GAA launch Respect Initiative

The scheme, which has been piloted in a number of counties to date, will be rolled out nationally amongst all units, at Under-12 level, in the coming months. A specific programme has been devised with clearly defined roles of responsibility for all of the key participants in gaelic games including players, coaches, parents/guardians, managers and match officials.

Key aspects of the programme include: The full implementation of the GAA Code of Best Practice; Club Information Evenings; Coach and Referee Education Programmes; Designated Spectator Areas at Club games – including juvenile matches; Adoption of GAA Go Games Policy; National Marketing Programme; Recognition and Merit Awards.

GAA President Christy Cooney lent his support to what he described as one of the most important initiatives the GAA will launch this year.

He said: “We will have many significant announcements to make over the course of 2010 but few will surpass today’s in terms of importance and the potential for positive change to our games and the environment they are played in.

“We all have a role to play in this and it begins at underage level in our clubs where parents gather to watch and support their children.

“We are realistic enough to know that this is something that we can’t tackle overnight. However that doesn’t mean that we can’t make a difference from today and I believe that this programme will make a real and meaningful difference on the field of play and along the sidelines where respect for ourselves and everyone else involved in our games is of paramount importance.”

The GAA also announced details of a Fair Play Index which will see Fair Play League Tables produced over the duration of this year’s Allianz National Leagues.

Teams with the least amount of red and yellow cards will be positioned in the higher reaches of the table and an award will be made at the end of the competition to the team or teams with the least amount of disciplinary transgressions.

All-Ireland champions’ Kerry midfielder Michel Quirke welcomed the introduction of the Fair Play Index, stating: “It’s a novel idea, it’s something that’s definitely worth a try.”

Quirke, who is employed by the Munster Council as a Games Development Administrator in Kerry, added that the Respect Initiative would help resolve a number of problems involving the behaviour of parents and supporters he has witnessed creeping into underage games.

"It’s badly needed. I go to underage games, U10 games, and listen to the parents and mentors on the line. Some of the stuff they’re shouting at kids is crazy," he said.

"A lot of this will fall on the parents for them to put it into practice and referees are going to have a major part to play. Christy (Cooney, the GAA President) mentioned people at the top level setting an example, but really it has to start with the clubs at U10s and 12s. It can work its way up from there and that’s where it has to start."

He added: "If you go to an underage game that you have no emotional involvement in and stand behind the crowd of parents that are there you can listen to some of the things that the parents are saying."

"It’s not positive stuff a lot of it and people aren’t even conscious that they are doing it. Referees are getting constant abuse at that level.

"That’s the level that this has got to target - even the small things like getting the kids to line up and shake hands after the game will feed into bigger things.

"It’s respect from the ground up so by the time they’re U16s and Minors it will be second nature for them to line up and shake hands with the lads you have been trying to beat for the last hour. It has got to start down there."