The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Referee recruitment is under
Adecrease in the number of new referees coming on board in Kerry - and the reasons for the shortfall in GAA referees in the county - were highlighted at annual Convention last Monday, with an impassioned plea for every club to supply at least one referee and a call on everyone in the Association to show far more respect for the match officials.
Pat Sheehy from the Referees Committee outlined ot delegates the problems facing the committee in relation to recruitment of new referees and the retention of existing ones. He stressed that the responsibility for providing referees to officiate games in the county lies with the clubs, but said too many were negligent in their obligation.
“Clubs have to nominate referees,” Mr Sheehy said. “In 2017 clubs nominated 120 referee and after making contact with them all we found that only 70 were available. That was just to fill the Eolaire, some of them weren’t even in the country, and yet some of our clubs nominated them to referee our matches. Some of them had gone out of the country a year or two before that.”
He told delegates that of the eight senior clubs in the county only three have active referees, the 16 Intermediate and 16 Premier Junior clubs have 10 active referees each, and the 18 Junior clubs provide only nine active referees qualified to officiate senior grade matches. The 16 hurling clubs only seven have active referees.
“Someone earlier this year at a meeting said they wanted a referee and linesmen at all county championship matches. At the height of the club championships we have 28 matches, so for that to take place we need 84 referees to cover the sidelines. We don’t have them,” Mr Sheehy said. “Ye (clubs) must supply them to us. We have to supply 84 people on a weekend so some of them have to do two matches, Saturday and Sunday.
“In 1992 we had 10 more referees than we have this year. And the unfortunate thing is that in 1992 six clubs had no referee and today the same six clubs have no referee. So some clubs are not doing anything at all about it.”
Mr Sheehy said the issue of respect or lack of it towards referees was also a problem, and something every club has to address.
“New referees are appointed to referee underage games and this is where we would ask ye to give them a chance. We have no problem with what happens inside the white line, it’s what happens outside (the line) when he’s coming off the field. There’s no point in us getting a heap of names and then losing them year after year. We had it this year where a (young) referee was taking charge of his second match and he was abused highly by a parent coming off the field. He rang me and he was in tears. Now that’s not acceptable.
“I tried to convince him and I failed, he threw his bag away. I asked his father and he said ‘no, I’m not putting him through that anymore’. His second match, and he was very interested in it and he was gutted. A parent who abused the hell out of him for no reason at all only because she didn’t like the result of the game.”
Mr Sheehy said that recent recruitment