One of the first things you’ll notice about Google’s “GAA Referee Shortage” is the ground distance covered by just the first page of results.
“Clare GAA is facing a ‘crisis’ due to a shortage of referees, a former Inter County official warned. ” – Claire Echo, January 22, 2022.
“Sligo GAA may be forced to ensure that every club has at least one registered referee to avoid disaster.” – Sligo Champion, February 25, 2022.
“The alarming shortage of umpires at the Mayo GAA could see some games canceled this year, and the crisis will only get worse unless new umpires are hired in the coming weeks.” – Mayo News, March 30, 2022.
“The referee shortage is a real threat to the stability of the Gaelic game at Westmeath and needs to be addressed urgently,” said Westmeath GAA Referee Coordinator. – The Westmeath Independent, January 27, 2022.
“The Tipperary GAA calls the lack of active qualified umpires in the county a ‘crisis’ and urges people to participate in upcoming training programs. “–TippFM.com, February 3, 2022.
“The Offaly GAA County Board is seriously short of referees in both hurling and football.” – Offaly Express, April 28, 2022
“The club is being asked to do more to recruit new referees to the Wicklow GAA for 2022, otherwise the already dangerous crisis of officials will cross the county breaking point. You have been warned that you may – People of Wicklow, December 2021.
All of the above stories are within the last eight months, but each year around the time of the convention and the publication of the county clerk’s report, the number of qualified referees declines and referees as the number of games increases. The motif of being able to do so arises repeatedly.
Few of these reports clearly indicate why Cork GAA Chief Executive Kevin O’Donovan did what he did last December.
“The obvious crisis facing the association right now is the shortage of referees,” he said, a word used with alarming frequency when refereeing situations in Gaelic matches are the subject. I chose to evoke the big “C”.
“We need to pay more attention to referee recruitment and retention and adhere to a zero-tolerance approach to referee abuse.”
A referee was hospitalized Wednesday night after being attacked by someone other than the players in attendance at the St Aidans-St. Dominiks U-17 game at Roscommon.
The easy thing here is to follow the lone shooter theory. A single act of despicable violence is still that: a single act.
If there are 1,000 GAA games played across the country this week, 999 will end without the referee getting into an ambulance.
But the Roscommon incident is just the extreme and violent end of a range of behaviors rooted in the GAA. on every level.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time pitching the GAA, but I find that many see referee abuse as something of a right or a privilege to attend. Given the culture of attacks against officials, it’s a wonder they don’t end up in hospitals.
It is no comfort to those at the GAA that a recent study found referee abuse rates to be roughly on par with referees in English football.
The study ‘Effects of Verbal and Physical Abuse on Distress, Mental Health, and Intention to Quit Smoking in Sports Professionals’ conducted by four members of the Department of Psychology, University of Ulster, Coleraine, examined 1,500 GAA referees. Based on a survey of 438 members of the I answered the questions sent to them.
The study, released last week, found that about 94% of public employees have experienced verbal abuse at some stage in their careers, and 23% have experienced physical abuse.
Perhaps the most alarming thing about these numbers is that for all Tutankhamun frowned upon, no one was surprised.
Whatever your experience watching a GAA game, whether you’re a heavyweight club stalwart or just a supporter of an inter-county team, it’s unlikely you’ll read these numbers and spit your tea out.
But here’s the problem. Did the report spark a ripple of reaction through the GAA, or did it go through the news cycle at jig time?
Perhaps county officials, perhaps inevitably later this year, will warn of an impending referee famine in their 2022 report, citing the above study as revealing the main reasons for it, and joining them. It will highlight which game each person in the county will play in. What can and should be done to improve the situation.
The county periodically undertakes a “hire” of new references and commits to new investments in official positions. Be respectful, be respectful – and so on.
Clubs are then under pressure from the board or have a quota of referees they must provide.
But if you have a 94% chance of being verbally abused, and nearly 1 in 4 have experienced physical abuse (commonly known as assault), what on earth do you care about? Shouldn’t it?
Obligations to the club? The urge to oil Gaelic game mechanics? Masochistic kink?
Refereeing is no longer, as the old saying goes, “a job without reward.”
It is harmful and potentially harmful, forcing more and more people to stop and fewer to start, affecting mental and sometimes physical health, A few people still care to do it.
