Cormac Reilly was walking off the field recently after refereeing a minor club match when he heard an angry voice coming his direction.
Regrettably, such incidents are not rare experiences for referees. Reilly cut off the volley of abuse by flipping the moment back on his distressed acquaintance.
“I just turned to him and said, ‘we’ve got a referee’s course coming up in a couple of weeks, so I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I’ll take your name and number now and put your name down for it,’” recalls Reilly.
Suffice to say the irate gentleman would not be picking up a whistle and in a state of befuddlement decided his best course of action was instead to quickly scarper off.
Reilly was reminded of this episode last week when video footage emerged of a referee lying prostrate on the ground in Roscommon after allegedly being attacked during a minor club football match.
“What happened in Roscommon was totally disgusting, rotten,” says the Meath referee. “People need to remember referees are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters. We are all members of a club. Every single one of us goes out to do our best.”
Reilly is one of the most experienced and respected referees in the country. The St Mary’s Donore clubman, who started on the national intercounty panel in 2006, was the man in the middle for the 2011 All-Ireland senior club football final and took charge of his last intercounty game in March for Dublin’s league encounter against Donegal at Croke Park.
[ Roscommon GAA to investigate alleged attack on referee in minor matchOpens in new window ]
[ Roscommon referees withdraw their services in wake of alleged assaultOpens in new window ]
Having turned 50 this year, he is no longer eligible for intercounty games but during his career he, like many referees, has experienced various forms of abuse.
For Reilly, the 2014 All-Ireland senior football semi-final replay between Kerry and Mayo was a particularly difficult experience – he required a Garda escort off the field and in the days that followed hate mail arrived through the family letterbox. He has never before publicly spoken about the fallout.
“I’d hold my hands up and be honest, I made some mistakes in the game, but did I make them on purpose? Of course I didn’t.”
One call in particular stands out for him. In the 17th minute Cillian O’Connor was fouled by Shane Enright, and Reilly awarded a penalty. Enright was already on a yellow card and further disciplinary action at that stage would have seen the Kerry defender sent to the line.
“I should have sent off Shane Enright on a black card. He was already yellow-carded, so Kerry would have been down to 14 men.
“I just felt the two boys had gone to ground, I didn’t feel at the time he had pulled him to the ground. But of course, when you look back at the video footage and see it, of course he did. I made a mistake and I paid for it, to be honest with you.”
In what was a thrilling encounter played amidst a raucous atmosphere on a sunny Saturday evening in Limerick (the game was moved to the Gaelic Grounds as Croke Park was unavailable because it was hosting an American Football fixture), tempers occasionally boiled over and there were a number of pitch incursions by spectators. One flashpoint during extra-time saw a Mayo fan trample on the field, and it took the combined strength of five stewards to remove him.
“That was a frightening experience for me, a scary moment. Somebody is coming towards you, there’s a big crowd there and you feel they are cheering him on to go and get you, so of course it’s scary. Thankfully, the stewards got him off the field because God knows what would have happened.” The Mayo fan later received a one-year ban.
At the final whistle Reilly had to run a gauntlet of abuse before making it to his dressingroom. But some of the scrutiny that followed poured fuel on the fire.
“There was all the stuff that was said on The Sunday Game then, they had access to all of the camera angles, it’s great to be able to sit back, rewind, rewatch it in slow motion and say, ‘yeah, he missed that there, got it wrong,’ but unfortunately referees don’t have that luxury.
“The aftermath of it was that letters came to the door. At the time my mother was living with us and she didn’t understand all of this stuff, it was a difficult period.”
He failed to make the championship panel of referees in 2016 but earned his place back in 2017. And he hopes if any good can come from the incident in Roscommon, it is that it turns out to be a watershed moment in what society deems to be acceptable behaviour towards referees.
“It is up to all of us to stamp it out, it is up to everybody who attends a match. If somebody starts shouting abuse at a referee, we have to go over and tell them to stop. It can no longer be deemed acceptable behaviour.
“We have to start at club underage level. If kids are shown at underage level to treat the referee with respect you would hope as they go up through the age groups that would continue.”
And Reilly hopes the punishment for what happened in Roscommon sends out a strong message.
“It can’t be allowed happen again. The disciplinary system has let the referees down over the years, because if a guy is sent off, no matter what he might have done they always seem to appeal and most players get off now, which is very frustrating for referees.”
