GAA president Liam O’Neill spoke exclusively to Newstalk today and said there might be a need for education rather than punishment in the battle against racism in the GAA. O’Neill told Oisin Langan that bans and red cards might not be the answer, saying: “I think we’re going to have to go on an education campaign here.”

Some of O’Neill’s suggestions include courses for clubs on respect between players and spectators and punishment for both players and spectators found guilty of abuse, of any kind, at GAA matches.

O’Neill praised Lee Chin, and the other players victimised by racism, for coming forward when he had been racially abused and he then encouraged any other victims of abuse to come forward and speak out about offenders. He also admitted he was deeply saddened to hear that Jason Sherlock had been abused as a player but not come forward to highlight the issue. Sherlock had made the comments on last night’s Off The Ball.

The restructuring of the hurling championship was also discussed, with O'Neill stressing that the aim is still to get one of the developing counties to a Liam McCarthy Cup semi-final within 10 years.

O’Neill could not speak about the current investigation in to the alleged abuse of Aaron Cunningham in Sunday’s Ulster club final. He was appearing at the launch of the Off the booze and on the ball campaign.