Consistency the aim with rule changes, says referee committee chair

The new Referees Development Committee (RDC) is preparing for its first championship season. One change in emphasis will see the appointment of Wexford’s Dickie Murphy – a former All-Ireland hurling final referee – as vice-chair of the committee, which is chaired by Seán Walsh of Kerry.

It was decided not to proceed with the proposal of Liam Sheedy’s Hurling 2020 Committee report that there be a separate sub-committee for hurling referees but the appointment of Murphy means that some of the committee’s concerns have been recognised.

"There's no separate structure in that we're the committee for hurling as well," RDC chair Walsh told The Irish Times.

“But there’s a vice-chairman now with responsibility for hurling. Most of our meetings will start together and then we’ll break up into groups and Dickie will have the hurling group.”

It’s a busy time for the referee groups with the inter-county championships about to start and with new rules in hurling as well as the second season of the black card in football.

Walsh says that his priority for the season and his term of office will be to provide consistency in the decisions taken on the pitch.

High level

“I can say from initial meeting with referees that their knowledge of the rules is impeccable. Their fitness is at a very high level and they’re being tested again this weekend. The main thing we’ll be trying to achieve over the year and referees are always trying do this is to try to achieve consistency, both within games and from game to game.”

The major innovation in hurling is the new, one-on-one penalty, proposed by the Hurling 2020 Committee and introduced amidst concerns for player safety. Walsh believes the new rule will need to be monitored carefully.

“There are a number of changes this year that are going to take a lot of watching as to how they’re implemented.

“The one-on-one penalty is one of those issues. I think referees will have to be careful that the goalkeeper is staying on his line and the taker isn’t hitting the ball inside the line. I hope that that will be refereed to the letter of the law.”

Black card

In respect of the black card, he disagrees that there has been a reluctance to use the sanction on the part of referees but says that the GAA public needs to be better informed on the five infractions that merit the card: “deliberately pull down an opponent, deliberately trip an opponent with the hand(s), arm, leg or foot, deliberately body collide with an opponent after he has played the ball away or for the purpose of taking him out of a movement of play, to threaten or use abusive or provocative language or gestures to an opponent or a teammate and to remonstrate in an aggressive manner with a match official.”

“The big thing for me in relation to this is that there is confusion about the black card offence,” said Walsh.

“Not all of the public in my experience know exactly what the black cards are. It’s our intention that the list of clearly identifiable black card fouls will be printed in match programmes so that everyone can see exactly what the card is given for. Some people think that every foul deserves a black card.”