I have thought long and hard about putting this up, but I have to say the standard of refereeing in this country is the worst I have seen in the last 20 years. Referees are having a massive influence of games by their mistakes and their inconsistances. The black is just making it impossible for referees. Nobody knows what's a black card but more importantanly the referees are getting a lot of them wrong. From my own counties point of view. We have an awful bad luck with referees in the cork,Mayo and even yesterdays game. It time for the gaa to come out and say things need to improve. Yesterday the ref gave an advantage when monaghan had a 30 metre free monaghan passed the ball and after the five second the advantage was over. A 30 metre score able free is more advantageous than keeping the ball.

shaggylegend (Monaghan) - Posts: 1941 - 09/03/2015 18:54:30    1701042

Yes referees get things wrong & make mistakes, but so too do players, managers & supporters.

Why do we expect referees to be perfect?

The players also have to take a huge amount of responsibility for making the referees job difficult with the cod acting & cute hoorism that they indulge in.

Leave the refs alone.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 09/03/2015 19:15:41    1701050

The monaghan player should have shot rather than run down his advantage. Would have had a second chance with a free. Its something you can always get right the next day. But back to the specifics, I think most refs do their best, and are trying the impossible, to ref the game that is gaelic football.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 09/03/2015 19:43:39    1701060

It's not the referee's fault that hq are adding a new dimension to our game every year, the ref's are the last people who are at fault here.

SaffronDon (Antrim) - Posts: 2504 - 09/03/2015 19:55:04    1701065

i don't necessarily think that referees have getten worse, but i would say that the GAA seem to be giving the bigger games to lesser referees.

Maurice Deegan, Eddie Kinsella and David Coldrick are probably the 3 best in the country (i know many will disagree) but take Cavan v Kildare saturday night for example. .Coldrick was left doing the line while Cormac Reilly was refereeing the game.

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5196 - 09/03/2015 20:12:57    1701074

watched a number of games from the sofa over the weekend and some decisions were really poor and do not reflect well on the Men IN Black. Brian Gavin in yesterdays Tipp v Clare game, did not give a free late in the game to a Clare player close to the Tipp goalman as he was being swung at with hurleys from 2 layers. How Padraic Maher escaped for a pull with the hurl across O'Donnell is beyond me! These 2 decisions do not augur well for the year ahead when the best known and probably the best referee allows such conduct.

Kerry and Cork players have not showered themselves in a good light either for their messing yesterday when over 20 players ended up in a ruck style melee. It does nothing for the game and both teams were responsible for this debacle. Young players around the country look up to these players and mimic their conduct. Players need to show greater responsibility to the game. The hurlers between Clare and Tipp were also guilty of similar conduct. Not good for either county or the game overall.

I thought that the 'third man in' was in trouble/ Not in yesterdays games...

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1849 - 09/03/2015 20:30:51    1701082

Run down his advantage? What is he meant to do just kick it away? Donegal done the same thing earlier in the game and got the free? The black card is a joke at present with zero consistency. I agree the same referees are getting the top games the whole time. The standard of referees was a mile better when you had Paddy Russell, Michael Curley, John Bannon, Brian White and Pat McEnaney.

Its a hard job but the gaa just sweeping poor performances by referees under the carpet doesn't help one bit. If a manager gets things wrong he gets sacked if a players makes mistakes and plays badly he get replaced or dropped, so why should referees be any different. Maybe am just speaking from a Monaghan point of view as it seems Monaghan reputation of being the most physical team in Ireland leads to more frees and yellow cards than most teams.

In mos

shaggylegend (Monaghan) - Posts: 1941 - 09/03/2015 20:34:56    1701083

I would be against any personal attack against any ref. I would also say that Cormac Reilly's performance last August cost Mayo a spot in the final

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1706 - 09/03/2015 20:43:53    1701090

suckvalleypaddy

yes, my comment was edited to leave out pretty much what you have just said. . .seems the GAA aren't the only ones sweeping poor refereeing performances under the carpet ;)

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5196 - 09/03/2015 21:03:38    1701104

I would even go as far as saying some referees are running with teams

shaggylegend (Monaghan) - Posts: 1941 - 09/03/2015 21:22:17    1701113

its the worst thing in the gaa over last couple years
officating is at a low ebb
and when you have the guy in charge come out say that a performance like kinsellas in killarney was flawless
they are burying the head in the sand as how can he say one guy who strikes (fitzimons) deserves a red card
and the other guy who struck first (maher) to start the whole melee deserves a yellow as a flawless performance
thats only one mistake of many the whole officials made that day.
you then had last saturday night hawkeye been used for a ball striking the post and going behind for a point or wide
hawkeye cannot identify what happens after the ball strikes the post
and when the ref went to the screen it proved this as it didnt show any footage of the shot
it just put up point which makes it clearly dubious yet nothing from the media or officals of gaa.
we also had two more terrible decisions from umpires in both games in croker saturday night
that was clearly wrong.
somebody above said players managers make mistakes yes they do
but they get scrutinised for it and punished
officals are apparently not allowedbe scrutinised and never get pinished for mistakes that change games
and this is the reason the standard of officating is so bad as they get away with it and it wont improve until
somebody makes them up their standards

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 10/03/2015 10:22:28    1701150

This piece smells of a sky sports panel mentality , you know the one when Merse n the boys go on their usual rant about refs , the godfather of them all was Andy eeaatts a disgraceeee truly shocking Gray .
I have attended many games as a neutral from juvenile to senior and am still at my age stunned by the impartiality of supporters, the downright blinkers worn by fans , the most common thing shared by fans apart from love of the game is the apathy which officals are held .
When it goes against you the world is against you and conspiracy theories abound . In my own club there is a view held by practically every member that when we travel to the southside of Dublin we never get the 55/50 calls from refs who are southside refs . Obviously not true but it doesn't stop rank and file believing it .
On a national stage the only complaint I would have is the lack of support given to ref,s from umpires and linesmen who could be eyes and ears but on most occasions believe that they are there to wave flags only .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 10/03/2015 10:55:25    1701166

The advantage rule needs seriously to be questioned. Against Kildare twice Ref had advantage on when Cavan were in possession 30 yards out. If there is no goal on and there is no clear shot at target then the advantage is with the defending team. On one occasion Martin Reilly took a pop shot wide to utilise the advantage rule to bring back the free but the Ref just waved wide ball. This inconsistency just gets up players backs and causes niggling for the rest of the game

cavan97 (Cavan) - Posts: 369 - 10/03/2015 11:04:33    1701168

watched a number of games from the sofa over the weekend and some decisions were really poor and do not reflect well on the Men IN Black. Brian Gavin in yesterdays Tipp v Clare game, did not give a free late in the game to a Clare player close to the Tipp goalman as he was being swung at with hurleys from 2 layers. How Padraic Maher escaped for a pull with the hurl across O'Donnell is beyond me! These 2 decisions do not augur well for the year ahead when the best known and probably the best referee allows such conduct.

Brian Gavin is far from the best referee, he just doesn't blow anything and lets players away with lots of 'cynical' fouling, the spare arm tackle as Donal Og Cusack would say. Hence the reason he's loved by the likes of Kilkenny..

bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 10/03/2015 11:07:55    1701170

Damo - a lot of what you state is very true .

I believe the problem is from the administration side of things . Liam O'Neil came out last year along with Pat Mc and claimed the Black Card was a success , Really ??? I think the Black Card is without doubt the biggest joke ( wish it was) that was ever introduced . There is zero consistency in it whatsoever but our former president assured us all was ok . In club matches , refs don't even bother with it anymore. Umpires need to have more power to help the refs . I'd begin by the scrutiny of the bureaucrats rather than the refs .

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 10/03/2015 11:12:10    1701173

Damo, agree with your views above, with the exception of the bit about the linesmen and umpires. They have no powers at the moment re: open play, with the exception of bringing foul play (that warrants a card) to the attention of the ref.

Torcaill (Australia) - Posts: 204 - 10/03/2015 11:37:12    1701186

most of the referees are bad makeing bad decisions it time they went back to referee trainning and learned the rule of the game

antoman (Mayo) - Posts: 140 - 10/03/2015 11:45:25    1701189

I was watching some old All-Ireland finals over Christmas, including the 2001 game, as I certainly wasn't going to watch the 2014 final again. One of the most noticeable differences was how easy players made the game to referee compared to now. Have a look at this video which is of Nigel Nestor getting sent off for a high tackle which was a clear second yellow card. The Galway player is back on his feet and looking to take a quick free straight away and get on with the game, nowadays he would roll around on the ground and players would be surrounding the referee looking for him to send the Meath player off. The honesty and ability of referees is not getting worse, just the dishonesty and cheating of players and managers. I always laugh at the idea that intercounty referees should be dropped for making mistakes - it is as if people believe there are 100's more excellent referees in the country who could easily step in and ref a game in front of 30,000 people where everyone on the pitch is trying to deceive you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mftE3kDIYBk&t=255

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 10/03/2015 12:25:09    1701222

Monaghan brought all the bad luck on themselves with their antics in Castlebar so you can't blame the ref for that defeat. Monaghan fans near me were disgusted with their play.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11412 - 10/03/2015 12:32:16    1701227

I was never as angry with a ref as I was with the one in the mayo v monaghan game 2 weeks ago. In hindsight if the linesmen and umpire's did their job's right it would make things easier on the ref.

hutto (Monaghan) - Posts: 171 - 10/03/2015 12:37:07    1701231