DAVID GOUGH’S BIG YEAR
Meath ref opens up on Pride, Brolly and the All-Ireland final controversies
WALKING into the Java coffee shop in St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, one of the first things that catches the eye is the collection of quotes dotted around the walls. Voice of our times, Greta Thunberg is there. Rubbing shoulders with a car manufacturer from a previous century, Henry Ford, and a statement that no doubt resonates with the climate-change warrior.
‘Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.’
Just inside the door is the office of David Gough, games development officer for the college. If there is a line hanging up that seems most apposite, it’s the clarion call from former president Mary Robinson: ‘Feel empowered. And if you start to do it, if you start to feel your voice heard, you’ll never go back.’
Meet the man behind the whistle. He takes you up the steps of the library, to the glass viewing area on the third floor which hangs out over Drumcondra Road as if suspended in mid-air and gives a unique panoramic view of a slice of northside Dublin.
Dominating the cityscape is the architectural behemoth of Croke Park itself. For a referee, it’s like looking out at his own Everest every day. Knowing he has planted his flag there.
A DEFINING moment in Gough’s personal journey came when he sat his parents down at the family kitchen table in Stackallen, a townland outside Slane, and told them he was gay. That he didn’t want to have to lead a double life, particularly where those closest to him were concerned.
‘It was the 31st of January 2011. I suppose there was shock at first. It had taken me four years to come to the conclusion that this was something that I wanted to do and share.
‘It was unfair of me to expect them to be okay with it straight away. I had gone on my journey; they needed to go on theirs. But their journey was much quicker than mine. They got over it very quickly.’
Last week, he watched his friend Nigel Owens referee the World Cup rugby quarter-final between Ireland and the All Blacks before heading across to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, where he delivered a rules briefing as part of the GAA’s Special Congress gathering. It was Owens’ decision to bravely tell his own story publicly that transcended the boundaries of his sport and gave a traditionally macho environment a new kind of role model. The Welshman’s status as a trailblazer convinced Gough that he could play a part in changing attitudes in Ireland.
‘It was a huge inspiration, particularly with what I attempted to do in Croke Park around the marriage equality referendum.
‘I felt if Nigel was able to do it on a worldwide stage in what would be a very strongly-supported male sport, I just felt well I can do that on a national scale in Ireland.
‘Seeing the outpouring of emotion and love and support Nigel had got, I just felt: “This is a safe space”.’
In the spring of 2015, Gough felt let down when Croke Park blocked him from wearing a Gay Pride wristband while refereeing the Dublin-Tyrone National League match to show support for a ‘Yes’ vote in the same-sex marriage referendum, and to highlight homophobia in sport. Yet, only last May, he was on The Late Late Show, revealing how the association would be taking an active part in the Dublin Pride festival, a reflection of the quantum leap Irish society has made in recent years in terms of changing attitudes.
‘I have had nothing but positive support since The Late Late Show appearance. It’s been fantastic. It’s a positive story, not just for me but for the GAA.
‘They then backed it up by appointing their first ever Diversity/Inclusion Officer – the first national body to do so. In just the space of four years, they’d come from where they were unwilling to support a stance I was making where I wore the wristband to being able to make huge statements in relation to diversity and inclusion policy within the association.’
Valerie Mulcahy is a 10-time AllIreland winner. A lead character in the all-conquering Cork ladies football side. Someone who, like Cork hurling goalkeeper and All-Ireland winner Dónal Óg Cusack, moved the dial by going public about her sexuality.
Gough speaks then of the significance of the Pride Parade and how it was a big step to take for the GAA under president John Horan.
‘It was huge. For both myself and Valerie who fronted up the campaign. I don’t think I would have been able to go through with it without Valerie’s support. She brought the whole weight of the LGFA [Ladies Gaelic Football Association] behind her to that initial meeting with John Horan. So we had one foot in the door.
‘The day itself was fantastic. We had a small delegation who marched in the parade. A number of highprofile GAA personalities came to support us beforehand – Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Babs Keating, Joe Brolly, Paul Flynn.
‘My own parents even arrived the day of the parade, which was a complete shock. A very emotional moment to see them coming out of the crowd with their rainbow stripes on their face and they walked down O’Connell Street with me.’
In being the first elite Irish sportsman to come out publicly, Dónal Óg Cusack paved the way for the likes of Valerie Mulcahy and others to the point where the one thing missing is a high-profile Gaelic footballer. So is it only a matter of time before the first inter-county footballer comes out publicly?
‘Well they’re there. And I do know some of them. They play at intercounty level. When they’re ready, they’ll take their own steps – if they want to. They might be very happy living their life privately but it’s not going to be too long before you see some coming out as well.’
GOUGH’S journey on the GAA playing field came hand in hand with a love for tennis. For a simple reason. ‘I played tennis from the age of seven. The tennis courts in Stackallen which is six courts, was about 150, 200 metres from my home. So I spent my summers there. Most people go to the Gaelic pitch and play and hang around. The pitch is nine to 10 miles from my house.
‘I play here in the Dublin leagues at a Class 2 level. I play at Open level on the GLTA which is the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance.’
A far cry from the Slane pitch where he also started off as a kid playing Gaelic football.
‘I played every championship match from when I started to when I retired,’ he declares proudly.
‘I always played with Slane GFC, from underage to the top team in club. I won an Under 21 title with Slane and captained them the following year.’
So was he a corner-back a referee would have to keep an eye on? ‘No, I was very clean! What was more frustrating for referees was that I actually knew the rules so if I wasn’t happy with their decisions I’d really challenge them. I was very, very lippy.’
Today, he ticks another one off the bucket list – to referee the Meath
‘JOE SAID HE WAS WRONG, HE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THE RULES’
county final. It’s a strange quirk of his own county that he has officiated the big show in Croker yet this is his first Meath county final, so is this a big source of pride?
‘Hugely so. I would have grown up with my grandfather bringing me to Meath county finals. I went to them every year.’
Gough’s journey as a referee started in St Pat’s as a student teacher himself, under Tom Fitzpatrick.
‘He was games development officer at the time, which is the job I now hold. I was training to be a tennis umpire. Tom knew I had an interest in rules. So after a few weeks, Cumann na mBunscol leagues started. St Pat’s of Drumcondra were playing a match here on the pitch. The referee didn’t turn up. Tom threw me a whistle. Said, “Go out there and make yourself 40 euro.” He came out and watched the match and said: “This is something that comes very natural to you.”
‘Tom used to bring me down to Croke Park to the screen room, below the large screen on Hill 16.
‘He brought me for Championship every Saturday and Sunday from 2005 to about 2010. Tom would decide what replays could be shown
– depending on whether the referee made a mistake or an injury was bad. So I had five years of learning the rules from the top referee tutor in the country before I even got on to the national panel.’
Little did he think though he’d end up here, with his own office in St Pat’s and a daily view out over Croker. ‘I THINK it’s an injustice if he does get the game. A final referee has to be a neutral referee. Living and working in Dublin, you are not neutral. Of course when David Gough goes out to referee a match he is trying to be neutral and impartial, I am not questioning that, but it can’t be fair that if you are living and working in a place, that you get to referee an All-Ireland final involving that county.’
And so to the All-Ireland final. The smoking gun of the podcast where former Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice unloaded. The only question was, would there be a body?
So did Gough feel pressurised in the build-up?
‘I didn’t hear what he said at the time but I’ve since listened back to the podcast. To be quite honest, he was asked a very genuine question. To be fair, he gave a very reasonable answer. I couldn’t really say I’m angry.’
Even over the use of the word ‘injustice’?
‘I think that comment came out off the back of Brian Gavin’s comment earlier saying it would be an injustice if I didn’t get it.
‘So Éamonn was just using the words he was presented with in the podcast.
‘I live in Dublin. I work in Dublin. For most people coming through as primary school teachers, the only place you can get a job is in Dublin city. Because all the country jobs are taken.
‘Also, I was going through my own awakening to sexuality, and there wouldn’t have been a life for me outside of Dublin city. It’s just not there around the country.
‘When I came out in 2011, it fitted the need I had to live in a city that was a little bit more open, accepting. There were bars that I could go to meet people.
‘That’s why I stayed here.
‘There is often a comparison made between myself and Nigel Owens. Because we have struggled with our sexuality growing up, the only thing we ever wanted was equality and fairness. It comes so natural to us on a pitch to be unbiased. I could never, ever think I could be biased on the field because it’s the one thing I would hate in my own life.’
Dublin on the hunt for the Holy Grail of an unprecedented five-in-arow was another explosive element to add to the mix.
As a pressure valve, he reveals he sat down with a former Galway hurler turned life coach, Justin Campbell.
‘I went and spoke to Justin one morning over breakfast in the Red Cow and I left Justin feeling that this game was made for me. That I was going to have no issue whatsoever. I had taken all social media off my phone so I wasn’t being mithered by notifications from Twitter or Facebook or Instagram. I just felt completely comfortable going into the game.
‘I made a huge effort on the day to get into the best position on the pitch to make the correct calls. Luckily, for those key incidents I was in the right position every time to make the correct decision.’
Such as the 12th-minute decision to award Kerry a penalty for a Jonny Cooper foul on David Clifford. And then red card Cooper just before half-time for a second yellow offence on the same player. Even when he knows in his heart of hearts it’s right, is a part of his brain shouting “Don’t do it!” knowing what is at stake?
‘That doesn’t come into it at all. My sole focus is to control the game in accordance with the playing rules. I had visualised from speaking to Justin, having to make important decisions, and what I was going to do. I reacted exactly how I had visualised I was going to react.’
Just to further light the fuse, then came the claims from RTÉ analyst Joe Brolly – against all visual evidence – that Gough had fallen for the Kerry ‘propaganda’ in sending off Cooper. ‘And 1.1 million people watching it,’ says Gough, smiling.
So does any sense of that filter into the dressing room?
‘The dressing room is a closed shop at halftime.
‘The only people who have access to me are the match officials on the day. Then the referees co-ordinator and the referees trainer Aidan Brady would come in to test the blood from my ear for glycogen levels – before, during and after the game.
‘There are no monitors, no TV – everyone’s mobile phones are shut off. And not allowed to be switched on till after the game. Which is the proper way to act.
‘I haven’t watched it back because Joe would actually be a very good friend. He came and supported me during Pride and I told him when he rang me to apologise that I hadn’t watched it – and I wouldn’t watch it. That it was his opinion on the day. I didn’t want to hear it.
‘I really didn’t want the memory of that. So I didn’t watch it and still haven’t watched it.
‘I suppose it was Wednesday when he rang. At that stage everything had calmed down. I had done my analysis on the match. I knew in my own mind when Joe rang that I had made the decisions correctly. As you’d expect with Joe Brolly, it was a very humorous conversation.
‘We both made light of the situation, even though it involved quite a serious comment in front of 1.1 million people. He explained how he saw it. I explained exactly how I saw it and was able to back it up with analysis and replays.
‘And he as much said that he was sorry. He was wrong. And he didn’t understand the rules. We moved on and talked about other things.
‘We’ve met since. The Irish Haemochromatosis Association contacted me through David Beggy to help referee the Iron Games in Croke Park.
‘My family have a history of haemochromatosis [an excess of iron in the body].
‘I was only too delighted to help out. I didn’t know that Joe was going to be there on the day.
‘Of course, when we met, a number of people were there with cameras and asked for a red card to be shown. So we stood and posed for the photo which got a great reaction.’ That the fall-out from final day has seen Brolly effectively gone from RTE is not something he wants to be drawn on.
The nature of refereeing means that there is always another game coming.
This afternoon, is another big day. One he has waited on for a long time.
From sitting in the stand with his grandfather to taking centre-stage.
It’s been some year.