A FORMER CHAIRMAN OF Clare GAA has been hit with an eight-week suspension over claims of interference with the appeal of county hurler Ian Galvin, which he has already appeared to have broken.
Robert Frost, who served as Chairman of both Clare GAA during the All-Ireland winning campaigns of 1995 and 1997 and the Munster Council from 2013 to 2016 is understood to have received the suspension in the past fortnight. It follows reports that members of the Central Hearings Committee who were handling Ian Galvin’s appeal, were contacted prior to the hearing.
Frost declined to comment when contacted by The Clare Echo on Tuesday evening. He had been present at Tuesday’s meeting of the Clare County Board, his presence here and proposal of a tournament to be held in O’Callaghans Mills is believed to be in breach of the suspension.
Personnel involved in the appeal had been very confident they had sufficient evidence to clear Galvin from a one-match ban which he received after getting a red card in Clare’s two point win over Cork in Semple Stadium at the beginning of May.
However, an emergency meeting was called by the GAA’s management committee when CHC chairman Brian Rennick deemed Galvin’s initial hearing null and void after members of the body informed the meeting that they had been approached.
As flagged by The Irish Examiner, this breached Rule 7.3 (w) of the GAA’s Official Guide which carries with it a maximum penalty of two months. A new committee was quickly formed to rehear Galvin’s case and they upheld his suspension later that week. The temporary members were George Cartwright (Cavan), Jack Devaney (Down), Declan Bohan (Leitrim) and Seán McKenna (Monaghan).
Pat Teehan (Leinster chairman), Ciarán MacLaughlin (Ulster chairman) and Paul Duggan (Armagh’s Central Council delegate) were put on a sub-committee by Coiste Bainisti to investigate the approach. In a report, they said, “It was agreed to initiate disciplinary action against a named individual and a proposed penalty was agreed. Full details to be disclosed when the disciplinary process has been concluded”.
Currently, the club delegate for the Mills, Frost lost out against former Munster Council colleague Simon Moroney to become Clare’s Central Council delegate in 2019. He attempted to become GAA President in 2017 but only collected 20 votes. He was in the running to contest the position of Clare GAA in 2020 when Joe Cooney’s term concluded but withdrew, the subsequent post was won by Jack Chaplin.
Frost has also put his name forward in political circles. Now residing in Sixmilebridge, he was one of four Fianna Fáil candidates in the running to be co-opted to Clare County Council following Cathal Crowe’s (FF) election to Dáil Éireann, party members gave their backing to Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) at this convention.
