THIN BLUE LINE

Champions falling foul of the rules nothing new in Gaelic Games

THE Dublin footballers have had plenty of garlands tossed at them over the past decade as they ripped up the record books.

But they’ve had less celebrated moments too.

There were cynical incidents at the end of the 2013 and ‘17 All-ireland finals as they clung to one-point leads against Mayo in the dying moments and a questionable ‘historical’ visit to the north of France in 2018, for which they escaped censure, at a time when the GAA was trying to clamp down on overseas training camps.

The latest episode, which has seen manager Dessie Farrell banned for 12 weeks after at least nine of his players were pictured partaking in a training session on Wednesday morning, is the most controversial by a distance, however.

A county board suspending its All-ireland winning boss in this fashion is unprecedented but it’s certainly not the first time that the Sam Maguire or Liam Maccarthy Cup holders have gotten in a scrape with GAA officialdom.

We look back at some of the most high profile episodes.

1985 – Kerry footballers, Bendix washing machines

1988 – Meath footballers, the uncollected medals MEATH completed their first two-ina-row with a controversial All-ireland final replay victory over Cork, despite midfielder

Gerry Mcentee being sent off.

But, speaking at a banquet at which the players were

MICK O’DWYER’S Kerry team repeatedly pushed the boundaries around commercialism at a time when players were forbidden from cashing in on their status as intercounty players.

The manner in which they raised considerable funds in 1981 for a world tour irked the GAA and there was a present the following day, GAA president John Dowling outlined how he was “disturbed” by what he had seen the day before and promised an investigation. It didn’t go down well in the Meath

shirt deal with Adidas in 1982 which they had to pull back from.

But the standout example was a newspaper ad which appeared on the morning of the 1985 All-ireland final featuring the Kerry team gathered around a washing machine under the banner – ‘Only Bendix could whitewash this lot!’

After much grumbling, it eventually passed off without incident.

1989 – Galway hurlers, Tony Keady affair

GALWAY were bidding for a historic three-ina-row when the Keady controversy exploded, with the player having been banned for 12 months for playing illegally in New York, something which the GAA regularly turned a blind eye to at the time.

Enraged, Galway camp and when Dowling was on hand to present the players with their medals a couple of months later, Liam Harnan and Joe Cassells refused to accept them. Three others didn’t shake the president’s hand when collecting theirs.

threatened to withdraw from the upcoming All-ireland semi-final against fierce rivals Tipperary and a late appeal to Central Council for Keady’s ban to be lifted narrowly failed. Having had two players sent off, Galway lost to Tipp and relinquished the title, which they didn’t reclaim until 2017 – just weeks after Keady’s untimely passing.