Updated 11:20
THE GAA WAS embroiled in a new ugly row last night after Armagh released a statement complaining of ‘racist and personal’ taunts towards their players.
On Sunday, the Orchard County’s captain, Ciaran McKeever was sent off at half time for allegedly kicking a Laois player.
McKeever did not accept the decision handed down by referee, Michael Duffy, and had returned to the field after the half time interval. He still denies the charge.
The timing of this statement would suggest that the player believes he was provoked.
Armagh’s statement opened by expressing concern, “at the alleged racist and personal abuse, directed at our players, apparently going unpunished. Racist abuse is in direct contravention of Rule 1.12 : The Association is Anti-Sectarian and Anti-Racist.”
The statement continues with a hint at what may have been said to McKeever and what many GAA players from Northern Ireland – including Armagh’s All-Ireland winning manager, Joe Kiernan - have complained of in the past.
“The chanting of “God Save the Queen” and malign taunting of “British Bastard” has no place either on or off the field of play.”
“This is provocation in the extreme and at variance with Rule 1.2 : The Association is a National Organisation which has as its basic aim the strengthening of the National Identity in a 32 County Ireland through the preservation and promotion of Gaelic Games and pastimes.”
The strongly-worded statement concludes:
“We endeavor to promote respect and fair play both on and of the field and do not condone any action which is a contravention of such fair play.”
“However, we also expect to be treated fairly and the rules of the game to be applied in a fair and equitable manner.”
This morning, a spokeperson for Laois told The Score: “We have no proof of that. We hadn’t heard anything about it until we read it in the paper.”
He added that the county would conduct their own internal inquiry into the matter saying, “We’ll look into it. We certainly wouldn’t condone any such chants.”
Just shows the mentality of some of these clowns that they would taunt fellow Irishmen with this nonsense.
totally disgraceful abusing our northern fellow citizens like that. shame on anyone who taunts Armagh players after all they have endured these past 30 years.
They’re British not Irish
Actually Paul were Irish! The ROI doesnt have a monopoly on the word Irish, we’re all from Ireland just different states
No they are not paul. Not morally and not legally.
Paul Connolly
I’m from Northern Ireland and am as proud Irishman as any who live on this island.
Good Friday agreement states:
It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation.
Both the British and Irish Governments recognise “the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose”.
“They’re British not Irish.”
That’s a complete factual inaccuracy. It’s trolling too I suppose, but it’s still blatantly wrong.
The country known as the United Kingdom is called the United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland. The “AND” is of great importance. Northern Ireland is NOT part of Great Britain (or “Britain” even – no such place actually exists), never was and never shall be. The Island of Ireland was never considered part of Great Britain at any point in its history (even though we’re technically part of the geographical entity known as the British Isles). It has always been treated as a separate geographical entity.
This is not a political issue at all, even though some people will inevitably try to make it so, for reasons I can’t understand, because political rhetoric will not make up for the fact that calling Northern Ireland part of Britain is a fundamentally flawed statement!
This has no place in the GAA and should be punished well. Laois should have players concerned dropped from panel
Isn’t racial verbal abuse also illegal? A wee reminder as to the penalties for this might get the offenders to cop themselves on.
goes without saying that where banter / sledging gets into either racism or secterianism that it should be solidly stamped out!
however it also goes without saying that kicking an oppostion player should be solidly stamped out too (no pun intended).
too wrongs dont make a right etc……
With all the bitchin goin on in the organisation these days it wll have to change its name from the GAA to the GAY ,and the winners of the samantha mc guire handbag this year are !!!!!!!!!
Fair play to Armagh GAA for standing up and speaking out.
Yeah now if they could only apply the rest of the rules to their game and cut out dirty tatics and unsportsmanship attitude that most teams over the border have.
Hi Stephen is it safe to bring my bus to Sligo Ye are no saints in the Yeats county so dont be so smug.
Gaels from Ard Mhacha, or anywhere else in the north, are as British as… the Hill of Tara.
Anybody who attempts to insult his or her fellow countrymen in such an ignorant manner needs to catch themselves on.
Nope, they’re British true and true
While I find comments like the above attributed to a laois player absolutely disgraceful, it works both ways. Many times when playing against northern teams I have heard people being called free state bastards. Both are highly offensive
Unfortunately, I’ve heard the same ‘Free State b@stards’ type abuse on the terrace myself.
The Laois manager,Justin McNulty is from Armagh. The Laois player in question is obviously not aware of this or maybe he just calls him a ‘British Bastard’ at most training sessions!
This pro-partition attitude is commonplace in the GAA. It needs to be stamped out. Kerry club teams aided by the media have recently brought it to a new level!
Are you serious!? Which Kerry club teams? I’m only assuming you’re referring to the debacle around the Dromid / Derrytresk match?
Just for the record, I agree with the rest of your statement Cormac. Sectarianism has absolutely no place in the GAA.
Kieran, thanks, Yep, I was referring to that recent debacle and the call for the Crossmaglen supporters and Dr Crokes supporters to be segregated. I know this is not representative of the attitude of the majority of Kerry GAA people. .
For the record i completely disagree with Anne’s comment. Anyone should be aloud play. ITS 2012 NOW
Surely this can be perfectly innocently explained as Laois lads paying homage to their own stint (three and a half centuries) as the Queen’s County?
Since when has Norn Iron become a race of people?
Since they got stuck in 1642
You’re an Idiot!!
I think the abuse goes two ways footballers from the south are called free state b…….Its a storm in an egg cup
again more handbagging from all in the Gaa , I heard River Island womans fashion group will be designing the team jerseys for next season ,with matching short shorts , leggings, bangles and earing etc etc , wimps
Racism not enough for you Hugh? You need to throw in a bit of sexism as well for good measure?
Yes Quinn when it comes to this sort of crap esp where the Gaa are concerned boys will be girls,where are all the real men these days ,what have we got but the p.c. who love to blow hot air
How is this sectarian?
Unless, McKeever is protestant, which would be incredibly rare for an Ulster GAA player called Ciaran, he’s almost certainly of the same religion as the vast bulk of the Laois team.
I have also been called abusive names on the pitch and sometimes by my own team members. Racism grows if you feed it, so let the football do the talking and avoid the gutter press sh1t slinging. PS: up the DUbs, the rest of you leave the sheep alone!
Agreeing with mr x there. I have played football up the north on and off for years and make no mistake it goes both ways. If the nationalistic abuse stops the some other form will take its place. Any one who plays football in any form knows the things said on the pitch are not acceptable in any other walk of life. The comment was made to provoke a reaction, Would it make it better to insult his mother or tell him what he did with his sister last night. It’s just football boys and girls. As any manager will tell you these lads need to cop on and grow a pair. The only reason they made a big deal is because he reacted and was caught.
Racism? I don’t get it. There may be cultural and philosophic differences but it’s a difference of opinion and not race. Christianity is not a race. It just sounds like people who want to fight using any excuse, including imagined ones, to create agro. In some culture sport is a means of personal and community development, the GAA does community very well but maybe the development of the individual needs more attention.
armagh was one of the first gaa clubss in ireland to let the psni play gaeleag football.it is nonconsotunional tolet psni play gaeleag football
http://www.learntospell.com
dont be flippant cant spell de too ilnes
You don’t need to know how to spell correctly to get on in life Eoin, not everyone is as fortunate as yourself. I myself left school at 15, I cant spell for shite but can run 4 different businesses in the middle of a recession. Attacking someone over for not been able to spell is a form of abuse and bullying. You should tackle your own problems first.
See, I even made a mistake in my last sentence, but trust me my day will still go the very same way today as if i didn’t make the mistake.
Errr….Paddy,
You quite clearly can spell better than most.
Anyway, sorry. We’re going off-topic.
@PM – enjoying your little tangent i hope?
@AG – no need to focus soley on spelling to find your point reprehensible!
Rant over Rob, ye may continue
give the bigotry a rest, Anne
or is the bigotry due to illness also?
It’s not your spelling that pissed me off Anne, it’s your Cromwellian attitude. We’ve had enough of that sh!te on this island. It’s 2012.
Learn to spell.
Spelling or no spelling, your attitude is blatantly bigoted and sectarian
Rant back on again Rob, Sorry.
@Eoin, you spelt “though” wrong on the 16th of March when you were tweeting, Classic mistake of just spelling it as “tho” , Tut tut tut
@Mark, You my friend also made a spelling mistake while tweeting on the 14th of March, I can only guess you were trying to say the word “though” and not the word “thought” Tut tut tut
Not to worry, harmless mistakes lads.
@Ciará, trust me mate, I cant spell. Spell checker is my friend
“They’re British not Irish.”
That’s a complete factual inaccuracy. It’s trolling too I suppose, but it’s still blatantly wrong.
The country known as the United Kingdom is called the United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland. The “AND” is of great importance. Northern Ireland is NOT part of Great Britain (or “Britain” even – no such place actually exists), never was and never shall be. The Island of Ireland was never considered part of Great Britain at any point in its history (even though we’re technically part of the geographical entity known as the British Isles). It has always been treated as a separate geographical entity.
This is not a political issue at all, even though some people will inevitably try to make it so, for reasons I can’t understand, because political rhetoric will not make up for the fact that calling Northern Ireland part of Britain is a fundamentally flawed statement!
Well said, Fiachra. Personally, I don’t even use the term “British Isles” to include Ireland though. I just find it generates even more confusion.
By calling it ‘racist abuse’, are they not confirming the accuracy of the abuse?
Look I remember playing a hurling match against Queens almost ten years ago and one of the obviously northern Queens players calling me a “free state bastard” for being from Sligo. The whole debacle is just Armagh crying victim and is endemic in the GAA nowadays. Absolutely no one in the organization is willing or brave enough to stand up and say that they did something wrong. Armagh are screaming partionism in one hand and then sectarianism/racism in the next. How can it be racist/sectarianist if we are all from the same 32 counties? And if they are of the same religion, which is highly likely in this situation. They contradict themselves in their own statement, it is a farce. Very embarrassing for the GAA and Armagh.
This is so odd! Particualrly as all the country lads from Belfast to Kerry are the best of mates in places like st kilda and bondi over in australia while the dubs tend to be the only one’s who hang around in their own groups (selling heroin/indian inking ‘darren’ on their hands/pushing prames etc etc).
I think the northerns are a bit precious about these remarks – the only reason people use them is because they know it stings youse. Dubliners/Cork people/Limerick people/peope from the west who sound like travellers get varying degrees of this stuff all the time but usually ignore it.
Everyone knows you lads are as Irish as anyone else, so relax. And the only reason a big thing was made of the Tyrone Kerry club match fight was because northenr teams have gone from being underdogs to probably the dominant area of gaelic football in the country – between Queens and Jordanstown at college level, to underage schools, to inter county northern teams have never been stronger. When the thuggish Meath team of the early 1990′s beat up that quality Derry side off the ball for 70 minutes the country got on Liveline the next morning demanding the removal of every Meath person from the country for bullying “our boys from across the border”!