‘I was struck twice’
As calls grow for lifetime bans for anyone who assaults referees, a senior retired GAA off icial recalls the time he was beaten with a hurley during a club championship match
THE first thing I was aware of was the shock. I was struck twice by a player on the field of play – and there was a third attempt as well. I was fortunate, to say the least, that one of the players on one team shielded me from further attack. He hit me in the ribs and in the back. I had a few marks and bruises for three or four weeks after that.
An assault of any kind is a very serious thing to happen to any referee during a game and the match was abandoned after the incident.
After the initial shock, you’re back out refereeing again but there’s a certain amount of looking over your shoulder to see if there’s anyone coming, particularly after the final whistle.
I continued on reffing for another eight years – I was determined to put the incident behind me and move on with my life.
But it does impact you, and the first six months after the attack were undoubtedly the hardest.
You feel exposed when people are running across the field at the end of a game. And your best job is to get off the field as quickly as possible.
I was interviewed by gardaí the morning after it happened. I gave a statement and I got a letter saying it would be dealt with.
Unfortunately, I didn’t hear anything after that. I made a few enquiries and I heard that it did go to court, but I never got any feedback on it.
I did receive several calls from the county board and Croke Park in relation to the incident. A lot of people phoned me also, and it is heartening to get those calls.
I think there’s been a cultural acceptance of attacks on GAA referees in this country for quite some time and it’s only getting worse. 2022 has been far more serious than any other year I can remember.
I go to a lot of club games and you see where people are constantly shouting abuse at the referee and fighting with every decision. And the match might only be on two minutes. He can’t be that poor in two minutes!
I believe sanctions should be stronger. A ban of two years is the maximum at the moment.
When somebody assaults a referee the full rigours of the law should be brought down upon them, and I think the ban should be for life. Perhaps if people had that in their head it would stop them in their tracks and deter potential assaults.
There should be no reason whatsoever to attack an official doing a voluntary job on a GAA field.
You go to matches as a spectator, as a club man, and you’re obviously not happy about some frees the referee gives. But this doesn’t give you a licence to assault that referee. It doesn’t give you a licence to go onto the field of play.
The field of play should be a referee’s sanctuary but, unfortunately, that is not the case.
There are too many avenues of appeal open to an individual who commits such an attack and that’s something the GAA needs to look at and tighten up.
When something like this happens there is condemnation from everyone.
The month goes by, the case is dealt with after the investigation and sanctions are proposed and that’s it. But then the sanctions mightn’t be accepted, and in a lot of cases they’re not.
One emphasis seems to be on a technical issue of the referee’s report. Was it written properly or are there any loopholes? We should be concentrating on what actually happened in the game – but suddenly that is secondary.
Most times lads get away with abusing the referee. Usually, the official is dealing with people on a regular basis who carry on like that. The abuse of the referee is just accepted and unfortunately that abuse at times goes further.
Education needs to come into this at low levels. At school level and underage level, the emphasis should be on having fun and enjoyment rather than abusing the referee. What does a player do at an early age if they see their mentor or the people in charge shouting at the ref? He or she will think it’s normal.
But it’s a challenging one because the authorities cannot deal with abuse unless it is reported, which in many cases it is not. And when it’s not reported, the abuser will be back on the sideline one or two weeks’ later.
That is extremely frustrating for a referee – to have someone who abused you on the line. And there are serial abusers out there, mistreating referees on a regular basis.
At times it seems as though our culture supports this mentality – that it’s OK. But it’s not OK and we need stronger leadership from the GAA to ensure the message finally gets through: that abusing or assaulting referees at any level is never acceptable.
The Secret Referee was in conversation with Colm McGuirk