'No Referee, No Game': Leitrim clubs warned competitions could be pulled if new referees are not found

Those heading into Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada for any of the county finals over the past month were greeted by a mannequin with a simple sign: “No referee, no game.”

This is part of a push by Leitrim GAA to recruit new referees as the county finds itself in “dire straits” with a dwindled cohort of active referees under increasing pressure to cover games in the county.

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Currently, the 15 active referees in the county stretched to cover all games across all age ranges and ranks in men's and women's football with some referees taking charge in as many as 80 games this year to make sure that competitions were able to go ahead.

According to Michael Doherty, Referee Co-ordinator for Leitrim GAA, the situation is not sustainable at the moment, with a skeleton crew of referees, some of whom are older, and no new trainees to bulk out the ranks this season.

“There'll have to be competitions more or less pulled, because we won't have the referees to do them. It's as simple as that,” says Doherty, who is calling on clubs to put forward people to become referees this coming season.

“What is the point in having great fields, great facilities, numerous teams, and now what we're looking forward to is having no competition because we won't have referees?”

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“We're using referees from Cavan, we're using referees from Sligo, we're using referees from Roscommon. That's fine if they have surplus referees, but if they get short on referees with their claim that it's happening, we're in dire straits.”

This year, eleven clubs in the county, including some of the biggest clubs, in the most populated areas, have no active referees, with only one referee being active in all of North Leitrim this year.

“If anything happens to a referee, or one of the referees, just give a packet in or get injured,  it's serious. I mean, we have tried last year, we put a group together, and we rang clubs and asked them to see, put names forward and that, and they came forward with nothing.”

This year, Leitrim GAA will run training classes with would-be referees in November and December, with some of the top referees from Connacht coming to offer guidance before new referees begin officiating games next season.

“Most people who would ever have played the GAA would know more or less 90% or 99% of the rules,” says Doherty, and the classes go a way to getting people ready to referee games early next year, where they will start off with less stressful games at underage and in the junior ranks.

Refereeing is open to anyone, and anyone could make a good referee, even people whom you would not think, says Doherty. They try to keep referees within around 15 miles of their own club and offer €50 in payment for each game.

Referees receive more training as they go along and progress through the ranks to higher-grade matches in Connacht after a year or two.

From reading referees' reports this year, Doherty says there is a marked reduction in the abuse referees are receiving during games with the advent of the new rules, though it is still the main thing keeping people reluctant to become a new referee, says Doherty.

“No matter what team loses a game, it's the referee that's wrong, unless there bet by about 20 points, it's the referee, and sadly, that's the problem, and this is what younger people are listening to, and it's off-putting.”

“Certain clubs would have, believe it or not, very little respect for referees,” says Doherty, who says clubs have been warned regarding the behaviour of their supporters and has had some referees simply refusing to travel to certain clubs where they receive abuse.

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He believes that there needs to be greater respect paid to referees who are giving up their time to officiate games. “They're doing the job for, say, for the love of the game, but they're providing something for two other clubs to go out and play.”

Coming into the winter months, clubs will be holding AGMs, and Doherty is asking for them to put finding a referee to put forward as a top priority on their agendas to help take pressure off the current group of referees and ensure competitions, especially for clubs that do not currently have a referee.

“It's very hard to go to the clubs with two or three referees and say, well, you need to have more referees. It's the clubs with no referees, and if they come on board, we would be back into a reasonable position again.”

“It's imperative that we get people to sign in. Clubs can't just simply say, they can't just simply say that we can't get a referee. They just simply have to get a referee.”

If the situation continues, the next step is sanctions on clubs that do not provide referees, with the county board looking at what measures have been introduced in other counties, including the loss of home fixtures as potential penalties for clubs that don’t provide referees.

Those interested in becoming a referee can contact Michael Doherty at 0851743293.