Joe Brolly has described the proposed eight-week suspension for Tyrone footballer Tiernan McCann as "unlawful", given that simulation is only a yellow card offence under GAA rules.
McCann dropped to the ground after Monaghan's Darren Hughes appeared to ruffle his hair during the sides' All-Ireland SFC quarter-final last Sunday. Hughes was sent off for the incident.
The GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee is understood to have proposed an eight-week suspension for 'misconduct that is considered to have discredited the Association' but RTÉ analyst Brolly, who is a barrister, has slammed that decision, saying it exceeds the punishment provided for diving.
Brolly wrote on Twitter: "My view is the use of the specific provision is illegal. The law of statutory interpretation applies to any rule. The lawmaker (Congress) has created a specific offence of simulation with a specific penalty (yellow card).
Originally Posted by
Joe Brolly
@PhilipJordan7 Tyrone have not been charged for this advice
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) August 12, 2015
"Tiernan's only offence, as a matter of law, is simulation, since the lawmaker is presumed to mean what he says. If this were not so, then the disrepute provision could be used to override any offence, perverse though that would be. So, for example, a striking offence could be charged as disrepute.
"The decision is therefore unlawful. It is a manipulation of the law to punish Tiernan more severely than the law allows.
"The central point is that feigning is feigning. The penalty is a yellow card. How can any single act of feigning be worse? The point of the rule is to create certainty for the player & the GAA. If misconduct can override it the rule is worthless."
Brolly concluded: "The case is most certainly headed for the DRA."
McCann is expected to seek a personal hearing.
The eight-week ban, the minimum allowed for a misconduct charge, would rule him out of the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry and the final, should Tyrone qualify.
Mickey Harte has already defended his player describing him as a fine young man and said he wasn't entirely to blame for the incident.
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Throw bile by the bucked, at those dastardly cowards who just deliberately goad good honest players into acts of indiscipline and who at every age level, methodically attempt to impose their carefully constructed cynical tactics into the game. Even when they played Tipperary, when things weren't going Tyrone's way, they goaded the usually placid Tipp men into a reaction around half time.
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