Gaelic football regulations have been under the spotlight recently with the controversy over the Louth-Meath game but this is not the only controversy that has been brewing away recently.

The other recent controversy involves the protocols regarding our National anthem before a ball is even caught or kicked. The GAA regulations say that, “only the 30 players who are due to start the game, as well as the referee, are allowed on the pitch.” Four teams have recently been fined €700 each for breaking this regulation - Cavan and Fermanagh in football, and Sligo and Louth in hurling, as it was cited that they had unauthorised personnel on the pitch during the anthem. Stranger still, the actual team managers were cited for encroaching, while some were accompanied by selectors and water carriers.

According to the regulation, all players, selectors and mentors are supposed to leave the playing area immediately after the tossing of the coin. The Monaghan team has also been fined €1,100 for breaking regulations regarding the parade and for not having selectors seated during the Ulster quarter-final clash with Armagh.

This seems all too petty to be fair. As citizens we are told to stand up straight and keep quiet or sing our anthem throughout the playing of it. That is only right and proper but to fine them because their manager wants a last minute word or one lad needs to take on some water in the summer heat is ridiculous. Our footballing heroes are nervous enough before a big game without being fined for petty infringements .

Mind you, the GAA are not the only association to try and enforce ludicrous regulations . FIFA  the world governing body in soccer actually have a regulation which bans ‘air horns’. So it will be interesting to see how they handle the worldwide spread of the Vuvuzela horn, which they conveniently ignored in South Africa. It may not be driven by gas like normal supporter horns, but surely anyone who watched the world cup and heard its outlandish din will never want to hear it again.

Jimmy Greaves called football in all its forms ‘a crazy old game’.  Truer words never spoken it seems.