We won’t bow to online flak over grounds, says GAA chief

GAA president John Horan has said that the association will hold the line over the use of club grounds after Donegal’s Naomh Colmcille was hit with a proposed eight-week ban and €500 fine for hosting a charity soccer fundraiser for a former coach suffering from motor neuron disease.

The coach in question, Paul Dillon, labelled the ban a ‘total disgrace’ as the GAA rulebook came under scrutiny again.

While a move was taken at annual Congress in February to open up county grounds to other sports in special circumstances – a reaction to the Liam Miller tribute match furore at Páirc Uí Chaoimh last year – Horan (right) revealed the GAA won’t bow to any online backlash and won’t be altering current rules in relation to clubs. ‘This isn’t about being careless, this isn’t about being dictatorial, this is just giving good, strong leadership. No, it’s not going to extend [to clubs].

‘I think it would be a very sad day that an organisation of our quality and standing would be constantly flip-flopping just because people get an opinion on social media. A large number of these people are not even members of our organisation. They are entitled to have their opinion, they are entitled to put it up on social media. But that’s not what is coming through from the membership of our organisation where we have meetings and behave in a democratic manner.’

At the same time, he expressed sympathy for those at the coalface of the FAI, in light of the rival body’s current crisis of governance and the fall from grace of chief executive John Delaney.

‘We’re not going to dance on any organisation at the moment.

‘The people involved in soccer have a genuine interest in promoting their sport. We’re all in it for sport.

‘It’s not for one of us to gloat over the other when one group is going through a difficult time,’ he added.