Former Tyrone chairman Pat Darcy has claimed indiscipline is no more of a problem in his native county than anywhere else.

Speaking to the Irish Independent in the wake of last Sunday's All-Ireland club JFC semi-final between Derrytresk and Dromid Pearses, which was marred by violent scenes, the Ulster Council delegate insisted that indiscipline is just as prevalent outside Tyrone, and accuses Tyrone and Ulster's critics of "blinkered thinking".

He said: "We've had no more incidents in Tyrone and Ulster than any other province. There's a bit of blinkered thinking here. One of the worst incidents I ever saw was Tadhg Kennelly (who caught Cork's Nicholas Murphy with a head-high elbow at the start of the 2009 All-Ireland final) ... see what he did, and there was hardly a mention. That was pure thuggery.

"He (Kennelly) went to deliberately take a man out.

"If he did that in a club game and spectators ran onto the pitch and there's no protection, who's to blame there? Everybody needs to look at what's going on and deal with it. Pointing the finger at one county or another is only closing their eyes to what's happening in their own back yard."

While accepting that last Sunday's violence was unacceptable, Darcy said Dromid Pearses must also shoulder some of the blame.

"The Derrytresk club probably feel that they're being singled out as the instigators and I can see how they would feel about that. It should be left to the disciplinary authorities to investigate and deal with.

"But there have been violent incidents on the field in all provinces in recent times. It's a problem for the GAA as a whole. It doesn't just happen in Tyrone - it's happened down South quite a lot. People need to look objectively at the whole GAA picture and come to the conclusion this sort of brawling on a pitch is unacceptable and has to be stopped.

"That means using every power at the GAA's disposal, suspending players and clubs. That's the answer to the problem - not pointing at Tyrone or Derrytresk or Ulster. Look at the lad in San Francisco (Belcoo native Mark McGovern) who was almost killed. It's going on right throughout the GAA and not just in Ireland. This is a worldwide problem and maybe we need some more disciplinary rules." Tweet

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