Sportsmanship and respect are two of the most important values in why sport plays such a crucial role in society. They are sometimes questioned at the highest level and a ‘win at any cost’ approach can never really be justified by right thinking people.
It may not have been the case in the days of Gordon Gekko and Wall Street but in an era where corporate social responsibility is real rather than imagined, the same ability to see how doing the right thing is as important in business as it is on the field of play.
It is especially heartening when a workforce or a team of players recognises this and decides to act and that is what has happened this week with the Gaelic Players Association with the launch of a new ‘Fair Play Campaign’ aimed at encouraging and rewarding good on-field behaviour among county players.
Recent consultation with the GPA membership revealed growing concerns among players about the rise in incidents of cynical verbal abuse, general breakdown around the awarding of frees, diving and feigning injury. It was felt that the establishment of a player-led initiative would help raise awareness of this behaviour and reduce and even eliminate its occurrence.
When asked about on-field behaviour in a GPA membership survey, just over half of respondents said they had personally experienced verbal abuse while 70 percent witnessed a team-mate experiencing similar abuse. 81 percent of players who responded felt managers turn a blind eye to verbal abuse where it does exist while over three-quarters believed a player’s wellbeing could be damaged by this abuse. Nearly 60 percent of respondents also felt ‘diving’ was an emerging threat in our games.
To help counter cynical behaviour, the GPA will establish a new Fair Play Awards Scheme which will reward players for positive actions on and off the field. It was felt that the most effective way of tackling and isolating the issue of negative behaviour, was to focus on positive displays of sportsmanship from our players and management teams through the establishment of a scheme recognising this behaviour.
“We want this new campaign to be practical and player-led,” said GPA CEO Dessie Farrell.
“Players believe they have a responsibility to promote good sportsmanship. During the course of a game there are many moments of truth for players on the sportsmanship issue. While flashpoints do and will of course continue to occur in the heat of championship battle many of our players have the ability to do the right thing in those moments. By recognising these important qualities we will pave the way for this more of this in the future.”
“Our games are physical and we want to keep them that way. However, the intention of the campaign is to educate about cynical behaviour, to raise awareness of individual player, team and manager responsibility, of protecting reputation and the importance of leaving a positive legacy for future generations of younger players.”
Following engagement with players, a steering group of former players and media analysts will be assembled to scope out the Scheme and determine the winners for 2015 while also developing criteria to expand the scheme in the 2016 season. The Fair Play Awards Scheme will be complementary to the GAA’s Respect Initiative.
