GAA president Larry McCarthy on Thursday launched plans for a ‘Respect the Referee Day’ by stating that the actions of a minority had “cast a shadow over the entire association”.
He was referring to recent high-profile incidents in club matches in Roscommon, Wexford, Kerry and Waterford, which had commanded national attention for physical or verbal abuse of match officials.
“As we head towards the end of our first designated club season, there’s no denying that the club championship has been a fantastic opportunity for clubs to take centre stage.
“And just as our club players have been put on centre stage, so have our referees and our match officials and it’s arguably never more important than at this time to single them out for appreciation.
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“But actions need to speak louder than words when it comes to respect for our referees, because the actions of a small number of members of our association have undoubtedly cast a shadow over the entire association.”
The ‘Respect the Referee Day’ will take place on the weekend after next, October 22nd and 23rd, and counties with finals on those days are encouraged to highlight the role of the referee.
McCarthy, who has already this year made the issue of refereeing a central focus of both his address to annual congress and comments he made in April on the launch of the national strategic plan, went on to criticise the facility with which players can escape the consequences of misbehaviour when challenging their punishment before disciplinary committees.
“There’s nothing complicated about any of the above, but we need to get out of our comfort zone and around our mantra of ‘Give Respect, Get Respect’. Crucially, when we fall short of the standard we set for ourselves we need to face up to it and accept the punishment.
“It can, I would argue, be quite disheartening to see people who have been disciplined have their punishments reduced or even dismissed on the most minute or infinitesimal technicality.
“We need, in my view, to adopt the John Mullane mantra – ‘where you do the crime, you do the time.’”
He also called on clubs to uphold standards at all matches.
“The standards we set in our clubs, on our sidelines, among our members, need to be clear and they need to be unequivocal. All those involved in our games must adhere to our standards of respect and discipline – and we will not tolerate abuse of players, of coaches, of members or of match officials.
“Culture changes come slowly and anybody who suggests otherwise does not understand either the culture or change in an organisation such as this. But it is a change we as an association are committed to and we will continue to create an environment where all of our members are valued and respected, particularly our referees.”
The GAA also have a number of initiatives aimed at enhancing the levels of support for match officials.
These include:
- Review of the rules concerning infractions against match officials
- Review of how serious infractions against match officials within the association are processed
- Updated training course on discipline procedures for discipline committees at all levels
- Additional training to match officials around reporting disciplinary action
- Review of the Give Respect, Get Respect campaign with a roll out in 2023
The role of the referee will be a feature of the next stage of the GAA marketing campaign highlighting ‘Where We All Belong’ and there will be enhanced supports for referees made available through the GAA’s eLearning platform: learning.gaa.ie as well as through https://www.gaa.ie/respect.
