Spot on from the Tyrone man.
The Tyrone county board should have thought about this a little bit more. They should have thought about what had gone down and they should have thought about the example they were setting.
Armagh defeated the Red Hand County last week in their Ulster under-20 semi-final meeting but it wasn’t the result the made the headlines. Instead, all the talk was about the mass brawl that broke out in extra-time.
A scuffle broke out in the middle of the field and players from both sides raced in to get involved. It was a sorry sight as young players flocked to tear strips out of each other.
The worst part of it all was that substitutes, many of whom hadn’t even been involved in the game up to that point were eager to contribute to the ruckus. Subs marauding onto the field can cause serious damage because they fly in unaware to the players on the pitch and will do so at great pace.
Scenes like these set a poor example for our games and paint the GAA in an extremely poor light.
Tyrone displaying their usual class after u20s defeat to Armagh #GAA pic.twitter.com/eYF0GkO7vV
— Paul! (@Paul_beIN) June 8, 2018
The problem with and the cause of rows like these is that GAA folk are often quick to brush it aside as being no big deal. It’s all part of the macho culture that has become a part of our games recently with no players willing to be seen to take a backward step.
That’s okay, if it’s in the honest spirit of the game, but when there’s unprovoked aggression and intention to cause harm like there clearly was here, it really is a serious problem.
The Tyrone county board were quick to brush this aside as no big deal. They decided to appeal the result of the game, in turn sending out the message that they are condoning this type of behaviour, that their players were doing what was expected of them.
Leading by example is fundamental, especially for an organisation of such sway and stature, and by almost immediately absolving the players of any blame for their involvement, the county are doing nothing to stomp behaviour like this out of our game.
Of course the players are going to think they did nothing wrong now when the county appears to have viewed it as something small.
Three-time All-Ireland winner and four-time All-Star Philip Jordan condemned his county’s decision to appeal the result of this game. He hit on all the right notes as he claimed that “defeat is part of the game & accepting it with dignity is important.”
Thankfully Tyrone failed in their appeal to replay U20 semi v Armagh. Poorly judged decision that doesn’t help the counties reputation & sends the wrong message to those young players. Defeat is part of the game & accepting it with dignity is important.
— Philip Jordan (@PhilipJordan7) June 15, 2018
The county board could learn a lot from this outlook.
