Jim is KDL’s eagle-eyed observer

ONE man who is well versed on the world of refereeing is referee observer Jim McCarthy who has given the best part of half a century following the beautiful game and has been a FAI Referee Observer for over three decades.

“My football career started by accident in my school days at a time when rugby was my favourite sport. In September 1967 I went to Westport, county Mayo to train as a butcher’s apprentice. I was going on 18 years of age on my second night in the seaside town I knew nobody so I took a walk about the town. I was passing a sports ground and I saw a number of youths playing soccer so I went in to have a look around.

“After a while a man came to check me out as I was a stranger. His name was John Morn and he asked me to wait until the game was over and he would introduce me to the lads. I was told to bring a pair of football boots the next night. For the first few friendly games I played in goals or on the right side of midfield.

“At the time Mayo had three teams, Westport United, Ballina Town and Castlebar Celtic. In those days they did not have an organised league in Mayo.”

“The clubs played competitive games in the Connacht Junior Cup and the FAI junior Cup. Westport made it to the semi final of the FAI junior in 1969 they had very talented players at the time I did not make it on to the panel but I supported them all the way.

“In 1971 I took up employment in Castleisland, at the time the KDL was formed I helped a few people start a club in Castleisland, Tom Templeman, Denis

Crowley, and Desmond Fitzgerald, who was the main driving force behind the club.

“The clubs first game was against Listowel Celtic in the cows lawn and when the referee did not show up Tom Templeman talked me into refereeing the game. I enjoyed it so much I took up the whistle and became a referee in the KDL for the next two years.

“Unfortunately the FAI did not put much training into referees in those days. At that time Kerry had a few good referees, Derry O’Shea, John Dowling, Castlemaine, Haulie O’Connor, and Kevin Hurley both from Tralee.

“George Dineen refereed a few games and in my opinion he would have made a very referee if he stayed at it.

“In 1973 I took up employment in Roscommon town, I heard people talk about the infighting going on in the soccer league. A few months after my arrival I saw a note in the Roscommon Champion that a meeting was to be held to restart the league and I went along.

“It was easy enough to elect the chairman and vice-chairman, but nobody would take on the job of honorary secretary so they continued to elect the other officers. I knew nobody in the room or nobody knew who I was.

“When all the officers were elected they went back to electing a secretary without success. One man in the room was keeping an eye on me throughout the meeting and as the meeting was about to break up he asked me who I was what I was doing at the meeting and my football background.

“After a hour of persuading I took the job for a period of three months. In those three months I found the 11 clubs in total had people with a genuine interest in the game so I took the position not only for the season, but for the next six years and remained as fixtures secretary until 1983. With my contacts I helped the referees set up the branch of the ISRS.

“In 1983 I was back home in Abbeyfeale, I met the late George O’Callaghan and he told me of a shortage of referees and gave me a contact number. I joined the branch in 1984 and really enjoyed the refereeing and made many friends.

“My style of refereeing was talking to the players during the game in those days the games in the top division were very competitive. The great teams of that era were Killarney Athlete and Celtic, Listowel Celtic, Castleisland, Rathoo Rovers, St Brendans Park, and the best team at this time, Tralee Dynamos.

“In the early 1990s James Finnegan arrived on the scene and was a major asset to the Branch. He set in place a education module and regular test paper examinations. In 1991 the FAI requested the league and the Branch to nominate a person for referees inspectors and I was nominated by both. Twenty-nine years in I have never found out was I nominated as I was a good referee or they wanted to get rid of me!

“The role of an observer is to assess referees in their control of a game and to promote referees to the League of Ireland through the referees school of excellence.

“Shortly after my appointment of inspector Kerry referees were recognised outside of Kerry, Seamus O’Mahony, was the first Kerry referee to take charge of a national cup final in 1993.

“Many of the referees made it on to the elite League of Ireland panel but for different reasons they withdrew from the panel for various reasons. At the moment we have members good enough to go on the elite panel again, but the day job is holding them back.

“I have worked with my colleague Michael Fox O’Connor, for the past seven years and he is an excellent referee observer. The standard of football in Kerry is in decline as is the standard in most Junior leagues and this is due to emigration .

“Killarney Celtic are the best team in Kerry for the past few seasons, however, I was delighted to see both Killarney Athletic and Dingle Bay Rovers win the Premier division in recent years. The way the KDL is run is not great, but as we have more to worry about with the global health pandemic so I will hold back on that topic for now.

“It is up to the clubs to make real change especially Premier A teams there should be a fixtures list and all the teams should have a game every weekend. I am not happy with the way referees are appointed to games – phoning a referee on a Saturday night they have a game on Sunday morning is not good enough of course the referees are also at fault.

“The referees tell me of the fear factor they would not get a match for a few weeks if they turned down an appointment to a match at short notice. The biggest laugh of all is the referees have to take out the corner flags to the games they referee at Mounthawk Park.”