President calls for charges over abuse of amateur players

GAA president Larry McCarthy has called for legislation to criminalise those who have been found guilty of using social media to abuse amateur players.

In his speech to yesterday’s Congress, McCarthy referenced the much-publicised social media abuse directed at members of the Mayo football panel in the aftermath of last September’s All-Ireland final.

‘Stop the unwarranted assaults on people’s characters. Stop the nefarious condemnations of amateur sports people.

‘The abuse that Mayo players were subject to last summer was unacceptable, not only as sportspeople, but as human beings,’ said McCarthy, who intimated that the GAA would lobby the Government for the introduction of legislation to deal with the issue. ‘The legislation would penalise severe, personal, and excessive criticism of amateur athletes and volunteers.

‘A Protection of Volunteers in Amateur Sport Act might be considered by the Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media.

‘This could entail the design and implementation of a means to initially identify, and then penalise, people who abuse amateur athletes and volunteer sport officials,’ he said.

‘Amateur athletes and officials return to their communities after their games, they are back at work shortly after their games, and, unlike professional athletes, are not the beneficiaries of practised support when they are the focus of such criticism,’ he said

Meanwhile, a motion seeking to introduce a new under-19 age-grade at inter-county level, which would replace the U-17 age group (from next year) and U-20 2024 and 25 was rejected by Congress, despite a passionate argument from the president.

‘Over the last number of years we have had 16-year-olds appearing in All-Ireland finals and we are labelling them at that stage as winners and losers. How is that affecting a 16-year-old? We are doing them a disservice and it is (tantamount) to child abuse,’ he said.

Meanwhile, the GPA motion to prioritise integration with the LGFA and the Camogie Association was carried, but former president Liam O’Neill told delegates the GAA were not the ones holding it up.

‘We did this nine years ago,’ he said. ‘I am on record that the refusal of my offer to explore integration by the LGFA was the biggest disappointment of my three years as Uachtarán. That is history now but it is up to us all to grasp the opportunity this motion represents. I want to say I wanted it then and I want it now,’ he added.

Meanwhile, the GAA’s new central funding model, which will be primarily based on the number of clubs and members, was adopted in principle by Central Council yesterday.