"Give 'em a touch of the shtick and show them who's boss..." Such was the bloodcurdling cry of Gowlnacalley-John Redmonds hurlers as they faced into the battles of yore, recalls an Fear Rua....

An Fear Rua is a little perturbed to see that this martial spirit lingers on in parts of the GAA, or at least in some of the more benighted parts, like Kilmallock in the County Limerick. That is, if we are to judge by the recent comments of Mr Donal Fitzgibbon, Chairman of Limerick County Board of the GAA. Mr Fitzgibbon was commenting on the happenings at a minor hurling match between the local club and the stalwarts of Newcastle West. The game ended in a goalmouth melee of twenty youngsters lashing each other with hurleys. Garda Timothy Hickey, of Bruff (maybe "acting on information received" as the old-time "Guards" used to say in court) was on the sideline in uniform, and intervened to prevent serious injury and ordered the referee to stop the game. Referee Willie O'Mahony welcomed the action of the long arm of the law, describing the "Battle of Kilmallock" as one of the worst experiences of his life. If it's only "one of the worst", clearly people in West Limerick lead much more exciting lives than even An Fear Rua. He is sure Gerard Collins MEP would vouch for that.

Mr Fitzgibbon claimed the Garda had no permission to be on the field: "I'm very concerned about it on the basis that we have a disciplinary procedure.... and if you have a situation where someone comes in, you're introducing a new tier of disciplinary procedure which personally I would'nt be happy with".

When the news from Kilmallock reached all the way to Headquarters, the lads were so busy filling out their CVs for the new big jobs - and one or two of them were probably surfing the new GAA website - that more than the usual confusion reigned. The misfortunate GAA PRO, that genial Kerryman Danny Lynch, said: "There isn't really any policy on the matter..." Then in shades of An Fear Rua's old sparring partner, Charles J Haughey (all present bend one knee...), Danny described the events as "bizarre, unusual and unprecedented". Sure he should've gone the whole hog and described the situation as "grotesque" as well. Why spoil a good cliché while you're at it?

No policy on seventeen year olds lashing the living daylights out of themselves in a hurling match, An Fear Rua asks? They must be joking. If this kind of behaviour is tolerated by the GAA it won't be long before kids and their parents will take themselves off to the safer climes of soccer or tiddlywinks, with a consequent long term loss to the GAA. And as for Mr Fitzgibbon describing a Garda intervention as "a new tier of disciplinary action", An Fear Rua is flabbergasted. It's quite simple, really. No one - not even the GAA - is above the law.

An Fear Rua is pleased to hear that the local "Super" and the boys in the Garda Representative Association are fully supporting the courageous Garda Hickey. Hurling is a beautiful game, with no room for the kind of blackguardism we have seen on the Killing Fields of Kilmallock. (Kilmallock GAA Club - the boys who put the "Kill" in Mallock!) An Fear Rua often thinks it is no coincidence that the worst of these incidents always seem to occur in counties that are less than impressive on the genuine field of play themselves.

Each and every GAA official - at every level - has to stand up and be counted on this issue. There can be no equivocation. If you do not condemn violence in all its forms on every GAA field then you condone it.

Still, things have improved. An Fear Rua remembers the squally February afternoon a Gownacalley-John Redmonds full forward came in at half-time in a junior championship hurling match with his artificial leg streaked with the blood of an opponent. He thinks even the lads in Kilmallock would pale at that one...