The McGuinness suspension saga shows the law is an ass – rulebook must be updated for new structures and new season
CONSPIRACY theories have tended to gather around Jim McGuinness like confetti at a wedding.
Back in 2008, the man himself could be forgiven for thinking there were forces at work out to thwart his football ambition. As if being rejected for the role of Donegal senior football manager the first time wasn’t enough, a second audition painted a picture all of its own.
His attention to detail meant that he wasn’t about to rock up for the interview at Jackson’s Hotel in Ballybofey with a few loose notes written on the back of his hand. Just to ensure all bases were covered, he prepared a PowerPoint presentation to outline to officials the full extent of his plans. Having been given the green light to knock himself out in terms of a pitch, the punchline came when he discovered there wasn’t so much as a plug socket in the room.
That night, the story goes, he drove away without ever opening his laptop, in the full knowledge that his face didn’t fit — at least with those that mattered.
It would be another couple of turbulent seasons before he went through another interview process for the same position. Third time is a charm and all that.
So the idea that various power blocks might be lined up against him has always held currency.
When news of his proposed eight-week suspension for fielding an underage player in Donegal’s Dr McKenna Cup hammering of Armagh last week broke, one of his old trusted on-field soldiers Eamon McGee pointed to it fitting a type of agenda.
‘A suspension? Absolutely farcical and another example where Ulster Council just can’t hide their contempt for Donegal.’
This was certainly not how McGuinness imagined his first official match back in charge going. The 3-16 to 1-6 hammering of Armagh in the first round of the competition could be explained in part by the opposition’s decision to field an under-20 selection but it was the eligibility of another young player that proved to be the sticking point.
At the time, Finbarr Roarty — a clubmate of McGuinness’ at Naomh Conaill — was just 17. Actually a day short of turning 18. His inclusion, however, broke the rule which says senior inter-county players have to be aged 18 by the start of the calendar year.
And the rule is black and white about the penalty for such an act — an eight-week ban for the person in charge of the team and a two-week ban for the player.
So it’s hard to pin down any conspiracy theory that the Ulster Council have such a low opinion of Donegal and McGuinness that they decided to uphold the rulebook via the letter of the law.
Now the question of whether the law is an ass in this case? Well, that’s a whole other argument. One easily made. Given that McGuinness namechecked the player in a post-match interview, it’s clear that this was no attempt to pull a stroke but a mistake.
The result of his subsequent appeal and hearing by the Ulster Council deserves to reflect that. When the punishment so obviously does not fit the crime, it only undermines the whole credibility of the rulebook and the body in charge of any competition.
For mistakenly playing a player who is underage by a matter of days, an eight-week ban would cover Donegal’s first five Allianz
Football League games. The seven-game group schedule in Division 2 starts with a home game against Cork on January 28, an away trip to Cavan the following week, a home game against Fermanagh on February 17 and then an away game against Armagh a week later.
The suspension means McGuinness would not be eligible to return until Monday, March 4, the day after Donegal’s fifth-round game against Louth.
Now in the past year alone, the GAA has changed the nature of its flagship competitions, linking Allianz Football League standings to participation in the Sam Maguire Cup or the second tier Tailteann Cup.
So the stakes have never been higher in terms of the importance of a league campaign.
Finish towards the bottom of Division 2 and Donegal risk missing out on the All-Ireland series proper and a shot at lifting the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time since McGuinness guided Donegal there in 2012.
Since that rule, re underage ineligibility, was introduced, the GAA has also changed the very nature of the calendar with the introduction of a split season — a good thing in so many ways but which has the effect of compressing the league timetable and the schedule of fixtures so that an eight-week ban covers the majority of the group league stage.
As a punishment for fielding an underage player in a glorified challenge game, that is crazy.
Of course, there needs to be a proper deterrent for flagrant abuses of a rule such as this. But the rulebook also needs to be updated to reflect the changed competition structures and calendar so that the punishment fits any crime.
In this case, it is so out of proportion as to be self-defeating.
McGuinness is such a strong personality that he has always tended to divide opinion.
HIS comeback is box office and quickly electrified the Ulster championship draw and the bigger picture race for Sam in 2024. An outsized ban like the one proposed merely removes one of the most interesting figures in Gaelic football for a crucial part of the season — for an entirely separate competition.
But it has exposed early failings in the Donegal set-up.
McGuinness has been out of the inter-county management loop since stepping down after the 2014 All-Ireland final defeat by Kerry and opting to pursue a soccer coaching career.
That’s still not much of an excuse for not knowing whether a burgeoning young talent from your own club is actually eligible to play senior for Donegal in the year ahead.
Player eligibility is a very basic detail that should have been picked up by the county board officials who have to sign off on any squad list.
Which perhaps points to another potential failing — a tendency to operate at a remove from the board in certain aspects so as to minimise any conflict points over team preparation.
Hailed as the second coming, this unnecessary saga also already shows this god has feet of clay.
This all comes after such a turbulent year for Donegal, on and off the field.
One in which manager Paddy Carr fell on his sword before interim manager Aidan O’Rourke stepped away following a comprehensive defeat by Tyrone in a preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final.
What Donegal need for 2024 is stability and reorganisation.
Ultimately though, the Jim McGuinness suspension saga shows the law is an ass — and that the rulebook needs to be updated to reflect changed Championship structures and the changed season.