Abuse of referees the only black spot on good year for Offaly GAA discipline

ABUSE of referees has been the only black spot on a good year for disciplinary matters in Offaly GAA, Competitions Control Committee secretary Pat Teehan told the County Board on Tuesday evening.

Mr Teehan revealed that 94 notices of disciplinary action were issued from between 800-900 football and hurling games in all grades at adult and underage level. 19 of those were for double yellow card offences, 53 resulted in one match bans, 15 had two match suspensions and there were seven for other offences.

He said the disappointing thing was there are too many people abusing referees, both mentors and players. Mr Teehan said two of the “most disturbing” things was an U14 and 16 being sent off in two games for abusing the referee. “It is the responsibility of the clubs to ensure players at that age have respect for referees,” he said referring to the difficultly getting to games.

He also referred to the number of adults being suspended for abusing referees, stating that “most worryingly”, four of those were at underage games. One of those was a repeat offender who was also suspended last year. “If he comes again, he will be barred from attending games because that is just not good enough,” Mr Teehan promised.

One individual got a 24 week ban for minor physical interference with a referee. Mr Teehan told delegates that mentors who abuse referees shouldn't be put in charge of teams. “We all have supporters who abuse and there is not a lot you can do about supporters but you certainly can do something about appointing people in charge of teams who abuse referees. It is something we just can't tolerate.”

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Mr Teehan felt the new football rules have improved discipline on the field. He revealed that there have been 28 disciplinary cases in adult football compared to 38 in adult hurling. In underage football, there have only been 9 cases and he felt the game was being played differently under the new rules – he said he would provide figures at the end of the year but this was well down.