Ah, I wouldnât have even made the connection myself (even though I was at that game back then) only I met a man from the club the day before and it brought about some amusement.
Yeah heâs excellent. His manner is very good too, heâs got a decent control of the game and doesnât act the prick.
He should be nowhere near a GAA field. There will be a serious incident some day.
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There has already been several involving him.
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From Jerome in The Leader.
LIMERICK GAA referees âhave been abused left, right and centre, and intimidatedâ at recent club championship matches.
At this Tuesday nightâs month County Board meeting, Limerick GAA Referee Co-Ordinator Patsy Coffey made an impassioned plea for the abuse and intimidation to end.
âOver the last few weekends referees have been abused left, right and centre, and intimidated and this has to stop. We canât recruit referees because of all this abuse and many of the senior referees are thinking âis is worth itâ. When abuse is reported to the County Board, they have dealt with it and handed out suspensions and long suspensions, but it doesnât seem to be a deterrent because it goes on and on and on,â detailed the long serving referee.
âThis weekend in Limerick GAA there are 28 matches down for Saturday and Sunday and 12 in Bord na nOg so 40 matches altogether. We have a hardcore group of just 30 referees - there will be a referee at every match but there wonât be linesmen. Hopefully each referee will have umpires but if not the clubs will have to supply," explained Coffey of the shortage of officials.
âAnother thing that has been noticed is that clubs or managers or whoever is running it are using children as water boys and I think that is an out and out disgrace to have them even along the sideline. Itâs not the place for them,â said the Cappamore man.
Limerick GAA Secretary Mike OâRiordan told the meeting that the âpast weekend was a fairly bleak weekend in terms of suspensions - particularly to mentors getting involved in situationsâ.
He also urged clubs not to bring kids along the sideline.
âIt is creating a difficulty having kids on the sideline doing water and hurleys. We would ask clubs not to use kids because this is a problem,â said the secretary.
Limerick GAA chairman John Cregan vowed hard decisions would be made.
âThere are some allegations of intimidation and abuse that will be dealt with by the CCC and we wonât be taking any prisoners and tough decisions have to be made to ensure our officials get the full respect that they deserve,â said Cregan.
âIt had become a huge issue for obvious reasons over the last few weeks and making national headlines, albeit at a different level to the abuse and intimidation that Patsy is referring to. Abuse and intimidation of any level is just not acceptable. Every time I have had the opportunity to present a trophy during my 4-5 years as chairman and prior to that as Football Chairman, I have always complimented and thanked the referee at the end of every game and I always state that if we didnât have referees then we would have games,â he outlined.
âWe can all argue the toss of a coin about a fella being good or bad or making mistakes but we all make mistakes and every player on the field make mistakes - itâs human nature to make mistakes. Just let our referees get on with it and I would appeal that a greater level of respect would be shown to them starting from next weekend.â
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Thereâs a few legendary stories about him during those discipline hearings they used to hold in the woodlands.
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Cregan talking out of both sides of his mouth as usual. Decrying the abuse but, at the same time, accusing the referees of making mistakes. A typical politicianâs answer. Has he evidence of this, I wonder?
Wait til we get a load of Mac next year.
The chap didnât get hit half hard enough.
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Whether or which a referee makes a mistake they shouldnât be abused. They arenât robots.
Teams and clubs need to be punished. There is no disincentive to it currently. Bringing the ball forward isnât a deterrent currently. Make it a free from the 21. Anotther abuse, penalty. Teammates would put a stop to it fair quick.
If players are getting sent off for abuse, the club forfeit the match the club wouldnât be long fixing the cunts doing the abuse.
They seem drastic but its a huge issue, without refs there are no games
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The Standing Committee on playing rules put forward a proposal some years ago that any instances of dissent would see the ball moved forward to the 20m line instead of the standard 13 metre advance. It never got trialled.
Punishing teams on the scoreboard would be a start in dealing with gowl-acting.
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From other sports it seems to be an issue at the lower levels, at higher levels there is a realisation that the ref needs to be kept onside and youâd be coached on the refs tendencies etc. One person talks to the ref and the refs tend to be stronger characters.
When i dropped down a couple of levels i couldnât fucking believe some of the things the ref had to listen to and put up with. It was appalling
Would it be the same in GAA?
From my experience, some clubs as a whole tolerate or even condone it. Have seen u8s matches blow up to seniors involving same clubs having all manner of abuse thrown from sidelines. Girls u13â# football match in Finglas 2 weeks back nearly descended in blows as thebref had the temerity for booking girls who were being violent on the pitch. Learned behaviour from the kids when youâve apes like they had on the sideline carrying on.
Clubs themselves need to cull the mouthy cunts, shouldnât be left solo to fight their own corners.
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I would always have thought soccer was much worse for it? Not saying the gah is much better but youâre probably seeing more of the same refs inside and outside the lines
Soccer was getting intolerable by the time i was packing up and cork was way worse than limerick for it. Iâd be fucking my own lads out of it at times
It was⌠Wouldnât inspire confidence but Iâd say the appointment is already made. Spike, SĂŠamus Mac, Gerry Philips, Wayne Fitz & Tony Greene. These were in accordance with the football review document laid out in 2019.
JaysusâŚ
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Iâm withdrawing my application.
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