The question was asked following Jason Forde’s tangle with Davy Fitz earlier this year.

At a recent Tipperary GAA county convention the question was raised of how many players does it take for a scrap to be considered a melee nowadays, either two or more, or at least five were the possible answers County Board secretary Tim Floyd proposed just so long as it was clearly defined in next season’s rule book.

At the convention, when the motion was put forward by Floyd, it was overwhelmingly accepted by the rest of the panel which in turn means that it will be before Congress next year for it to be finally decided.

The issue was raised following Tipp star Jason Forde’s contribution towards a “melee” when he confronted Wexford manager Davy Fitz on the pitch during his side’s league semi-final all the way back in April this year and as most of you know, with evidence from the clip below, Davy is no stranger to confronting players on the field he feel’s are in the wrong.

Floyd went on to represent Forde at the midfielder’s disciplinary hearing following the incident and when he asked the board how many had to be involved for it o be considered a “melee” they replied “at least two”. However the Tipp man wasn’t one bit happy with this saying “they made it up on the spot” and wants clarification on the figure come next season.

However if a particular number is in fact labelled towards an incident, lets say five for a melee, then it might be very difficult for referee’s and officials to discipline certain incidents if there are less than five involved, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the scrap or schmozzle isn’t as illegal or disruptive than one with the desired figure.