He may be one of the most staunch defenders of the GAA's traditional values but when it comes to the law, Joe Brolly doesn't have room for emotion. The RTÉ pundit has been strangely quiet on the issue of Tiernan McCann's dive up to this point. However, now that the CCCC have reportedly handed down an eight match ban to the Tyrone man, Brolly has had his say.
In his guise as a well regarded solicitor, Brolly was asked for his thoughts on the ban by Irish News columnist Philip Jordan and the RTÉ pundit put his legal hat on and explained why the ban is little more than posturing from the GAA.
@PhilipJordan7 my view is the use of the specific provision is illegal. The law of statutory interpretation applies to any rule 1/4
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) August 12, 2015
@PhilipJordan7 the lawmaker ( Congress) has created a specific offence of simulation with a specific penalty ( yellow card). 2/4 — Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) August 12, 2015
@PhilipJordan7 Tiernan's only offence, as a matter of law, is simulation, since the lawmaker is presumed to mean what he says 3/4
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) August 12, 2015
@PhilipJordan7 if this were not so, then the disrepute provision could be used to override any offence, perverse though that would be 4/4 — Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) August 12, 2015
@PhilipJordan7 so for example, a striking offence could be charged as disrepute 5/6
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) August 12, 2015
@PhilipJordan7 the decision is therefore unlawful. It is a manipulation of the law to punish Tiernan more severely than the law allows 6/6 — Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) August 12, 2015
@PhilipJordan7 Tyrone have not been charged for this advice
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) August 12, 2015
Mickey Harte will probably have known much of that by this stage but nonetheless he'll be more than happy with that free advice. The CCCC's decision to hand down the lengthy ban may serve to prevent other players from taking similar decisions in the future.
However, at the moment it seems like little is going to come of this other than Tyrone's siege mentality tactics being ramped up to unseen levels.
