Footage has emerged of the incident that led to Clare footballer Gordon Kelly receiving a three month suspension for allegedly hitting an umpire with water.
Clare manager Colm Collins insists that Kelly was cleaning out his water bottle after the Banner’s recent draw with Tipperary, where it was alleged that Kelly had squirted water at an umpire.
The GAA are standing behind their decision to ban Clare’s Gordon Kelly for 3 months for this. Can anyone explain the logic to me?? Alleged incident happens in the first 2 seconds #GAA pic.twitter.com/SD038vVf1o
— Derrick Lynch (@DLynchSport) March 12, 2018
It’s clear as day to anyone with half a brain that this is ludicrous. The umpire claims the water was sprayed at him. You can clearly see Gordon clean out the bottle before taking a drink. pic.twitter.com/KDKcPKyv2Y
— Derrick Lynch (@DLynchSport) March 12, 2018
The footage is grainy but appears to show Kelly moving his right hand to empty the water bottle on two seconds and then again on 10 seconds in what looks like an attempt to pull his teammate away from the official.
The footage is of a very low quality but provides some insight into one of the stranger suspensions in recent memory.
Collins highlighted the ban as insanity and added that three months is too much for the offence.
“There was a ridiculous decision at the end of the match when Gordon Kelly was cleaning water out of a bottle and one of the umpires alleged that he hit him with the water,” Collins told Declan Rooney.
“All he did was clean out the water bottle before he drank it, like every player does. The umpire says he hit him, which Gordon denies, and he got three months for it.
“By all means protect the officials, but let there be something to protect them from — if you are going to suspend a player for that long.
“Even if he deliberately squirted water at an official — which he adamantly claims he didn’t — three months is a bit much.
“Gordon is a guy with a great disciplinary record who has played with Clare for about 15 years.”
