February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The reigning county football champions had defeated rivals Raheny in a quarterfinal thanks to two late goals by Dessie Farrell. However, Raheny appealed the result because Na Fianna, it later transpired, had used one substitute too many.
Yes, Na Fianna had sent on six subs instead of the permitted five, but the sixth player had been for a blood injury and wasn’t going to be left on the pitch permanently. An error, Na Fianna conceded, but a technical infringement and not one which was ever going to alter the outcome of the game.
But Raheny thought otherwise and demanded that Na Fianna forfeit the game for a breach of the regulations. The Dublin county board deliberated and upheld Raheny’s appeal — Na Fianna were out of the championship.
Insisting that forfeiture of such an important game was an outrageously heavy punishment for an unintentional rule infringement, Na Fianna took out a High Court injunction against the Dublin county board to prevent the semifinal between Raheny and UCD from going ahead.
After much too-ing and fro-ing, the case was heard, and the High Court ruled that Na Fianna had indeed breached a rule and should therefore be expelled from the Dublin championship. If the verdict, and the controversy that preceded it, once again held the rule book up to ridicule, it was an extremely important result for the GAA.
“I suppose the point is that if someone goes to court and is successful, it will encourage others,” said incoming GAA president Sean Kelly. “If not, the trend might stop. I have some sympathy if there are anomalies in the rule book, but the spirit of the rule has to be addressed. Either we abide by the rules or we change them. It’s certainly an undesirable trend when games are held up.”
However, when rules are open to interpretation — as the GAA’s clearly are — problems won’t go away despite the fact that the decision against Na Fianna could act as deterrent to other clubs who might seek out the legal route. In the space of the last two months, Killererin have taken the GAA to court following their expulsion from the Galway championship and Donegal will have no representative in the Ulster club football championship as St. Eunan’s fight on to prove the eligibility of one of their players. Earlier in the summer, a Tipperary minor hurler, John Boland, also took a High Court action so that he would be available for the All-Ireland final.
In the past, all clubs needed was good players and good organization. Now it appears they need a lawyer as well.