Who in their right minds would want to be a referee? The question is posed because of a spate of controversies in the GAA over refereeing decisions but the question is not confined to the GAA. Having fallen foul of referees once or twice in my totally undistinguished career as a player of all sorts of sports, I now regret some of the things I have said and done, not least grabbing a little scrum-half from Ballinasloe by the throat and admonishing him about putting the ball crooked into the scrum. Admonished by the referee myself, I was greatly embarrassed to find that he was a man of the cloth. On only one occasion was I in charge of a match myself and, very strangely, it was a game of tennis. When nobody else would do it, I was dragooned into the job of sitting on the umpire's chair at a tournament of some kind at the YMCA - or was it the CYMS club in Sligo. We were very ecumenical in those days down in that part of the world. Everything was going fine until the light began to fade towards the end of an evening mixed doubles match and my calls were not appreciated by the participants. Eventually they decided among themselves that I was redundant and that the players would make their own calls.
My only other memorable occasion with a referee was in a minor match in Coolera when the man in charge was aware that a young member of our side had died tragically about a week or two earlier. The referee, I will not embarrass him by using his name, came to me as the secretary of the club with a suggestion that our team should recite a decade of the Rosary in the young lad's memory before the match started.
I resisted without saying why and suggested that, since we were wearing black armbands anyway, a minute's silence would be an adequate way to recognise the situation.
The referee came to me at least twice again before the match started to repeat his request, which was again politely refused. After the match, he approached me again and asked why it was that that I was so adamant on the matter.
I finally told him that it was because five of our players were not of the Catholic persuasion and might not have brought their Rosary beads with them. As I said earlier, we were a very ecumenical lot in Sligo in those days long before we had even heard the word. Nowadays it seems referees have much more serious concerns. The sending-off of players in those days was almost unknown, in Gaelic football at least. Rugby, too, seemed to free of much of the villainy which has now become part and parcel of the game.
One thing which was allowed in those days was what has now become known as the "third man" tackle. A licence for a player not in possession of the ball to tackle or obstruct another player for challenging a player who was in possession. It caused mayhem.
What started out as an attempt to deal with some of the recent controversies seems to have become a reflection on the past, but it is relevant to the argument that referees are a much abused bunch.
That has always been the case as outlined above, but two things have moved the goal-posts, if the pun can be excused. One is that the fitness of players has increased out of all recognition, the other that television cameras and video cameras are now at matches in abundance so it is difficult to make any case for human error.
Sadly, some sporting organisations have accepted that television cameras can be used to over-rule referees in many sports. It is not being argued here that such equipment should not ever be used, but that is should be used only in cases of what would seem to be spectacular circumstances. The administration of the games on the field should be left in the hands of the referee or other officiating officials such as linesmen, umpires and so on. Only in the most extreme cases should television "evidence" be used. What will happen, otherwise, is that referees and other officials will become totally insecure and eventually they will not allow their names to go forward for matches or contests of any kind. In Gaelic games in particular, and long may this remain the case, referees give an extraordinary amount of their free time to the GAA. It is a sad day indeed that a man like Jimmy Cooney, for instance, is no longer a referee at the highest level. He made a serious error which was compounded by people outside his control and he is now lost to the game, or so it would seem. The GAA cannot afford to lose people like Jimmy Cooney from Galway or any of the others who have been under scrutiny in recent weeks. What we must not forget is that young people who may be potential referees may very well say to themselves: "I am not going to leave myself open to that kind of abuse".
Referees have been abused verbally in recent times, have been spat at, have been assaulted, have had to suffer abusive telephone calls to their home, have experienced their children being taunted and verbally abused on their way to and from school or in the school yard.
Anybody who indulges in this kind of behaviour is a sworn enemy of sport. The games of all kinds matter to all of us and without them our lives would be bleaker and less pleasurable. Nobody should forget that without referees, linesmen, umpires and many others we would not have the enjoyment which we all cherish.
Of course there will be moments of frustration. By and large, however, the pleasure we get from sporting endeavour compensates us handsomely and we should realise that we need referees to represent us. Unless, of course, we are prepared to take up the whistle ourselves.
