SOME YEARS ago a late and much lamented "friend and colleague, Breandan O hEithir, wrote a book called The Begrudger's Guide to Irish Politics and followed it up with Over the Bar, a book which chronicled some of the memories and hilarities of his relationship with the GAA.

Like many other's before and since, the GAA evoked in him a mixture of love and frustration, affection and bafflement. On one occasion we discussed the possibility that the GAA could be used as proof of the existence of God since only Divine intervention could possibly have saved it from itself for more than a century.

This writer was reminded of this by some of the discussions which have erupted since last Sunday's All-Ireland football final draw between Mayo and Meath. The referee, Pat McEneaney, has scarcely taken the whistle out of his mouth at the end of the match before the whingeing and begrudgery started.

"That's typical of the GAA," was the immediate cry. The old "Grab All Association" canard was trotted out. "How do they expect people to pay once again for a replay", and "where can I get tickets again" were some of the contradictory wails that went up.

Later the women's All-Ireland final was dragged into the arena and the male chauvinist pigs from Croke Park were roundly criticised for their insensitivity in having a draw and spoiling the outing for the women.

Let us get one thing out of the way first and that is how the duration of individual GAA matches is decided. This is a problem which should be tackled. A few days before the match and again after it, Peter McDermott, a profound thinker about the game, advocated the taking of the time-keeping out of the hands of the referee and using an independently-operated public clock and hooter for matches of this importance. However, in the absence of such a method, the referee is the sole arbiter. Some of the begrudgers coming out of Croke Park last Sunday seem to have very short memories. They forget that just a year earlier the referee in the Dublin-Tyrone final had disallowed a point for Tyrone in the last seconds of the match. The score would have brought Tyrone level and probably ensured a draw.

Suggestions therefore that referees are under official instruction to "organise" a draw in such circumstances seem very wide of the mark.

As for Croke Park officialdom, it seemed to me immediately afterwards that the people who run Croke Park and the GAA itself were far from happy to be faced with another two weeks of aggravation and constant badgering for tickets.

Of course the powers that be in the GAA will be pleased with the extra gate receipts. Insofar as the question of how the money is spent is concerned, it must be pointed out that a fully audited account will be presented for scrutiny in a few month time.

The begrudgers might also reflect that if the rebuilding of Croke Park can be accelerated by the bonanza it will mean that, eventually, more tickets will be available for big games - something in the region of an extra 10,000 I am told, the bulk of those going to clubs all over the country.

The scale and venom of the criticism is an interesting phenomenon. It is understandable when it comes from genuine supporters who find it difficult to get tickets - yet tickets issued to several clubs all over the country still find their way on to the black market.

This is a perennial problem, not only in the GAA but also with rugby and soccer as well as with concerts and other popular events. Some years ago, when he was in opposition, Deputy Pat Rabbitte told us that he was going to get private members' time in Dail Eireann to push through legislation to make the selling of such tickets above face value against the law. Perhaps Pat, particularly as a Mayo man who must be pestered for tickets, may revive this enthusiasm within the life of this Government and with the support of the Taoiseach, John Bruton from Meath, who must also be getting flak from constituents.

But to get back to the GAA and its critics. At a time when several of the other sporting bodies in the country are experiencing difficulties, surely it is welcome that the main sporting body is running its affairs efficiently and smoothly even if it occasionally has a hiccup like a draw in an All-Ireland final.

The GAA has many faults and what makes the association so annoying is that it either doesn't acknowledge these faults, ignores them or does nothing about them. Even if it does sometimes address some of these shortcomings its approach is often ham-fisted and misguided, as in the decision to allow defeated teams in Munster and Leinster back into the All-Ireland hurling championship.

But it has, at present, the best stadium in Ireland and will have one of the best in the world within a few years. It has two of the best field games in the world, and when one sees a crowd of 35,000 turning up for under-21 matches, the GAA need have no fear of the begrudgers.