Oisín McConville believes the chaotic scenes during half-time of the recent Kerry v Donegal clash highlighted a rule that the GAA have failed to properly enforce at senior inter-county level.
The fiery All-Ireland series encounter in Killarney descended into controversy approaching half-time after a flare-up involving players and members of both camps.
The incident eventually saw Micheál Burns sent off before the restart, while referee Seán Hurson also instructed both managers to clear the sidelines of additional personnel.
Oisín McConville Says Kerry-Donegal Chaos Exposed Forgotten GAA Rule
Speaking on the GAA Social podcast, Oisín McConville said Hurson’s intervention was correct, but argued it should never have reached that stage in the first place.
What Sean Hurson did at half-time the other day, that should have been implemented at the start of the game.
McConville, who manages Wicklow in Division 4, explained that sideline restrictions are enforced far more strictly lower down the Gaelic football pyramid.
It’s consistently implemented in Division 4.
It gets a wee bit more loose in Division 3.
Gets even looser in Division 2, and it’s carte blanche in Division 1.
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The former Armagh star pointed out that current directives only allow one person, the manager, to stand on the sideline during games.
However, he feels those rules are routinely ignored in high-profile senior matches.
The amount of people that stand on the sideline.
So it’s one person on the sideline. So that is the directive for all teams.
McConville revealed that Wicklow’s management are regularly moved back into the dugout by officials whenever they stray outside designated areas.
Whenever we line up for a game, Gary Duffy, who’s the assistant manager with me in Wicklow, he’ll stand beside me.
Next thing, the fourth official will put him back into the dugout.
By contrast, he said top-tier games regularly feature packed sidelines without intervention.
I switch on The Sunday Game and I see Division One teams with four and five and sometimes six absolutely loaded on the sideline, and there’s no consistency in that.
McConville also referenced the GAA’s successful crackdown on half-time tunnel incidents in recent years, saying similar consistency is now needed regarding sideline behaviour.
Word is there was 45 or 50 people on the pitch at half-time. That shouldn’t happen.
That should be something that is a follow-up to all of this stuff.
Whether there will be any further fallout from Kerry-Donegal remains to be seen, but for Oisín McConville the solution is not introducing new rules, it is properly enforcing the ones that already exist.
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