DRA hears allegation student was struck by management member at hurling game involving Offaly school
Tribunal expresses concern at investigation process into “serious” incident at hurling game
THE Disputes Resolution Authority has expressed concern at the investigation into a serious alleged incident at a fractious colleges hurling game involving an Offaly school late last year.
An allegation that a Killina Presentation Secondary School player was struck by a non player from the Scoil Mhuire, Clane sideline during an unfinished Leinster Post Primary Schools senior hurling “C” game in December resulted in an aborted investigation by Leinster GAA. Killina SS accused a member of the Clane management of engaging in “violent conduct”.
The DRA have upheld a decision to award the game to Clane in their ruling last week but there has been some consolation for Killina Secondary School as the investigation process was questioned while Leinster GAA were also told to pay all costs for the hearing - the DRA stated that Leinster GAA didn't have to award the game to Clane and could have considered the “exceptional circumstances” that saw Killina refuse to play the final few minutes of the encounter.
They also ruled that the GAA's disciplinary bodies had correctly applied the rules and that Killina's appeal to Croke Park was out of order. The DRA stressed the importance of fully investigating incidents such as the one alleged, describing them as “unacceptable” and taking appropriate action if proven.
Killina Secondary School pushed the case the whole way through the GAA's appeals process to the DRA in frustration at Leinster Council's insistence on proceeding with the competition and not putting it on hold until the allegations were dealt with.
Scoil Mhuire, Clane were subsequently beaten by another Offaly school, Colaiste Naomh Cormac, Kilcormac who won the Leinster title and went the whole way to the All-Ireland final where St Joseph's of Borrisoleigh proved too strong for them in March.
According to the DRA judgement of Killina's case, the match was abandoned with just four minutes left when they refused to continue – the Killina managers described a “number of serious incidents that occurred” in their submission and pulled their players off the field for their “safety”.
A Clane forward had just scored a goal to put them ahead by 5-5 to 1-9.
The DRA summary of the case outlined: “Immediately after this goal was scored, the referee went to penalise a Killina defender for foul play on a Clane forward. It is recorded in his report that as he did so, a “row had started” behind his back, near the 45m line.”
The referee's report stated: “This quickly escalated and players came in from all angles. I noted that an unused sub from Scoil Mhuire Clane came onto field and became involved in fighting. Scoil Mhuire manager Paul Dermody tried to pull him off pitch.”
Killina were given five minutes to resume the game but refused to do so – the referee clarified that the Killina mentors and subs did not get involved.
The Leinster GAA Competitions Control Committee duly awarded the game to Clane with Killina appealing to their Hearings Committee. They ruled that the seriousness of the allegations involved warranted a full investigation and ordered that a newly constituted Competitions Control Committee be formed to deal with this.
The referee clarified that there were on field incidents involving players from both teams and that it was only people from the vicinity of the Clane bench who encroached on the field of play during the row.
“It was also confirmed that a Killina player had been struck by a person from the Clane side dressed in a black tracksuit who had come onto the field during the game,” the DRA judgement confirmed.
A specially constituted CCC met on January 6 and awarded the game to Clane once again but set up an Investigations Committee to examine the Killina allegations about the person who struck a player.
Killina appealed the decision to award the game to Clane to the Hearings Committee again, on the basis that it had been done before a full investigation took place. The Hearings Committee upheld the CCC decision and Killina duly took up their option of an appeal to the Central Appeals Committee in Croke Park.
On January 21, the Leinster CCC examined the Investigations Committee report and decided that they could not proceed any further with it due to “conflicting evidence from both sides”.
The Central Appeals Committee ruled the Killina appeal out of order on February 4 on a number of grounds:
That it was out of time;
That it did not identify the rules infringed or misapplied;
That it did not set out any grounds in support of the “single ground of appeal”;
And that if an email submitted on January 15 informing Leinster Council of the appeal was accepted as conforming to the time limit, it still failed as it was not signed in Irish.
Killina Secondary School took up their final option of a DRA Hearing, seeking an “acceptance that the matter has been poorly handled” and an “apology” as an “interim temporary remedy”. They were not seeking other relief such as the game with Clane to be replayed, which could have resulted in the whole competition being declared null and void and having to be re-run.
The DRA tribunal ruled that the Central Appeals Committee (CAC) should be included as a respondent and the case proceeded with Killina SS complaining at the “unfairness” of the Leinster GAA process and maintaining that the allegation of a “serious infraction by a non player” were not investigated appropriately.
The complainant alleged that a member of the Clane management had been “guilty of violent conduct on the date” - the DRA summary stressed that this was: “an allegation which was not supported by the referee’s report or clarifications thereto”.
Killina SS insisted that the decision to throw them out should not have been made without a full investigation and that this was not in “accordance with fair procedures or natural justice”.
They did not address the grounds on which their appeal to the CAC failed, other than criticising it as “an over-zealous adherence to rules rather than the principles of natural justice”.
The CAC submitted that their only role was to apply the rules and they were correct that the Killina appeal was out of order.
The DRA ruled that the CAC had correctly applied the rules and had acted appropriately; that they have to ensure compliance with the Official Guide before they consider the merits of any appeal.
The Tribunal did not make any comments on the Leinster GAA decision to investigate the allegations after sanction had been imposed and whether this was in “keeping with the principle of natural justice”.
However, they did express concern about the case, stating:
“The referee’s report confirms that players from both teams were involved in infractions which were penalised by the referee and that there was an incident involving a non-player from Clane (reported by the referee to be an unused substitute) who ran onto the field of play and struck a Killina player. Clane were not included as a party to the arbitration and so the Tribunal did not hear from Clane.”
Without making any findings on this, the DRA said: “it is clear that this constitutes a serious reported incident which was entirely unacceptable and not in the spirit of the Association”.
They found that the first Leinster Council Hearings Committee were correct that this warranted a full investigation and said it was “disappointing” that this was aborted because of conflicting evidence.
The DRA wrote: “The Tribunal does not doubt the challenges posed by investigating incidents such as this. It is not clear whether any party requested a hearing in connection with the investigation. The Tribunal observes, however, that incidents such as that which occurred in this case are entirely unacceptable. It is of vital importance that such incidents are investigated thoroughly and that appropriate action is taken if so supported by the findings of that investigation. Serious incidents involving violent conduct are unacceptable in any game; but are particularly troubling in the context of an underage schools match.”
They rejected Killina's criticisms of the Official Guide and said the GAA disciplinary committees are obliged to apply the rules in it. However, they added:
“The Tribunal believes that it is regrettable that Killina has now arrived at the end of a lengthy and complex process with a lingering sense of unfairness on the basis that its case has effectively not been heard due to manner in which those rules were applied.”
They also outlined that the Leinster Council committees did have the power to consider mitigating circumstances when awarding the game to Clane, stating the the rule under which this was done is not “entirely inflexible” and the decision was “not inevitable” - they said the relevant rule allows for exceptional circumstances to be considered when awarding a game to a team.
They made no direction on Killina's request for an apology or an acceptance that the case was “poorly handled” but they ruled that the cost of the hearing should be discharged by the Leinster GAA Hearings Committee and that Killina's deposit (€1,000) should be returned to them.