Northern Uproar

A recent well-publicised incident in a National League fixture drew attention to a distasteful practice that is unfortunately increasingly common on the playing fields of Ireland.

Armagh defender Ciaran McKeever, dismissed at half-time for kicking a Laois player, subsequently accused the same opponent of “racist and personal” abuse.
In a statement issued by the Armagh County Board, it was claimed that McKeever was called a ‘British bastard’ and had God Save The Queen hummed mockingly in his direction.
Unsurprisingly, a media storm ensued. Subsequently, the allegations were withdrawn by Armagh. But the issue was serious enough for the GAA’s Director General Páraic Duffy to get involved.
In cricket, the term for this practice of using verbal abuse to upset an opponent is “sledging”. Call it what you will, it is an unsavoury tactic that seems to be on the rise in Gaelic games. Its prevalence was highlighted by the Donegal All-Star, Kevin Cassidy, in This Is Our Year, a book on the progress of the nine Ulster teams in the 2011 All Ireland Championship, written by Declan Bogue, which was named the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year in 2011.
In his contribution to the book, Cassidy revealed how certain members of the Donegal team had watched an American footballer “trash-talking” on YouTube and decided to adopt it as a tactic. In the ensuing furore, Cassidy was dumped from the Donegal panel by manager Jim McGuinness. One assumes that the trash-talking has continued.
So is there anything that can be done to prevent sledging? Is it a passing fad or an issue that needs to be faced down?
Ross Carr, an All-Ireland winning great with Down, leaves me in no doubt as to what he thinks of the tactic.
“It really turns my stomach,” he says. “How do you control it? I find any form of sledging pathetic, cowardly, and calling someone a ‘British bastard’ or whatever shows an unbelievable level of ignorance, while making snide, derogatory comments about members of someone’s family is equally bad. I never experienced much sledging during my playing days, but it seems to be becoming more common.
“When I was managing the Down senior team a ref came to me after a game and said, ‘I should have sent that fella off for what he said to one of your players’. But, why didn’t he send him off? The real issue is if players are being coached to do it. If it’s part of a manager’s tactical plan, then we’ve a serious issue.
“That’s the ‘win at all costs’ mentality taken to a whole new level. Gaelic football is an amateur game and therefore there has to be limits. How can you expect respect if you’re prepared to stoop that low?”
“When I played, the game was physically tougher. Exchanges were fierce, fellas would try and take your head off, but there was none of that deplorable mouthing. Hearing that this practice is creeping into underage games isn’t good. Habits developed as a 17-year-old don’t disappear when you hit 27.”
Long-serving inter-couaabuse.
“For referees, it’s almost impossible to police, because by its nature, it’s cynical and goes on while the ball is up the other end of the field,” he says.
“I think the GAA has successfully reduced incidents of physical violence on the pitch. But this is harder to pin down. It’s a sinister tactic and players caught in the act should be dealt with severely with a long suspension.
“I remember years back, going to referee games in Ulster and having to pass through numerous checkpoints and thinking to myself how the province’s GAA players had to endure a lot just to play a game,” he adds. “They were so affected by the troubles for so long that Gaelic games, as a form of identity, took on a whole new meaning. Sometimes I felt in the past that referees in Ulster were treated with the same kind of scant respect, the same defiance, as was shown to the authorities. That’s not the way it should be.”
Kerry’s Darragh Ó Sé is also disgusted by the practice.
“I see it as a cop-out and it has no real part in Gaelic football,” he says. “When I was playing we’d have some fierce games, with Cork especially. It was the selectors and managers more than players doing all the mouthing! I always saw it as a sign of weakness to even acknowledge ‘verbals’.
“Sure, there would be plenty of physical pounding between players, but the mouth should always stay shut. We’ve all heard the stories over the years of things this player said to another player, but until recently these appeared to be isolated enough. ”
Should Croke Park take a hard-line against this practice? Ray Silke, Galway’s All-Ireland winning captain of 1998, feels the association needs to equip its officials with a strong mandate.
“I think verbal abuse is something that raises its ugly head when a team is going poorly. It’s negative energy. Your mind’s off the game if you’re mouthing off obscenities into an opponent’s ear. I think it’s primarily a loser’s tactic.
“I don’t think the Kilkenny hurlers or Kerry footballers are bothered with it! However, if teams are coached to engage in this practice, that’s a whole other story. The association needs to give referees permission to take action when this kind of crap is going on. If someone is overheard giving serious verbal abuse, it should be the line. The GAA needs to be vigilant. Umpires need to be empowered to take action. The really worrying aspect is when it begins to seep into underage football. Gaelic games should be about promoting enjoyment, skill and participation, not this unsavoury rubbish!”
What drives players to adopt such tactics? Former Donegal corner-forward Brendan Devenney thinks the practice is more commonplace in Ulster and sees it as a product of the province’s ferocious rivalries.
“Northern football is intense and patriotic. All you have to do is look at the manic intensity of Ulster club football or the senior championship to see it. The football team defines an area, its people. There’s certainly an ‘us against the world’ divide between Ulster football and the rest of Ireland. It’s like a hotbed of GAA tribal warfare and the other provinces don’t have nearly the same intensity.
“All of the recent Gaelic football innovations are, by and large, Ulster creations,” he adds, “such as blanket defence, defensive wing-forwards and so on. The same probably goes for on-field sledging. I often feel massive sympathy for referees dealing with this and the lack of protection they receive. It’s a brave man who’ll send a man off for something he said!”
A disappointing league campaign notwithstanding, All-Ireland football champions Dublin arguably remain the team to beat in this year’s championship. Star forward Bernard Brogan feels that engaging in such tactics is a road to nowhere.
“It is a northern stereotype,” he says. “Is it deserved? I find they get on with their business and play hard football. I haven’t received much abuse from any of them and personally, I see sledging as a sign of weakness, that a person is trying to put you off your game. It shows he is worried about you and in my book, I have one over on my opponent if he starts it.”