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How Do We Protect Match Officials And What Can Be Done To Help Improve Officials And Respect Towards Them

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Replying To Pikeman96: "I see their tweet about it says "indefinitely". That could mean anything. Hope they decide to keep him suspended from the club for long after any official suspension is up, particularly if the maximum allowed really is only 96 weeks. If they decide to let him back in as soon as an official suspension is served, then they won't really have done anything at all." For sure Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11840 - 27/09/2022 15:58:55 2442058 Link
Replying To Pikeman96: "I see their tweet about it says "indefinitely". That could mean anything. Hope they decide to keep him suspended from the club for long after any official suspension is up, particularly if the maximum allowed really is only 96 weeks. If they decide to let him back in as soon as an official suspension is served, then they won't really have done anything at all." Fully agree Pikeman96. They should have said "this individual will never be a member of our club again as we do not accept this behaviour". They also mentioned "alleged" in their tweet. In all fairness, read the room............................. ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1128 - 27/09/2022 20:27:29 2442087 Link
A sure way to cut this out is if clubs are hit where it hurts and that's in the pocket. Once fines are given out and funding cut they won't be long sorting it out. oneoff (UK) - Posts: 1380 - 27/09/2022 21:41:16 2442092 Link
Bulletin from meeting last night- The executive of CLG Loch Garman hosted a meeting of referees, the Referee Administration Committee and members of the CCC tonight in Chadwicks Wexford Park. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the promotion of good discipline and the protection of referees. Micheál Martin, Cathaoirleach CLG Loch Garman, outlined the work to date of the Referee Administration Committee as part of the Strategic Plan and an overview of the GAA Disciplinary process was given. There was an open discussion with a focus on arriving at actions to improve the overall discipline at our games and ensuring the protection of referees from verbal or physical threats. The following actions were agreed: 1-All clubs must hold a workshop for mentors from Under 11 to Adult in their club before Wednesday, 5 October 2022 to go through a self-evaluation of their conduct towards match officials. All clubs must report to the County Executive on Thursday, 6 October that the workshop has taken place, who was in attendance and findings arising from the workshop. Any club who does not confirm the workshop has taken place will have their fixtures postponed (at all levels) until the workshop has been held. 2-Wexford GAA will propose at the next meeting of Central Council that a Special Congress be held to: Remove the current 96-week maximum term of suspension for verbal or physical threat to an official together with debarment and/or expulsion from the Association as penalties that may be considered. 3-Commence a review and simplification of the GAA disciplinary system. 4-Overhaul the "Give Respect - Get Respect" campaign to ensure a comprehensive education programme for mentors, players, parents and supporters. This programme should include a simplified version of playing rules to give a greater understanding to those who provide commentary on refereeing decisions and be included in all coach education programmes. 5-Mark all pitches with a designated area that mentors must remain in during games for all competitions. 6-Wexford GAA will seek to pilot a "Respect the Ref" campaign in conjunction with Wexford Camogie and LGFA across all age grades in 2023. This will be aimed at players of all ages, mentors, parents and supporters. We will also engage with a third level institution to commence a research project in this area. 7-Wexford GAA will publish disciplinary sanctions imposed on players and clubs in a timely fashion. Games will proceed as fixed for the coming weekend and all players, mentors, parents and supporters will provide the deserved support to our referees and match officials. 8-In addition, prior to all games for the remainder of this year, players, team mentors and referees will line up for a Give Respect - Get Respect handshake prior to the game. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11840 - 28/09/2022 07:20:17 2442094 Link
What people think of the front of the people newspaper. Great respect there . murt1982 (Wexford) - Posts: 10 - 28/09/2022 09:20:02 2442102 Link
Replying To murt1982: "What people think of the front of the people newspaper. Great respect there ." Any link reffingmad (Roscommon) - Posts: 371 - 28/09/2022 10:24:02 2442108 Link
Replying To reffingmad: "Any link" Copy of the front page is on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WexfordPeople/posts/pfbid02vCeK3922Yi3WjpGrWYyobbWpCJfzjsduFYWDpaTo1kspr8GdAXsZdnpKYwfibLQ6l link Personally, I think a headline along the lines of "team manager apologises to referee after alleged assault" would have been more suitable, and I'm very reluctantly using that word "alleged" only because it seems to be the way these things are usually handled in the media until a punishment is actually handed down. The bit about how "I pushed him but I didn't hit him" could have been more secondary instead of being the big banner headline. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2241 - 28/09/2022 11:51:54 2442117 Link
Replying To reffingmad: "Any link" https://m.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/news/wexford-gaa-mentor-at-the-centre-of-alleged-assault-on-ref-apologises-but-insists-i-didnt-throw-a-punch-or-elbow-him-42021587.html Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11840 - 28/09/2022 12:22:08 2442122 Link
Correction to above - team mentor. I believe he's not actually their manager. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2241 - 28/09/2022 13:12:26 2442130 Link
Replying To Pikeman96: "Copy of the front page is on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WexfordPeople/posts/pfbid02vCeK3922Yi3WjpGrWYyobbWpCJfzjsduFYWDpaTo1kspr8GdAXsZdnpKYwfibLQ6l link Personally, I think a headline along the lines of "team manager apologises to referee after alleged assault" would have been more suitable, and I'm very reluctantly using that word "alleged" only because it seems to be the way these things are usually handled in the media until a punishment is actually handed down. The bit about how "I pushed him but I didn't hit him" could have been more secondary instead of being the big banner headline." Ah sure it's only a push and shove, sure he'll be grand. reffingmad (Roscommon) - Posts: 371 - 28/09/2022 13:21:31 2442131 Link
Replying To Pikeman96: " Replying To brianb: "Wexford Chairman: "We have had a number of serious incidents, potentially less serious than [Sunday's , and they have been dealt with severely by with our disciplinary committee but the fact that you have to deal with them in the first instance is very disappointing and it's one that we are constantly reminding clubs of. "I think there has been an erosion in the respect for authority and decision-makers at all levels in society in the last 10 years. The GAA is a reflection of society." I believe that's the attitude that exists in all counties - previous "serious incidents" dealt with "severely". When it happens its society's fault. The sanctions tend to be a joke at best and certainly couldn't be described as severe. The GAA is a big part of society all around the country and does so much good. It needs to start leading - from the top down and have a zero tolerance for such thuggery." Think the issue is that even when such incidents are dealt with "severely" as per what the Rule Book allows, the punishments still aren't severe enough. It was said in relation to the Roscommon case that 96 weeks is the maximum suspension allowed. There could be 96 weeks handed down here in Wexford as well. So they'd be dealing with it as severely as they'd be allowed to do, even if they'd like on a personal level to impose a much longer suspension. Have already said in the Wexford football thread that Rule Book clearly needs to change if 96 weeks really is the maximum suspension. And in fairness to the Chairman, I don't think he was trying to deflect blame by claiming it's all society's fault. He was merely saying it's reflective of a general breakdown across society of a respect for authority."]I agree with that - I believe the GAA as a pillar of every community should start to lead from here. brianb (Kildare) - Posts: 279 - 28/09/2022 13:27:04 2442133 Link
Stop allowing just anyone becoming a ref and make refs accountable for their poor decisions. IamADragon (Cavan) - Posts: 304 - 28/09/2022 14:29:32 2442143 Link
Alleged? ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1128 - 28/09/2022 15:07:49 2442148 Link
Replying To IamADragon: "Stop allowing just anyone becoming a ref and make refs accountable for their poor decisions." In an ideal world, we could pick and choose referees, and not assign any more matches to the questionable ones. In the real world, there's a severe shortage of referees, and we simply can't afford to be choosy. Don't know what it's like in other counties, but numbers in Wexford have dropped from more than 70 refs two or three years ago, to less than 50 today. Chairman referred in his interviews this week to how some underage matches this year (which included county semi-finals) had to be postponed because there was no referee available. That problem will only get worse until more referees come on board, and that probably won't happen until abuse of all referees is stamped out insofar as possible. That especially includes abuse of new referees who are still learning the ropes and are therefore probably more likely to make mistakes. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2241 - 28/09/2022 16:25:23 2442155 Link
Replying To ExiledInWex: "Alleged?" Yeah. As stated above, seems to be how the media always handles these things until a punishment is handed down and accepted. As also stated above, I don't like it myself. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2241 - 28/09/2022 16:27:30 2442156 Link
Replying To ExiledInWex: "Alleged?" As in not proven yet? Although the lad admits he assaulted him by pushing him to the ground. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11840 - 28/09/2022 16:31:58 2442158 Link
Replying To IamADragon: "Stop allowing just anyone becoming a ref and make refs accountable for their poor decisions." No ref doesn't make mistakes. Still not right to push one over though. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11840 - 28/09/2022 16:34:55 2442159 Link
I Amadragon's posts simply show ignorance and reflect society's inability to accept that things don't always go their way. There's a dearth of referees nationally and he proposes to reduce that further because they make mistakes. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1488 - 28/09/2022 17:08:09 2442163 Link
Re-write the ambiguous rules. Since GAA top brass tend to think GAA laying rules are fantastic already, there is no serious desire to have them professionally reviewed from a workability and ease of implementation perspective. Get inputs from senior referees in other team contact sports, e.g., rugby league / union, AFL, soccer. Goal to end up with a rule book which as far as possible cuts out the ambiguity, and the overly-wide refereeing discretion that follows. A ref can legitimately "blow everything" or "let the game flow"; and each approach, legitimate under current broad rules, creates a very different spectacle, to the extent that, in extreme cases, it's like watching 2 different sports. Real injustices occur when the same ref, in the same game, applies one approach to team A and the other approach to team B. Bias will always be with us, but we should at least tighten up and simplify our current rules, so as to reduce the scope for the "one game, two rule-books" issue. For inter-co championship matches, have 2 referees on the pitch. Have a ref training academy, and professionalise inter county champion refs. Pay them, something. Wire up the refs. Lengthy bans for anyone who deliberately lays a had on a ref., to get rid of the "I didn't hit him, I only pushed him" excuse. points50swiththeargyllsonthewrongfeet (Tyrone) - Posts: 239 - 28/09/2022 19:16:30 2442174 Link
Replying To IamADragon: "Stop allowing just anyone becoming a ref and make refs accountable for their poor decisions." Yeah thats the solution to people physically assaulting officials. the problem isnt with referees even if they are poor in some cases. its people who assault them. KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3510 - 28/09/2022 21:08:43 2442187 Link