Eamon Dunphy on Fenway Classic brawl: If you want to do that kind of stuff, go cage-fighting
Players from Dublin and Galway tussle during the AIG Fenway Hurling Classic at Fenway Park yesterday
RTE pundit Eamon Dunphy says he has little time for players who can’t control their discipline on the field of play following the brawl that marred the Fenway Classic at Fenway Park.
The hurlers of Dublin and Galway met in the 11-a-side spectacle in the iconic Boston stadium yesterday, but the game is likely to be best remembered by the fracas which took place during the exhibition match.
Galway’s Andy Smith and Dublin goalkeeper Conor Dooley clashed close to the Dublin goal and in a full-blooded contest between teams with a recently acquired but sparky rivalry, their team-mates weren't shy about getting involved.
Referee Alan Kelly from Galway chose to issue yellow cards to Smith, Dooley and Enda Skehill, a two-minute sin-binning, thus avoiding any retrospective punishment.
Speaking on RTE 2FM’s Game On progamme , Dunphy said there is a responsibility on the players to conduct themselves properly on the pitch
“If you want to do that kind of stuff, go cage-fighting,” he told listeners when asked on the unruly scenes at Fenway Park.
"I never had sympathy for people who didn’t have the discipline to play a game and take what you get, take what comes without losing the head.
“Discipline and self-discipline is part of sport and it’s part of life. Indiscipline and that kind of stuff is not really what sport is about.
“Rule-breakers in sport are at odds with the spirit of sport. Sport is the one place in the whole of life where things are equal and it’s a level playing pitch for everybody.”
