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Education and Penalties needed for GAA responses to racism printable version

03 Dec 2012: posted by the editor - Sport, Ireland

The GAA has revealed it is looking into an incident at the Ulster club SFC final in which a player was allegedly the victim of racial abuse. Crossmaglen forward Aaron Cunningham claimed after the match that he had been subjected to racial abuse about his father, who is a black former inter-county player, from members of the Kilcoo panel. Kilcoo have responded to the claims.

"Kilcoo GAC is an all inclusive club which prides itself in appealing to all sections of our community, and is shocked and saddened to hear of any allegations of racial abuse following the Ulster Club Final," their statement read. "We as a club condemn abuse from whatever quarter and shall co-operate fully with any investigation instigated by Ulster Council."

This follows separate incidents last month in Cavan and during the Summer in Wexford. Last month Cavan GAA club Cootehill Celtics claimed one of its players was racially abused at a game, with the allegation discussed at a meeting of the county's Competitions Control Committee (CCC) last night.

Make Racism a Red Card offence
Following separate incidents in Wexford, a motion is to be proposed to the GAA to make racism a red card offence. To date county boards have been without specific guidance as to the appropriate sporting sanction for incidents of racism. Earlier this year, two Wexford club players were suspended for two months each for alleged racist remarks made to inter-county star Lee Chin, who was playing for Sarsfields in a Senior Football Championship match. The alleged remarks were raised in the report of referee Brendan Martin and subsequently acted upon. Chin later testified that he had brought the matter to the attention of the referee after he himself had been yellow carded.

"It's becoming more of an issue for me, and it's not just me having to put up with this. There are younger people of mixed races coming up against this too. Some of them may just listen to some of the things being said to them and think, 'Is it worth this at all? I'm not going to bother'," Chin said at the time.

Following a separate incident in Wexford, an umpire was suspended for 26 weeks following racist comments directed at St Joseph's player Eddie Lawlor. These incidents prompted moves by Wexford County Board to propose a motion at the GAA congress next year on the issue. Wexford County Board will table a motion at next year's GAA Annual Congress seeking to make racial abuse a red card offence.

Co-ordinator for Show Racism the Red Card, Garrett Mullan said: "It is now clearly an issue for the GAA and a programme including rule changes and education isn needed. Intercounty and top club players such as Eddie Lawlor, Lee Chin and Aaron Cunningham are role models for young people in how to respond to racism. We fully support Wexford GAA who are to table a motion at their AGM in regard to making racism a red card offence at their congress later this month. It is up to all involved in the game including supporters, players and administrators to recognise what is racism and how to respond to it. There can be no place for racism in the GAA and no place for racism in Irish society."

Tags: Show Racism the Red Card, GAA

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