RTÉ Investigates Girls in Green

It's a bit mad since there are no juvenile or adult female players in the GAA.

How relevant is it to a story about alleged "misbehaviour" (obviously stronger than that, but I'm not sure what they can be called at the present time i.e. claims/allegations/offences) by FAI coaches over an adult womens team?

You might as well keep the deflection going by bringing in basketball/cricket/athletics/etc next

Ah ok. I had just been wondering originally why there were a load of posts "insinuating" against the GAA. I don't think there was one post with any information or story about another other soccer team apart from the one in the story obviously.

You'll get sleazeballs and chancers everywhere. The solution is to identify them and try to weed them out. Unfortunately there is also a grey line sometimes as well in clubs etc. Not talking about coaches to players even. Just players. And any sport. But the likes of a supposedly professional organisation, and at the top level, should have been weeded out from the start

Perhaps not wanting to push too much at this point in case there might be any potential court issues. As I understand it, they are only allegations. There could also be defamation fears as well.

That is as much as I assumed myself.

The LGFA is a separate organisation from the GAA, and was always substantially run by women. I'd be astonished if it wasn't one of the less affected sports as a consequence. Likewise Camogie.

Relationships are not the problem, if both parties freely enter into them. The problem is people in position of power using that power to try and secure sexual favours.

Nearly all sports have safe guarding in place. The GAA have been hiding things like this, one big case in my own town of a scumbag who is now serving jail, he got away with it for so long and got his contact with his victims directly through his official role with GAA. He wasn't the only one either, two more involved with him, one of the others has served time and the other is thankfully dead. This same person was allowed in and around our dressing rooms from under 12 to minor grades. He tried to get into a dressing room one day when we were at football (soccer) and our coach f'd him out of it away from the door of the dressing room(he used the excuse he wanted some pictures for his sports photography business) he was told in no uncertain terms he can't set foot in our dressing room and don't come back, no vetting, no access basically. If only the GAA(club and county where he was an administrator) had that rule at that time lives wouldn't have been destroyed.

All sports can do better and must do better, but none can have a holier than thou position on this unfortunately

No worries. I've been the victim of similar kinds of slurs which is why having the facts is so necessary. The girls in the programme also spoke about the same kind of aspersions directed at them because they were gay and it was coming from the same guy who was doing the abusing.

This is Gay Byrne, a man who had considerable power at his fingertips in Ireland for 50 years. Sinead was well able to call him out on his behaviour and even do so publically, without fear of reprisal but in the greater scheme of things while I don't think he was grooming her, or preying on the vulnerable, he was acting as a man in his position of his power often does, condescends and patronises and controls.

The article the attached video I referenced came from a piece his daughters did after her death where she describes the relationship as one of a protective fatherly figure. He lambasted her as much as he admired her and while I don't believe it was sexual in anyway, which is what you originally suggested, of course there are overtones of misogyny and yes in a workplace environment wouldn't consider it acceptable at all. No flies on Sinead all the same.

This thread should surely be in the soccer forum or TV forum according to the latest rules of boards.