The National Referees' Committee (NRC) has welcomed the proposals on refereeing in the report of the GAA's Strategic Review Committee (SRC). Many of the recommendations are already in hand and within the past few days the NRC has met with county officials to emphasise the need to punish abuse of match officials. This was one of the key points made in the SRC proposals. Seán Moran reports

"In the last 10 days we have spoken to county officials to impress on them the need for referees to report verbal abuse," said NRC spokesperson Fr Seamus Gardiner. "We're not losing existing referees but young fellas won't take up refereeing because of the abuse from players and officials.

"Players can be punished for verbal abuse by moving frees forward 10, 20 metres whatever, but there is no action that can be taken against mentors apart from reporting them. And referees in general aren't doing that.

"This is the culture in the game. Rugby players are extremely respectful to referees. I spoke to a friend of mine who teaches in Roscrea and he says it's instilled in them from a young age, but in Gaelic games and soccer, there's not that respect."

The report calls for the introduction of technology to assist in two areas: one, the communication of decisions to linesmen and to viewers of all televised matches; two, assisting with immediate penalties for provocation and intimidation within a five-minute period immediately after the offence has taken place.

Last year the NRC took the first steps towards implementing a technology programme with the introduction of a paging system, allowing linesmen to attract referees' attention. This innovation will now be more widely used and although two-way radio contact hasn't yet been discussed, its introduction is regarded as a logical step forward.

"We're going to extend the use of the pager beyond the championship, but two-way communication as in rugby hasn't been discussed yet. We've been happy enough with the operation of the pager to date so it will be in use at all League matches. Now that linesmen are in contact with referees the next step is to allow them talk."

The use of the video monitor during matches has not been formally raised by the committee and there are some reservations about its use. "We've never discussed a third eye. In the GAA, there have been complaints about delays in matches, so if it's to be used it should be done sparingly."

Another significant proposal is that of rule changes to allow linesmen and umpires provide further assistance to the referees, something that is not permitted at present and which causes controversy when offences take place near one of these officials.

Last year there was anger in Cork when a foul on one of their players in the Munster football final took place in front of a linesman but as the referee didn't see it, there was no way of bringing it to his attention in the manner that is allowed for off-the-ball offences.

"The rules give no power to the linesmen and umpires and this addresses that problem. Linesmen can't give frees or call play back for fouls. All they can do is draw attention to off-the-ball incidents and even then referees can't call play back because fouls must be called as they happen. This is the same as what's referred to as the so-called advantage rule. A referee can let play go but can't call it back if there is no advantage."

There is also support for the appointment of a spokesperson for referees in order to enable an official's view to be presented in public in the case of any controversy.

"Referees would prefer not to talk themselves but would be in favour of a spokesperson, although there was some wariness about this if officials were in the wrong. But Sean McCague was quick to point out that mistakes by referees don't of themselves give grounds for objecting to a match result."

Reacting to information gleaned from the Players' Committee, the NRC is to make a proposal to develop knowledge of the rules and their application within inter-county panels. "We will be suggesting that the NRC nominate refereeing tutors with a good knowledge of the laws who are good communicators to address team meetings. This arose because the Players' Committee told us that county panels hardly ever have discussions on refereeing."

• Ray Silke has announced his retirement from inter-county football. In 1998 he captained both his club Corofin and Galway to All-Ireland titles - the first time for a Connacht club and the first time in 32 years for the county. By last season he had dropped off the first team but was a panellist throughout Galway's second All-Ireland winning season in four years.