John Fogarty
AARON HOEY wants to become a referee. It sounds like the stuff of comic superheroes. The Louth crusader, victim of a heinous crime, son of a scorned county, joining the dark leagues of the evil Sludden (quite the villainous surname) to subvert them and put right what once went wrong.
Sadly, it isn’t as delicious as that. Hoey has always been interested in officiating and has been put on the referee’s list ratified by the Louth County Board last week. He will shortly undertake a training course and could be whistling in vain by next year.
Wannabee referees are as rare as eager priests these days. Only bloody-mindedness, vanity, power-hunger, madness or a fervent Gael grá motivates men to pursue such careers.
It’s certainly not for pats on the back. There were few enough of them as it were but now they are next to non-existent. Appraised by the media, assessed by the assessors, abused by supporters, argued against by the CCCC... they’ve an excruciatingly hard time of it.
Nobody seems willing to admit, though, that they have next to impossible jobs upholding laws of the game that are either flawed or no longer reflect the progression of the game.
The tackle in Gaelic football is so open to interpretation that one defender’s genuine attempt to deny his opponent could be deemed a foul in one game and a tackle in the next.
The evolution of hurling has made it almost impossible to officiate properly and consistently. A quick scan of The Irish Examiner’s 60 second match report in yesterday’s edition from the weekend’s top hurling games established that.
Jim O’Sullivan on Cork v Offaly – “Some of Michael Wadding’s calls were difficult to comprehend.”
Diarmuid O’Flynn on Tipperary v Kilkenny – “Brian Gavin did his best to allow play flow, ignoring several obvious fouls on both sides...”
This writer on Diarmuid Kirwan’s refereeing in the Waterford v Dublin game – “Was guilty of some questionable decisions.”
Kirwan is a decent referee but there were too many occasions in Walsh Park on Sunday when he was so far behind play to make a correct call on obvious infringements. For example, Declan O’Dwyer’s goal for Dublin should have been ruled out if not for the assister Liam Rushe’s over-stepping then that of the goalscorer himself.
Anthony Daly and Davy Fitzgerald were both furious with some of Kirwan’s calls. Drawing the ire of the two managers rather than just one might be seen as a referee doing his job right but in this case that would be incorrect.
Likewise, playing advantage is now becoming a bit of a cop-out for some referees to give the perception they are allowing the game to be played. There were several occasions over the past two weekends where referees played on only for any sort of benefit to the team that had been fouled to dissipate a second or two later.
Hurling is now officiated with the idea it is an orderly chaos and that mistakes can and will be made by referees so there’s more of a laissez-faire approach being taken.
As a slower game, Gaelic football should be easier to manage but when there is no definitive form of denying or spoiling the attacker’s possession.
Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney is exasperated at this point with the definition and application of the tackle. "I've made a point that I wasn't going to comment on referees, because everyone says I'm too hard on them," he said recently.
"But the tackle is something we can't work any harder on. We bring referees in to tell us what we are doing at training is correct. Then we do it in games and it's not correct. It's beyond me now."
Conor Counihan shouldn’t have much to complain about but he’s of a similar mind to McGeeney as is his corner-forward Daniel Goulding (“it is tricky”) and Dublin’s Kevin McManamon (“it can be difficult”).
McGeeney raised the subject of the tackle at a recent managers meeting with Croke Park but GAA President Christy Cooney sounded a defeatist tone after it.
"The tackle is not the easiest issue to resolve and it would take a lot of time for us to review. But playing rules aren’t going to be touched over the next few years.”
The thing is GAA know there’s not much they can do to make referees’ lives easier. The “Give Respect, Get Respect” initiative is a good one but there’s a sense of desperation about it.
That horse bolted some time ago. In terms of the regard shown to referees, the GAA want to get to where rugby is but the oval ball game is an easier sport to officiate while their esteem for match officials has been built up over decades.
It’s a gloomy forecast that this writer makes. Maybe it’s because this is Pat McEnaney’s last year as an inter-county referee. Maybe it’s because they don’t build them like they used to. But a lot of McEnaney’s “success” is founded in his prioritising of common sense over the actual rules of the game.
That bullheadedness is a rare quality. Will the likes of Hoey have the wherewithal to take such a brave if completely logical stance?
Refereeing has never been a more onerous craft.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/SXJTl6MbSa4/post.aspx
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