seen. It’s a wonder that football survived that dark period.

So what is the state of play with regard to the law of the land and the playing pitch ? Are they to be treated as two separate spheres, existing side by side but having little or no influence on each other ? Does a blow delivered on a city centre street on a Saturday night carry more importance and consequence than one delivered on a football pitch on a Sunday afternoon ? If so,why ? Are both not delivered with malice, with forethought, with little or no respect for the victim ?

Why should Kenny Larkin feel guilty for pursuing what was his right, the right of all of us, to seek justice. When the white line is crossed, does it mean that another threshold is also being passed, that of the law of the land ? Are all players fair game for the odd slap and punch, the perpetrators safe in the knowledge that nothing will happen, and that we are all one big happy family in the GAA. What is so happy about a man getting his jaw broken, having to spend three weeks sucking through a straw, plates inserted in his jaw for the rest of his life ? Is that the real face of the GAA, do we still feel, in today’s Ireland, that to seek justice, to ‘squeal’, is almost to be like an informer. Do we still feel the shackles of colonialism, are we still uncomfortable with authority of any kind ?

The nod and wink culture that has infected most facets of Irish society has not avoided the GAA. Therefore we should be grateful that the current president of the association appears to be a man of decency and honesty. Sean Kelly has continually stated that he will not stand for any of the bullshit of the past, that no longer will the ‘hardmen’ be accommodated in the GAA.

No longer will acts of wanton violence be accepted. Granted, there are still incidents aplenty featuring the darker side of the game, such as matches being abandoned due to mass brawls or referees being attacked, but these are proving to be the exception rather than the rule.

The new hard men will be men like Kenny Larkin, brave enough to go against the trend of yore, when violence was celebrated and those who didn’t like it were ridiculed. We have grown up as a country, the days of glorifying violence, of laughing it off in a Quiet Mansort of way, are fading fast. For that we have men like Kenny Larkin to thank.

Related Topic:
McCartan/Larkin Case: The Fallout