When is this fools reign as President over? Come back Christy Cooney all is forgiven
OâNeill issues warning to keyboard warriors
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Furious GAA president Liam OâNeill has warned inter-county players who slandered him on Twitter that he will take action if they do so again.
The Laois man angrily dismissed as âoutrageousâ suggestions made on the social networking site that Monday morningâs All-Ireland football second round qualifier draw was rigged to ensure Cavan faced Kildare and setting up a potential SeĂĄnie Johnston return home to face his native county.
OâNeill vehemently denied the accusations about the legitimacy of the process, which was carried out by him and TV3 Gaelic football pundit Liam Hayes live on the stationâs Ireland AM programme.
âIt was one-sided and it was outrageous to suggest that a draw would be rigged,â lashed OâNeill. "They called into question the honesty of the entire TV3 crew, the games section in Croke Park, they called into question my honesty and the honesty of Liam Hayes and the two cameramen.
"That is outrageous, absolutely outrageous.
"It can be clearly seen that they were the sixth ball out of each pocket. Iâd love someone to demonstrate to me how that can be rigged.
"They were put into the third bowl, Liam Hayes twirled them and I looked the other way and pulled them out.
"Why on earth would a GAA president lower himself to the state where he fixed a draw? What value would it be?
"But whatâs really hurtful is I have never criticised any player in my life as an administrator.
"I have never said anything bad about any player and I find it outrageous that people would tweet what apparently was tweeted about us.
"The message has to go to the players that doing it on Twitter doesnât absolve you of the responsibility for what you have said.
"I take a very dim view of it.
âI am not going to do anything this time but itâs something I am watching carefully and will not accept people slandering me like that.â
OâNeill explained that he arrived in TV3âs Ballymount studios in Dublin before 7.30am on Monday and only met Hayes a few moments before they walked into the studio together.
"He is a very serious man and someone for whom I have very serious respect.
âHis only comment on me (in his newspaper column) wasnât all that favourable so to suggest that we would collude in a draw is stretching it a bit.â
OâNeill was taken aback that some of the âfixedâ comments came from well-known footballers.
"Those top county players have been trained by the GPA how to behave and how to handle press and they know what they are doing.
âI donât know what I have done in my life to suggest to them that I would be dishonest but it is just not good enough.â
Asked what type of action he would take were he to be slandered again, OâNeill responded: "How long would you accept slander? There is a stage if people continue to slander you that you will have to take action. Iâm not even sure what to do about it.
âI want to put down a marker itâs not acceptable it just shouldnât happen and I donât want it to happen again.â
OâNeill has also told players critical of match officials on Twitter over the weekend that they could be punished for their comments.
"I donât think anybody has any great respect for people who write stuff and donât put their name to it.
"The one thing I will say for the players is they are putting their name to it but they might suffer the consequences of it and not everybody is going to be as easygoing as I am.
"We use social media nationally and will not retreat away from it. We are encouraging our units to do it but I think in your (media) profession you know the limits, know what you can say and you donât slander people, you donât libel people.
âI think if you know it, others should know it as well. I think people need to realise they need to be responsible for their comments. These people have been educated by the GPA on funds provided by us.â
GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell admitted he was concerned by the playersâ criticism of match officials on Twitter over last weekend.
"Obviously, the whole advent of social media is a challenge for every organisation. It can be very positive if harnessed in the right way.
âBut it can also cause some issues if itâs not. And we have encouraged players to be very, very careful of their attitude to Twitter, and just to draw breath on occasion and reflect and maybe leave it to the following morning or 24 hours before they actually put pen to paper, so to speak.â
Meanwhile, OâNeill said the GAA will gratefully accept the GPAâs proposal to change the format of the All-Ireland senior football championship.
In August, the GPA will ask their membership to vote on one of three ideas put forward by a group of recently retired and current players before submitting it to Croke Park.
They intend doing the same for the hurling championship, which is up for discussion next year, at a later date.
âAnyone who has a better idea about the format of the Championship is welcome,â said OâNeill. "You wouldnât believe the number of suggestions I get every day about every aspect of my job.
âSome of them are in very colourful language. Youâd never be in this job without suggestions of how to do things better.â
