This year, judges will not tolerate any form of personal abuse

The Cork Branch of the Irish Football Referees Association (IRRS) recently held its Annual General Meeting.

Timmy Kelleher remains chairman, while Pat Buckley, Willie Long, Denis Morley and Brendan O’Regan remain on the committee, although they will be joined for the new season by newcomers Tony Thompson and west Cork resident Niall O’Donovan.

When I sat down with Timmy to reflect on the past year, he mentioned two major issues that are worsening across all leagues.

First, the behavior of coaches, parents and fans toward referees at games is getting worse and worse. He stressed that the department is losing members because they don’t think it’s worth it to continue.

Timmy and his committee plan to meet with all leagues to discuss the best way to address these issues and find the right solution to help solve or mitigate the problem.

Timmy is delighted to be back at the helm of the division and thanked his colleagues for the confidence they have shown in him to represent him.

“First of all, I would like to thank all our members for trusting me once again to lead our judging this year,” said Timmy.

“I would also like to thank outgoing committee member Steven Moore for his service over the last few years and welcome on board the experienced Tony Thompson and Niall O’Donovan who will be based in west Cork next year.

“Over the last few years, there have been many people documenting incidents of abuse towards our match officials and quite frankly, the problem is getting worse as we are losing some of our best and most experienced officials who feel it is no longer worth the hassle.

Such behaviour from fans, coaches, parents and players simply can no longer be tolerated.

“We have had young members leave the pitch in tears and in a very upset state after being abused during a match. This is completely unacceptable and we will no longer tolerate such behaviour.

“We plan to meet with all leagues to discuss this issue in the near future as we believe it has gone too far.

“This season we are telling our members there will be no tolerance for such behavior.

“We will suggest to the leagues that our members approach their team management and issue a warning regarding this type of behaviour and any further abandonment of the game.

“We believe that clubs must take responsibility for the conduct of their players, management, parents and fans at matches.

“It is completely unfair that one person is subjected to such abuse during and after matches.

“I know every referee makes mistakes during matches, but we are only human, especially our young members who are trying to make a career out of it.

“It breaks my heart to see them leave because they are afraid to go to certain places because of the abuse they have experienced.

“As I mentioned earlier, non-associate referees are welcome to join the association as it will provide them with greater protection, especially if they are subject to abuse during matches.

“I know they have various reasons for not being involved in our society, as they could still be playing or managing clubs, but I believe they are on their own when these situations arise, as we can send some of our members to matches to protect them.”

Another major problem that referees have been struggling with for years is the whistling of matches by clubs on the morning of the match.

This has a huge impact on some referees as they plan their matches with their families and receiving a text message or phone call hours before a match is no longer acceptable.

In other sports, if clubs call a match without a valid reason, referees collect their dues. However, in Cork football, the situation is different.

“As a committee we will also discuss the issue of clubs cancelling matches at the last minute.

“We believe clubs should have a deadline to cancel home games.

“I know that when we have bad weather in the winter, pitches become unplayable, but we feel they should have inspected the pitch the day before to get a fair idea of ​​its condition.

“The number of matches being called off hours before they were due to end is unacceptable and we believe our referees should be paid in full if this happens.

“Finally, I would like to congratulate Tony McCarthy who was named Pat McAuliffe Referee of the Year, and Dr Diarmuid Mulcahy who was named Fellow of the Year,” added Timmy.