Donegal minor manager Declan Bonner revealed some extraordinary abuse today that was leveled at one of his players during last Sunday's Ulster Championship game against Tyrone.
Bonner says that he is considering walking away from the game because of how sledging has created such a "toxic" environment.
The former All Ireland winner has revealed in The Donegal News how his team captain, Micheál Carroll, was taunted over the death of his father during last Sunday's match.
He alleges that two Tyrone players mocked 17-year-old Carroll about the death of his father, Francie Carroll, who passed away in February 2014.
Brendan Devenney joined us on Off The Ball tonight to discuss the sledging situation and he said that it "turned his stomach".
"[The sledging situation] is festering away and something needs to be done. I heard about it on Sunday evening and it turned my stomach and there were a couple of people close to the action that heard it," he said.
"We're going down the road of are we allowing this scum element and scum talk? There's a big difference between a bit of banter and slagging and there's definitely levels of sledging where you give it and take it a bit. But now we're getting to a phase where people are just in people's ears and properly doing research and goading them. I mean, how do these lads even know this information [about opposition players]? That's what kind of scares me."
Devenney also added that Donegal, Armagh, Tyrone and Monaghan are the counties that engage in sledging the most, and wants the referees to deal with it by dishing out immediate black cards.
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