Last week one well know referee threw his toys out of the Pram for not getting another All-Ireland Final, I have spoken to many in the intervening days, players, coaches and hurling people to What is a hurling referee and why so many from the so called traditional counties, just because you are from Kilkenny or Cork doesn't necessarily mean you are good, one of the best I've seen at county level, is Kevin Brady from Louth, fit, consistent , game flow, and spoke to all involved, very good referee, but will we see a Louth or any other ref from a weaker county officiating at the highest level!!!! No because the strong counties want a ref from a strong county!!!! Thoughts
I don't think there is any bias against referees from any county, it's just that logic and statistics will tell you that counties with more people involved in hurling refereeing are more likely to have top referees than counties where the number of people interested is much lower.
A good and interesting aside to the recent resignation of James McGrath. I think it comes down to perception. The perception is that hurling referees can only come from counties that are traditionally strong... ie Tipp, Cork and Kilkenny... that is the traditional interpretation and perception. In fairness the panels have been expanded to incorporate Antrim Down Carlow Wexford Clare Waterford and more recently Wicklow and Westmeath referees. The pathway .. is now much clearer and it takes far less time for some referees to get there than others! In Carlow we have a number of referees that have put their skills to the test on the provincial and national panels with varying degrees of success. Some referees have done exceptionally well while others have struggled to get those big profile games that garner national prominence. It seems to me that assessments play a big role in the level of success that referees command. Most referees are assessed with most intercounty assignments and consequently their performances are thoroughly assessed and appointments are given on the level of success deliberated on by the assessors. I am sure too that word of mouth plays a part also...
Kilkenny have not had a national referee for many years- Sean Cleere has recently gotten some games but before Sean - I struggle to remember the last ref to get appointments outside of Kilkenny! So - in some counties it has been difficult for referees to get onto the intercounty panels. Looking at a recent study in the Indo the refs need to dedicate themselves solely to refereeing if they are to be successful. With clubs struggling to get coaches and volunteers to manage teams- the man who wishes to take up the whistle- he may find it tough to get a lot of support locally within his club. Then you have the level of abuse in its varying forms that comes with the territory and you would wonder why any soul would wish to put himself forward for such misery! In fairness there is a pathway for referees and men from Westmeath, in particular through Kelly and McGrath and Gavin in Offaly have shown that it possible to get big profile games for refs from the 'weaker' counties.
nonsense,paud o dwyer and john keenan prove that you don't have to be from a traditional county.lets face it,if you can keep the peace in wicklow hurling,you are ready for anything! cant remember the last Kilkenny referee before sean cleere.
I think you are wide off the mark there. There are plenty of hurling referees from the 'so-called' weaker hurling counties. Up until recently, you had Kelly and McGrath from Westmeath. Of the 10 elite hurling championship referees this year the county split was as follows: Cork (2), Kilkenny (1), Tipp (1), Galway (1), Limerick (1), Wexford (1), Carlow (1), Westmeath (1) and Wicklow (1).
James Connors from Donegal was a Joe McDonagh and Christy Ring referee this year. If Brady from Louth is good enough he will get promoted to the elite panel over time. Cathal MacAllister (Cork), Johnny Ryan (Tipp), and John Keane (Galway) have all dropped down to McDonagh/ Ring from Liam McCarthy.