Referees Recruitment Drive

[Lone Shark]

Seeing as all the fuss that was down in Carlow a couple of weeks ago, it seemed like an opportune time to raise this issue .....

I see Nicky Brennan launched a recruitement drive trying to bring more referees on board, sparked by a crisis in Wicklow in particular where they're saying that almost all hurling in the county might have to be abandoned next year due to the lack of referees.

I'd ask the question though - would you be well in the head? If you want to run a recruitment drive for referees, I would imagine that the first thing you have to do is back them up. This craic of suspensions falling down, abuse not being punished, these will outweigh any posters that might be done up. I can't imagine the psychology of any individual who'd want to bring this on themselves, my entire refereeing history is a couple of schools challenge matches for 14 year olds and God knows it wasn't easy. I'd say the idea of looking after a senior club league match, let alone a championship game would have me cacking myself.

Anyone here like to wield a whistle, or would think about it?

[ballymanabroad]

This is something we are really failing at in the GAA. I was involved in a recruitment drive years ago but never got to referee any games as I was too busy with Uni commitments. There are a few things I would like to see happen:

1. Only the captain of the team should be allowed to talk to the referee. If anybody else speaks out of term the referee should be well within his rights to book the player and then send him off if there are continued verbals. Everybody at the game should know this and shut up if their own players cannot shut up.

2. The referee should meet with both captains before the game (should really meet with both teams beforehand but lets face it that will probably never happen) and outline what he sees as the grey areas of the game. He should ask the captains to communicate it back to both teams before the game starts. This will concentrate the players minds on what the referee expects.

3. The tackle should be drummed into each and every player. There are three things that a referee should be instructed to look for and all players should be coached into executing these,
A - You cannot tackle from behind. The player must be in line with or in front of his opponents shoulder.
B - You cannot tackle with a closed fist.
C - You cannot push your opponent but you can shoulder them (you have to be shoulder to shoulder to do this and cannot attack from behind).

4. The referee should blow for a free and tell the players why he is awarding it. Nothing is more annoying than conceding a free without knowing why.

5. The linesmen should be able to award a free and should communicate with the referee at all times. [How expensive would three headsets for all the senior county standard referees be?]

6. The referees's umpires should be able to see the ball and should have a decent knowledge of the rules. (I once umpired at a Junior match with a guy who wanted to award a free out after a point was scored when the full forward was in the big square - he thought it was a square ball). They should also call the referee into the square to tell the referee if the backs are pulling jerseys or trying to roughen up forwards and vice versa.

All of these measures will clean up the game and get rid of pulling and dragging. If the game is sped up with cleaner football the quality of the football will get better. The best games are the ones where you don't notice the referees and they tend to be the ones where the highest standard of football is played.

One measure begets the other.

[green&white]

got to agree almost entirely with what you said...
particularly regarding issues of when players are talking back to the ref.. captain only is a fair point, but my only reserve if you've a corner forward as captain and say an altercation occurs in your full back line, a long trudge down the field ensues some major hold-ups!
i believe it is worth a try though..
for me te most frustatng thing when playing is when the ref wont explain his decisions or isnt willing to listen.. Ok sometimes players ore OTT in their expressions but thts where we need refs to be able to stamp their authority and more importantly be backed up by not only the GAA but the general public.
I agree that the linesman should have more power in games, but obviously only when official linesmen are appointed.