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Declan O'Sullivan: reportedly struck with a handbag. FILE PIC: inpho

Kerry club Dromid Pearses call for GAA to examine brawl footage

All-Ireland Junior Football Championship semi-final against Derrytresk in Portlaoise was marred by ugly scenes.

DROMID PEARSES HAVE called for an investigation into the ugly scenes which marred yesterday All-Ireland Junior Football Championship semi-final at Portlaoise.

The fight erupted just before half-time as officials and substitutes from both sides entered the field of play.

Dromid midfielder Thomas Curran was left concussed and had to leave the game while Denis Shine had a cheekbone fractured. Star Kerry forward Declan O’Sullivan was also reportedly struck by a handbag.

Derrytresk went on to claim a 1-10 to 0-7 victory, sealing their spot in the Croke Park showpiece.

Speaking to TheScore today, a club spokesman said that Dromid are happy for the footage of the game to be examined by GAA chiefs and ‘hopefully something will come of it’.

“There’s a DVD there and I’m sure it will be looked into in due course,” he added.

Yesterday, Dromid selector Diarmuid Ó Sé complained about a lack of security for players. “I thought that some of the scenes out there were some of the most disgraceful I have ever witnessed at a football game.

“I cannot understand how the GAA can allow this to happen. There was no security there today for our players. Declan O’Sullivan got struck by a handbag and was struck by a Derrytresk supporter as well. That was seen by a steward and the Garda have it documented but I don’t think Declan will be doing anything about it.

“The GAA have video evidence available and maybe it’s time to use it,” he added. The Association are awaiting the referee’s report, according to RTÉ radio’s Darren Frehill.

Meanwhile, Dromid supporters have been voicing their disgust at the scenes on the club’s Facebook page.

“Well done dromid for playing FOOTBALL unlike the opposition and their fans who thought they were in a violent xbox game! Chins up,” wrote one fan earlier.

While legendary Kerry GAA broadcaster Weeshie Fogarty left his assessment of the brawl on his own page.

“I have been around the block a good few years as a player, referee, broadcaster and supporter and seen some shocking behavior but to day was a bad as I have seen and I speak about the Tyrone side that beat Dromid,” he says.  Read the rest here.

Derrytresk were not immediately available for comment.

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37 Comments
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    Mute Norman Hunter
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 12:24 PM

    What happened is common assault the Gardai should be called in.The GAA cannot prosecute criminal behaviour.

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    Mute Oskar Fritsche
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 12:51 PM

    This is an absolute disgrace as of the GAA typical saying nothing major happened surely the Kerry players were targeted, appalling to bring youngsters to this sort of animalisc behavior, and this sort of behavior from northern teams time after time, Come to set an example and trow thhem out or ban northern team from club competitions.

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    Mute eire2011
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 1:18 PM

    Wouldn’t be like a Tyrone/ northern team to be a bit heavy handed now would it in order to win a match!!!!

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    Mute Rob
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 1:21 PM

    ahem…. would you care to contact Tadgh Kennelly for comment??

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    Mute val fitzpatrick
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 12:38 PM

    i disagree apparently it was just handbags

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    Mute Terry Turner
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:12 PM

    We’re you there. Joe duffy show has lots of witnesses on his show. They say there was very violent assault committed. The Gardai have to cop on.

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    Mute Jake Gomez
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:20 PM

    Why have the Gardai to cop on? If there is no complaint made by the person that was assaulted they can’t do anything about it!!

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    Mute E.O'Neill
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 12:48 PM

    This is comming a long time. Was at a game at the same stage of this comp a few years back. it was going the same way but kerry players stood up to thugs

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    Mute emmomac
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 1:27 PM

    No need to tar every northern club with the same brush. There are plenty of counties all over Ireland with records of this type of incident.

    Need to see the video

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    Mute rogermcnally1
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 9:28 PM
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    Mute DubInNaas
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:03 PM

    Thug behaviour exists in GAA for 2 reasons;
    - it is tolerated by the officials;
    Referees are not supported by officialdom in their decisions

    - it is ‘encouraged’ from a young age on the sideline by parents and coaches ;

    I coach and referee rugby and from 6 yrs of age the children are taught respect for players, coaches and referees. There is zero tolerance

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    Mute Colm Mooney
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:22 PM

    well said. i too coach rugby and from.day1 RESPECT is the name of the game…all parents sign and must abide by same code of conduct as coaches. gaa has a discipline issue..and tyrone gaa has a serious discipline issue..

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    Mute Michael Sullivan
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:12 PM
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    Mute CMD
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:20 PM

    Northern Ireland teams by and large seem to take pride in being bullies. My own club was playing in an u14 game in Antrim a few years ago and the abuse both verbal and physical they received at the hands of kids of their own age was shocking. One favourite way of intimidating players was to grab their “privates”. This was widespread over the field and because the ref was from the north as well he turned a blind eye. Yet when one of our players lost it and retaliated he was red carded straight away. It seems the kids are trained from an early age that it is winning that counts – never mind how. And croke park are powerless when it comes down to it – the ulster council are a law unto themselves.

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    Mute Rob
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:19 PM

    Agree that anything along the lines of teaching kids to grab each others privates is a fairly serious matter!

    I do feel that northern teams tend to get scapegoated a litte in the “bullying” tactics. nothing wrong with physical hard play – we can’t all be Kerry! but obviously theres a line that shouldnt be crossed!

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    Mute emmomac
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:13 PM

    Thuggery/ Brawling exists in every sport. Rugby and Soccer included so get off your high horses there. The key is how the governing body reacts. The GAA could do with coming down hard on this but to suggest it is a GAA only problem stinks of bias. I see more unpunished punches thrown in rugby than in GAA to be honest. In soccer it is more mouthing off continuously. GAA has the odd brawl but it is the most popular sport in Ireland so more games means more chance of this type of thing happening. You dont hear about it in club rugby games because hardly anyone plays rugby!

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    Mute Colm Mooney
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:26 PM

    talking thru your rear. rugby is fastest growing field sport n.ireland. pray tell me the last brawl at a rugby match involving players being kicked on.the ground by spectators! our rules in rugby are crystal clear..unlike the vague laissez faire mish mash in gaa..how many rugby refs assaulted in comparison to gaa and soccer refs. only person on high horse is you

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    Mute emmomac
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:31 PM

    it may be the fastest growing but it will never surpass GAA. Rugby is confined to small pockets. GAA is played throughout the land. There are plenty of brawls in rugby. Here is a brawl involving one of the games biggest players and his father gets involved!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49fe6BXRFWQ&feature=player_embedded

    Rugby rules are enforced a lot more stringently though. I will give you that and the respect shown to referees is an example to all sports

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    Mute john g mcgrath
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:16 PM

    Hardly anyone plays rugby quote is a little off the mark but then again one must make allowances for such comments.

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    Mute Rob
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:17 PM

    ok much and all as i hate to turn this into a GAA vs Rugby – its what i’m gonna do (soccer i’m ignoring as GAA and Rugby are natural physical sports). rugby has citing whereby if caught on camera you can be sanctioned after the game. rugby has the 3rd man in rule which in almost all cases stops a tussle from getting out of hand (i want to be clear here that i think a tussle – involving 2 players can be a very natural occurance in a physical sport).

    the absence of a 3rd man in rule and the absence of serious sanctions for those caught on camera – along with the nonsense whereby referees and supporters tend to view cards as ruining the game – will in fact destroy the game – much like where ozzie rules was going before they cleaned it up! the lesson is that they did clean it up.

    football and hurling could be cleaned up in a matter of a months worth of well refereed match – amateur or professional – none of the players are stupid – they’ll all react to rules and we’ll all be happier to see it!

    ps lets not go crazy about Harinordoquys dad! look at the reaction of the players to it – they dont want to get involved with him and try to calm the situation – can you really say thats what you’d expect to see in a GAA match?

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    Mute emmomac
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:29 PM

    rugby participation in Ireland is indeed tiny compared to GAA so comparing instances of violence is skewed

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    Mute Rob
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:42 PM

    emmoman – so do you consider this to be an acceptable level of violence being displayed? given that there are so many GAA players and so few playing lesser sports??

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    Mute emmomac
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:47 PM

    just a little perspective rob

    also, this is not a northern thing and saying it is is borderline sectarian. plenty of good gaels up there who play a good brand of fair football

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    Mute Rob
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 4:00 PM

    to be fair i do accept your point that gaa will have more instances of everything as they play more players / more clubs / more games – but its not really relevant here.

    it is a matter of fact though that there is a problem in the GAA with these mass brawls – no other sport (including ice hockey) has the same problem.

    my point is that other sports have done more to eradicate the violence than the GAA – not who plays most or not. the GAA is way behind the curve on this – and someones gonna get hurt soon and they’ll quite possibly be negligent in respect of their members!

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    Mute Rob
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 1:19 PM

    easiest thing in the world to fix! there are 7 officals watching a game (ref / linesmen / umpires). if 2 players have an altercation it should be reported and they should be warned or yellow carded. if anyone else gets involved then they should be immediately given a yellow or red card – if the whole team get involved then they should all be sent off – yes it would be a farce if it came to this – but there can no longer be protection for players who think that one in – all in is a protection for them!

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    Mute emmomac
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:49 PM

    ok then laws…..

    *shakes head*

    rugby people

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    Mute john g mcgrath
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 1:48 PM

    This is another example of the quote
    “rugby is a ruffians game played by gentlemen soccer is a gentlemans game played by ruffians and g a a is a ruffians game played by ruffians”
    A normal day out for the hardy bucks and this is why g a a football NOT hurling attracts the ruffian culture

    13
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    Mute Brian Carroll
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 4:52 PM

    I knew as soon as I read this story that the rugby crowd would jump in and start moralising and preaching and I was bang on. If rugby wasn’t played at such a small level across the country then you can be guaranteed we would be hearing more stories of eye-gouging, stamping on heads, etc.

    The GAA has almost become a victim of its own success in that there are a staggering number of games played at local level across the country every weekend. That can never excuse this kind of brutal thuggery but when you have so many games being played in a physically hard-hitting sport like Gaelic football, there is always the potential for a few thugs to leave their mark.

    While it’s only right and proper that the Gardai are involved in this matter, it’s also time for the GAA to really send a message and make an example out of Tyrone.

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    Mute Elrat
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 5:59 PM

    Physically hard hitting – that a joke !

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    Mute alan
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 2:17 PM

    no respect for anything in the gaa

    have taken my kids out of local gaa following the same kind of thing week in week out in their games

    ironic that it is kerry senior footballers who have been guilty of exaclty this kind of behaviour over the last few years

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    Mute E.O'Neill
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 4:52 PM

    Getting back to yesterday. Dromid accept they lost the sporting game. The Gaa needs to act on the nonplaying club members and supports who got involved. Simple to ban all Tyrone teams supporters from croke park for final and ban the subs and managment from pitchside and stand. Let them in dressing room.

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    Mute Elrat
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 5:56 PM

    The Dubs started it all !

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    Mute Donal McDaniel
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 10:53 PM

    Tyrone teams never let foot-ball get in the way of a good brawl!

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    Mute Egg Bagged
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    Jan 24th 2012, 1:44 AM

    Was little more than handbags that you would get every weekend up and down the country with very few real punches thrown…of course noone wants to see these minor scuffles at any games, It begins to look like sour grapes from a Kerry side which were comprehensively beaten in the end by a well drilled Derrytresk team making their first appearance at this level. This one minute aside, well done to the Derrytresk men and good luck in the final…As for our more sectarian Kerry posters above who bring it down to the “Doirty Northerners” level as usual…cop yerself on…Tyrone have played the best brand of attacking and defensive football consistantly over the last 10 years in the All Ireland series and to assuage that they are all thugs who only win matches through intimidation is only showing you for the begrudgers when you lose that you obviously must be…

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    Mute john g mcgrath
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 3:19 PM

    @ENNOMATIC
    Just another small matter there are no such thing as rules in rugby there are laws so i would suggest a little research before you bother to comment.

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    Mute EM
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    Jan 24th 2012, 9:23 AM

    This is a general comment as I didn’t see the footage in question but I have always been disgusted by the GAAs apparent unwilligness to deal with these events properly.

    When a scuffle breaks out the two players involved should obviously be yellow carded but the third (& subsequent) player(s) into the fight should be red carded immediately and banned! It’s the players diving in afterwards that make it a brawl. And, imo, any teams involved in mass brawls should be kicked out of the competition and banned for a year.

    Any spectators involved should be reported to the Gardaí for assault.

    The only way to stamp this sort of thing out is to deal with it very severely. They bring shame on our fine sports.

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    Mute Barry McSweeney
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    Jan 23rd 2012, 5:04 PM
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