Ladies’ football referees knowledge of rules questioned

CLARE ladies’ football referees will have to learn the rules of the game if they are to hang on to their whistles in 2013. They are to be hauled in to take part in a refresher course on the playing rules before the new season starts.

At Monday’s reconvened AGM, Kilmurry-Ibrickane delegate Therese Doohan put forward a recommendation that called for referees’ monitors from outside the county to attend games in Clare. She said that refereeing in the county was too inconsistent and that the playing rules of ladies’ football were regularly not applied correctly.

“I think that some monitoring needs to be put in place for the rules to be adhered to. I have spoken to some clubs and there isn’t full consistency with refs around the county. I think there should be somebody there to monitor to make sure that the rules of ladies’ football are adhered to,” Ms Doohan said.

The Kilmurry delegate said inconsistent application of the playing rules in Clare told against players when they played matches outside of the county.

“What’s happening is our teams are going outside the county and they’re being pulled for fouls that are not adhered to here. There’s huge inconsistency with ladies’ reffing. There’s absolute hands-on and there’s belting. If there’s full-on contact in ladies’ football, it should not happen. It’s a non-contact. It doesn’t happen at county level. Why is it happening here?” she asked.

“It’s not a personal thing but in our club’s opinion, there is inconsistency with the reffing. They’re getting well paid for it,” Ms Doohan added. The meeting later heard that ladies’ football referees are paid €40 per game.

“I think the county board should have some sort of mechanism in place to monitor their performance because whatever a ref says, that’s the law.

“But if the ref is not doing his or her job properly, there should be some comeback for a club. You’d have to get someone independent from outside of the county,” the Kilmurry delegate suggested. She described as “a pure cod”, referees turning up for semi-finals or finals without umpires or people to run the line.

“The game should not go ahead. It is in the rule book that that’s what they’re supposed to come with,” Ms Doohan stated.

Former county board chairman Johnny Hayes told the meeting that referees are often subjected to relentless questioning of their decisions.

“There’s dog’s abuse out there. No matter whether you’re right or wrong, you’re going to get it. You’re a loner out there in the middle of the field when people start. You lose concentration, especially young referees. We had two or three lovely referees the year before last and they wouldn’t referee at all last year because of verbal abuse,” the Fergus Rovers clubman revealed.

Therese Doohan stated that many younger referees are not being afforded sufficient opportunity to gain experience refereeing underage games.

“A lot of the newer refs, who went for training last year, are not getting the chance of games. There are a lot of refs leaving because of the abuse that they might be getting from the sideline. It is a hard job and I’m not saying that it’s not but there isn’t consistency. You have some very good refs and then you have refs who let too much go.

“It’s more like a rugby match than a ladies’ football match,” she said.

“I think the younger refs that have done the courses should get more of a chance at U-14 and U-12. The more experienced referees should be limited to the more senior games,” Doora-Barefield delegate Seán Lenihan commented.

However, Miltown Malbay delegate Pat Keane said he would be reticent about letting inexperienced referees take charge of underage finals. “I agree in principle with what you’re saying but I’d be very reluctant to give an U-12, U-14 or an U-16 final to somebody who has just started. There’s a hell of a lot of abuse being fired in from the sideline.

“I’d be very, very slow to give them a final because I’d say there’d be some intimidation and there could be some atmosphere,” he suggested.

At the end of a protracted debate, board chairman Davy Browne said referees should be asked to take part in a refereeing course.

“I think myself, we should bring all our referees in and do a refresher course on the rules of ladies’ football with them,” he said.