Club Fines

shano

I would like to hear your views on the club fine policy used by the GAA. I can only speak for what happens in our county but I presume it's the same all over.

What I am referring to is situations where a club member, player or official is brought before the county board for a disciplinary hearing and then subsequently the club involved is issued a fine if the person or persons are found guilty.

This can be large cash amounts in many cases and while large clubs can afford this, it can push smaller clubs over the edge. Take an example of a player who pays E20 annual membership and then through lack of discipline brings a E1000 fine upon the club. It is very hard for club deligates to face the public with requests for sponsorship when those patrons witness these individuals behave so badly.

What I would like to see is a policy whereby the guilty individuals involved are made responsible for the payment of these fines. This way those involved would think twice before committing an offence in future.

I realise that the GAA at county or national level would rather deal with clubs as a whole rather than individuals from a practical point of view so maybe this is something that clubs themselves would need to enforce. Opinions please.....

Imposter

I think it would depend on what the fine was for. Under what circumstances can individuals get fines?

I'm not a big fan of fines in the GAA as it's an amateur game and money shouldn't be the penalty imo. I understand it might be hard to agree a different type of penalty but as you say fining small clubs the same as larger clubs is hardly good either.

shano

Imposter wrote:

.... Under what circumstances can individuals get fines? ...

A real example of what happened our club will illustrate what I mean - The manager of our u-14 team was deemed to have physically threatened (a gross exaggeration) a referee after he sent off one the best players when a brawl broke out. The manager in question also happens to be a player on the senior team. Everything hinges on what the referee submits in his report when it comes to a disciplinary hearing. In this case the manager received a 6 month ban from playing and the club received a fine of E1000 which following an appeal was reduced to E500.

The club in no way condone the behaviour of the manager and sympathise with the difficult job of refereeing at all levels but it also feels that it is somewhat unfair that they are made responsible for the actions of one individual.

Imposter

shano wrote:

A real example of what happened our club will illustrate what I mean - The manager of our u-14 team was deemed to have physically threatened (a gross exaggeration) a referee after he sent off one the best players when a brawl broke out. The manager in question also happens to be a player on the senior team. Everything hinges on what the referee submits in his report when it comes to a disciplinary hearing. In this case the manager received a 6 month ban from playing and the club received a fine of E1000 which following an appeal was reduced to E500.

The club in no way condone the behaviour of the manager and sympathise with the difficult job of refereeing at all levels but it also feels that it is somewhat unfair that they are made responsible for the actions of one individual.

A similar thing happened us in underage but suspensions were all that was handed out. As you say the referees report is gospel which is so often unbelieveably far from the truth as to make is laughable!

In fairness it was an official of the club that caused the club to be fined, which in a way is the clubs responsibility as they appoint these officials. If it was something a supporter done, then I don't think the club should be responsible (even if the supoporter is a member), but things done by officials and to a slightly lesser extent players are done while representing the club and the club should be somewhat answerable for them. Again though i'm not sure fines are the correct way to go about this.

River Allow

Same thing happened to Newtownshandrum last year when they won the club all-Ireland. They got fined for the smallest of things e.g. when the supporters came onto the field when the final whistle was blown. I mean, in fairness, it wasn't Newtown GAA's fault the supporters came onto the field... Why should they have been fined. I think it is terible. A club like Newtown can't afford to be paying fines such as these. they have enough bills to pay with all the renovations they are doing in their pitch up there. It really just isn't right!!

cHilliSheep

Ref's need to be protected. You shouldnt be able to talk to them at all.

thirdmantackle

clubs have to be fined.

individual members of the association cannot be fined

kmart6

Yeah but how many times is the ref's report the same as what actually happeneb. Many a time we have had players sent off,straight red and the ref puts it down as twp yellows just to avoid a bit of extra paper work. I remember a few years back in a schools match there was a fight and the opposing team were goin to get two lads sent off and us one,so the ref just decided to leave them all on the field and play on. And we could have done with them been sent of cause the gay for us was and still is a pure-bread glory!!!