.
Very harsh on McAllister who is one of the better refs around
Happy Retirement Michael Wadding.
Micky is as old as Methuselah and had a good innings so he can’t have any complaints. That Stapleton chap was hopeless though.
Saw Stapleton referee two games involving Wexford in the past year (v Carlow in the All Ireland qualifiers last summer and v Antrim in the league this season) and I was utterly perplexed by his performance on each occasion - simply not up to it. I found McAllister very inconsistent and Wadding could barely move outside the 65s these past few years.
Stapleton is one of the worst refs I’ve ever seen and gave one of the most biased performances I’ve also ever seen in a club semi a few years back. Why no suggestions to take score and time keeping out of their hands and let the fourth official do it, just let them concentrate on what’s in front of them. And how about an upper age of 40 for umpires, you see lads and girls in their 20s (people with still fully functioning vision) in Aussie rules. Mini rant over.
Bring back Denton and Dickie!
Colm Keys maintains that McAllister has been dropped due to the Michael Rice/Paudraig Maher incident last year
In fairness to Stapleton he probably found it difficult to stay interested in those games Bandage.
Ya, cause refs have lads queuing up to go do umpire for them.
I was going to mention that if he was so inept in low profile games like these then imagine what he’d be like if given a chance from provincial finals onwards. But maybe you’re right - he could have been bored. Maybe he would have flourished on the big stage…
Yeah I used to do umpire for a young referee on the Dublin senior football circuit, but the abuse I’d get was ferocious. Not worth it.
Give them am ample mileage allowance
I agree with croppy_boy bring denton back.
Is Michael Collins still reffing?
Yeah well Fagan ODowd i rate you old, yeah how’d you like that.
One thing the Aussies piss all over us for is officiating and their critique of it. All the refs we get are under 26-27 and they all would have 6-7 years experience.
They can go on power trips like te best of them, but generally they are very good and get massive respect.
Very harsh indeed considering Sexton has been retained.
RIP, sympathy to the Wadding family.
It’s not the big games where you need your umpires, it’s for the club games that get you to that stage.
Stapleton was an odd case, he refs Inter County games completely different than Club games in Laois, utterly bizarre. Probably nailed his coffin with Galway v Waterford this year.