Former inter-county football referee Damien Brazil has hung up his whistle, citing a failure by the Offaly county board to provide proper support for officials in the county.

The Shannonbridge match official, who was considered to be in his refereeing prime, announced his shock decision to quit after Sunday's Offaly SFC final between Rhode and Edenderry, which was his fourth Dowling Cup decider to handle.

Despite not having officiated at inter-county level in the past couple of years, Brazil was regarded as Offaly's top football referee, being voted as the Faithful County's Referee of the Year in 2011 after taking charge of the All-Ireland MFC semi-final that year. His other high-profile assignments included a Leinster final and an All-Ireland semi-final at U21 level.

"I've become disillusioned with the support for referees in the county," Brazil told hoganstand.com. "There is no real interest in the development or progression of officials.

"I said I would take this stance now after doing the county final, so people wouldn't say 'he is only doing this because he is not getting big games'.

"I'm 47 and I love refereeing but I have to make a stand because of what is going on."

Tweet

Most Read Stories