Dublin and Meath hit with heavy bans
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
At least 16 players are set to be suspended in the wake of the violence that marred Dublin's Allianz National Football League clash with Meath at Parnell Park on Sunday.
The GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee informed both county boards of the suspensions last night.
Meath's Seamus Kenny, Niall McKeague, Brendan Murphy, Nigel Crawford and Shane McAnarney face eight-week suspensions, while Darren Fay, Peadar Byrne and Caoimhin King could be banned for four weeks.
Dublin have also been hit hard, with suspensions of eight weeks for Ciaran Whelan, Bernard Brogan, Paul Flynn and Diarmuid Connolly and four weeks for Paddy Andrews, Ross McConnell, Mossie Quinn and Eamonn Fennell.
Whelan, who has a chequered disciplinary record, has opted not to appeal his ban.
Both sides have also been fined €20,000.
The County Boards have now to decide how to proceed; they can accept the suspension for each player or they can opt for a hearing at which the player can be present, the evidence on both sides presented and a decision made.
Players will have further recourse to appeals if they are unhappy with that decision.
The GAA have insisted that no further comment will be made at this stage regarding the investigation.
Meanwhile, GAA president Nickey Brennan has branded the scenes in the opening minutes of last Sunday's game between the two Leinster rivals as 'disgusting and unacceptable'.
Brennan has promised that the Central Competition Controls Committee of the Association will take a dim view of the proceedings.
'It is time that leadership stood up, and responsibility was taken, for the actions that we saw,' said Brennan.
'It was appalling, it was unacceptable, and I'm absolutely disgusted with it. I don't know what we have to do to get the message across to these people, that presenting our games is important, because we want to make sure we attract future generations to our games. And yesterday's events did nothing to help us in that regard.'
