GPA to tackle refereeing hot potato

The chief executive of the Gaelic Players' Association, Dessie Farrell, will be actively seeking the players' viewpoint on the inconsistent refereeing that was particularly evident in the two All-Ireland football semi-finals.

The ideal role of the GPA in this scenario is to get the players' opinions across to those who make the final decisions. At present, the communication channels are in a healthy state. The Hurling Development Committee (HDC) requesting that the GPA put forward suggestions on the future direction of hurling,best exemplifies this.

"In the next few weeks we're going to be looking at asking players to submit any options on refereeing, but also on championship structures as well," said Farrell. "We've been asked to submit proposals to Croke Park on the HDC; we're going to get players very active in that process."

"It's a bit of a hot potato at the minute. It obviously needs to be looked at again. It's very difficult and I'll say this again and again: a player makes a mistake and it's possibly overlooked, a referee makes a mistake and it's scrutinised to the nth degree and that's the position they're in and obviously, that comes with the territory."

Farrell was speaking at the GPA monthly awards ceremony for the period from May to August in the Burlington Hotel yesterday. He said the time was ripe to address the situation, while paying tribute to the open approach from the GAA thus far.

"We've asked Croke Park before what are the procedures in place to appraise referees. They are quite stringent, they have a committee to look into that and when the response came back to us we felt that it is being done. It's not as if it's a smokescreen or anything like that.

"They are vigorously looking at the whole refereeing issue, and have been on a consistent basis, but it's one of these never-ending stories; from game to game there is always something else going to crop up.

"I think that lack of consistency, while the referees might be consistent within the game, but the fact that there is a lack of consistency from one referee to another causes problems for players and I think it doesn't do themselves any good either," said Farrell.

GAA president Seán Kelly suggested last Monday that a player who received two yellow cards should be substituted but Farrell edged more towards the sin-bin idea, adopted in rugby union, that requires an offending player to sit out 10 minutes of the match. He also suggested that introducing a video analysis of incidents, again along similar lines to rugby, would be beneficial to the game, especially at the highest level.

"For the question over the sending off the last day, they possibly could have worked. Things like a square ball ... it can be turned around in the space of 30 seconds. You could do an awful lot without actually disrupting the flow of the game."

The whole situation has been elevated in importance since the dismissal of Raymond Sweeney on Sunday. Many, including his coach Brian McEniff, felt the Donegal player's dismissal for a second yellow card was the turning point in the contest.

"The game has gone so quick now, with such a high intensity, it's very, very difficult for referees to keep up and see what's going on. I still don't think the other officials are being utilised to the full and perhaps there is a possibility of looking at taking in a second referee," Farrell continued.

"There is too much at stake now in big games like that. A man sent off in the wrong can have a detrimental effect on that team's performance. I think we need to do whatever we can possibly to help them out."

Meanwhile, the GPA player of the month awards ceremony itself proved to be a resounding success. The May accolades went to Limerick footballer Muiris Gavin, after an excellent performance against Cork, and Dublin hurler Tomás McGrane.

For June, the winners were Laois midfielder Pauric Clancy and Tom Kenny of Cork, while the July beneficiaries were Larry Murphy and Steven McDonnell, who must be a strong contender for the overall football prize. Finally, the August awards went to Eddie Brennan and Tyrone wing forward Brian Dooher.