Christy O'Connor: GAA referees need better support to set higher standards

ON March 5 last, in a Malahide hotel in Dublin where the unofficial Gaelic Match Officials Association were holding a meeting, a man in his 70s produced an imitation gun.

Whatever the motive or reason, a file for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was prepared after Gardaí responded to the call where the individual was arrested.

It was a serious incident but the news triggered an inevitable online reaction, much of which was distilled into one tongue-in-cheek line about having finally found a way to keep referees in check.

Yet that reaction also captured much of the collective frustration felt by referees, of their continued poor treatment and unsympathetic perception amongst the public, which is why the GMOA was set up in the first place.

The refereeing body, which was formed last December by a number of referees largely based in Dublin, is not recognised by the GAA.

Seeking better conditions for Gaelic Games match officials, the group had been liaising with the Dublin County Board earlier this year before writing to the Leinster Council and Croke Park about allowing referees to appoint their own representatives as opposed to board officials doing so.

FEEDBACK

In the Irish Examiner last December, John Fogarty wrote about how the body was seeking psychological training, mental health services and counselling for club referees in the county, a recruitment and retention marketing campaign, a member of the union to be appointed to the county’s competition control committee, an increase in match expenses from €40 to €50, the creation of a central referees management system, and a referees feedback portal whereby clubs who consistently abuse and intimidate match officials could be punished.

Something had to give considering some of the horrendous conditions referees were faced with throughout 2023. Kilkenny referees withdrew their services for four days in support of a colleague who received a threatening letter following a game.

Last September, Roscommon referees pulled out of taking charge of games to express their anger at the assault of a match official in a minor football match. Later that month, Wexford just about avoided a strike when it laid out a list of hard-line disciplinary measures, one of which was removing the 96-week maximum term of suspension for verbal or physical threat to an official and passed at Congress.

The referees body is still only a fledgling organisation without a constitution or elected representatives but referees everywhere realise that all the moral condemnation around the treatment of referees soon fades away and ends with the same outcome.

People get appalled but nothing changes. The same stuff gets repeated. In the middle of his GAA presidency, Larry McCarthy reflected on the organisation’s delayed reaction to the recruiting crisis.

“We probably should have addressed referees more quickly,” he said. “Perhaps if I reflect on the last 18 months, knowing what I know now, that is something I would have started to push a little bit harder.” 

Yet nothing changed over the following 18 months of McCarthy’s term. And all the while, the frustration of referees and match officials was only increasing.

REFORM

As referees want major refereeing structural reform, the GMOA has continued to press for more engagement and support from Croke Park officials during the season, seeking more regular feedback and at least semi-monthly meetings with fellow colleagues and administrative figures as a way of improving performances and sharing information.

That need for greater help and guidance, such as a website that will allow referees to share video clips for analysis and discussion, along with investment to improve radio link-ups between referees and their officials is even more paramount considering the intensifying analysis around every refereeing performance.

Being an elite referee is a lifestyle choice, same as an inter-county player, but compared to the supports in place for the elite player to succeed, the attitude to referee welfare is nowhere near those levels.

Referees pay half their gym fees. Their boot allowance is a €250 voucher every two years. They pay for their own physio. On match days referees and umpires receive a vouched €40 meal allowance. Last year was the first season since Covid that new officiating gear was provided.

By the end of last summer, the mood among referees was low. "Certainly over the last couple of years, things weren't in a good place between ourselves and Croke Park," said David Coldrick to Michael Foley in The Sunday Times earlier this year.

"Some of that maybe was an Irish thing: you say nothing and allow things to annoy you. It would be wrong to say it's all on the referees for not speaking up either. It certainly was difficult to make progress."

Steps have been taken since a referees meeting last September produced a report detailing where improvements could be made.

Inter-county referees now have access throughout the season to a counsellor, Justin Campbell, and the sports and exercise psychologist Noel Brick, with a suite of support services for club referees expected to follow.

Greater dialogue and those changes made by the GAA in recent months have improved relations between referees and the GAA, but there is still some distance to travel before referees feel like they are getting the trust and respect they deserve.

Like on the field, trust and respect goes two ways.