TWO of Ireland's leading soccer referees, wrongfully demoted by the Football Association of Ireland, have been awarded almost £40,000 damages. Judge Cyril Kelly described the FAI as an autocracy which was incapable of abiding by its own rules.
"What can be more devastating for a top Irish referee than to suddenly find he has been relegated to refereeing under 12 C grade matches," said Judge Kelly.
He also criticised the association's decision to put League of Ireland referees, Mr Michael Tomney and Mr Tommy Traynor in charge of minor matches.
Judge Kelly told Mr Michael Byrne, counsel for the referees, that the FAI's decision to demote or regrade his clients was outside the association's rules and invalid both in the manner and at the time at which it was done.
Assessing damages yesterday, Judge Kelly heard Mr Tomney say he had refereed at the top level and had been chosen from the full panel to officiate at the FAI Cup final last May.
Mr Tomney said he had been selected to travel to Europe on a number of occasions as the fourth official at an international and also at the quarter final of the European Cup Winners' Cup involving Benfica before 82,000 people in the Stadium of Light in Lisbon.
He said he had been demoted to covering the schoolboys under 12 C League and many of his friends learned of his demotion when his picture appeared in an Evening Herald supplement, officiating at a schoolboys' game in Lucan.
He said he and his family had been "traumatised" by what happened.
Mr Traynor told Judge Kelly he too had been "shattered and devastated" by what had happened. He had been demoted from officiating at League of Ireland and UEFA matches to the fifth division of the Leinster League.
The last match he had refereed was in January, a month after FAI chief executive Sean Connolly had written "a missive" informing the secretary of the Leinster Senior League he was no longer eligible to officiate at FAI fixtures.
The court heard a similar letter had been sent by Mr Connolly to the secretary of the Leinster Junior League with regard to Mr Tomney. In both instances neither man had been informed of this decision nor had they been refunded their registration fees.
"In my view it is questionable to deprive somebody of status and employment without notifying them to that effect," Judge Kelly said. "It is clearly indicative of the inability of the FAI to have any regard for the responsibilities and duties which rest with them.
"It would strike me from all oft the evidence in this case that they view themselves as an autocracy. They don't even abide by their own decisions or rules," Judge Kelly said.
He said people who were recognised for their capabilities to referee domestically and abroad at the highest level were entitled to better consideration from the FAI than Mr Tomney and Mr Traynor had received.
Judge Kelly said the FAI had shown total disregard for both men and he concluded from the evidence that what had happened had been damaging to both in the public eye and in the circles in which they moved.
He felt that special damages in the form of monetary losses to both men were minimal and he awarded Mr Tomney £1,500 and Mr Traynor £1,000 special damages. When assessing general damages he took into consideration the trauma endured by both men and awarded Mr Tomney £19,000 and Mr Traynor £17,500.
He refused Mr David Nolan, counsel for the FAI, a stay on his order to facilitate an appeal to the High Court.
In earlier evidence the court heard that in a written and physical examination for referees in 1995, Mr Tomney had failed a physical test while Mr Traynor had been downgraded on the results of the written section.
In Mr Tomney's case he had decided to undergo the physical test even though he had not been feeling fully fit. Mr Traynor, who suffered a reading disability, had always been afforded a privilege of having the examiner explain to him any problem he might have with a question so he could answer. That system had been changed and both men believed they should have been given a chance to resit tests.
Their requests to be allowed to do so had been turned down on appeal and they had sought mandatory relief from the court allowing their reinstatement to the League of Ireland panel of referees and an opportunity to resit the tests.