Last week, another 20 or so innocents completed their initial training course and qualified as referees. Though people involved in that side of the game make the point that many more are needed to make up for the constant stream of referees who are retiring or resigning, the most obvious question after the events of the past week or so is why even that many would be crazy enough to give up their spare time to become match officials.
At the top of the refereeing tree, around 50 officials get to referee Eircom League sponsored matches on a regular basis, for which they get around £90 per premier division game. They receive roughly two thirds of that for a match in the lower division.
On Saturday, those seeking nominations for the FIFA panel next year did fitness tests in Dublin. Some had travelled to Dublin that morning having officiated at games the night before, and some of the same referees went on out that afternoon and officiated at under-21 games. Sounds glamorous, eh?
There is, of course, an enormous variation in the quality of referees currently working the circuit and it's part and parcel of the job that they take stick for their mistakes.
The fact is, though, that even when referees are right they are regularly vilified by those who have lost out as a result of their decisions. Rational attempts to talk through what has happened are not always the first thing on the minds of supporters, managers or players who feel they have just been on the receiving end of a blunder.
In the past, a few attempts have been made to get managers, club officials, players' representatives and referees together in an attempt to address some of the issues that are common to all of the parties. The results, by all accounts, have been little short of hilarious, with initially civilised meetings quickly degenerating to the point where the whole exercise has resembled one of those family therapy sessions championed by Dr Marvin Monroe of The Simpsons fame.
On the 17th of this month another attempt will be made to get some sort of dialogue going, although this time working referees and players are being excluded. Managers and club secretaries will meet with Pat Kelly and other administrators who deal with refereeing. After the events of the last week it should be another day for getting out the heavily padded sticks and letting everybody work out that pent-up frustration on each other.
As usual, the club representatives will have an almost endless list of complaints but Kelly is hardly a happy camper either. Especially not now, after last week's widely publicised claims by Shelbourne manager Dermot Keely, in the wake of his side's defeat by Shamrock Rovers, that the league is "corrupt".
"The obvious tool for corruption in the game is the referee," says Kelly, who feels that the implication of what was being said last week was obvious. Aidan O'Regan, who refereed the game, was criticised for his part in the two major incidents in the match, his sending off of Shelbourne's Jim Gannon for a challenge on Derek Tracey and the decision to let play proceed after Shelbourne goalkeeper Steve Williams had collided with Tony Grant.
Few neutrals present came out strongly against the referee on either incident . On claims that he should have exercised his discretion and stopped play when Williams went down (it transpired that his ankle was broken) both Kelly and Tony Lawlor of the Referees' Society point to the potential shambles that would ensue if referees stopped games every time a 'keeper hit the deck.
Ultimately both were judgement calls that went against Shelbourne but even if, with the benefit of hindsight, it appears that the Williams call may have been wrong, it falls a long way short of justifying Keely's allegations of some sort of broader conspiracy against his side.
Keely, like most managers, has an understandable tendency to show his emotions after such incidents but criticising referees for making mistakes, whether rightly or wrongly, is one thing; making accusations that you would not dream of levelling at a part-time player is another. What was said afterwards went too far.
Shamrock Rovers manager Damien Richardson, meanwhile, scarcely helped in the circumstances by actually heaping praise on O'Regan for his handling of the contest. It seemed at least a little amusing when, a couple of days later, he insisted he would not have had any problem with the Cork referee's performance had he, in fact, been in Keely's position. Hugh Byrne, who was savaged by the Rovers boss after a game at the Brandywell back in January might, for one, beg to differ.
On Sunday in Inchicore, Richardson underlined the difficulties involved when he was so angry after seeing his side beaten by St Patrick's Athletic he could barely bring himself to talk to journalists. The cause of the upset was a free kick awarded by Paul McKeon three minutes into the second half that ultimately led to the home side's winner. Two hours later he rather graciously phoned the reporters who had been there to apologise for the way he had talked to them.
By December it is intended that the money required to hire a full-time refereeing co-ordinator will be available and that the new official will, amongst other things, help to recruit the new referees that are needed at every level of the game, although the task will not be made any easier by the levels of abuse flying around at present.
Hopefully those daft enough to take the plunge will bring with them the consistency and common sense required on the pitch, but then it would be a bonus if those who criticise our current officials from the sidelines brought the same qualities to the debate on the standard of refereeing, generally as well as when they're convinced they've just been handed the short end of the stick.
emalone@irish-times.ie
