Convention: hurling fixtures at risk due to referee shortage
December 02, 2014
Fergus Smith keeps an eye on the action during the Meath SHC final at Pairc Tailteann.
The shortage of hurling referees in Meath got another airing in reports to the annual county convention in the Navan O'Mahonys centre on Monday night.
"We are on our knees at the moment with a lack of referees in hurling," said Hurling Committee secretary Anthony Monaghan. "There is a sense of frustration at times in certain games from clubs over the quality of refereeing but the quality won't improve until our numbers increase, thus also reducing the frequency of referees refereeing the same clubs.
"So clubs are asked to put forward clubmen who are willing to do the course. This problem will not go away unless our own clubs fix it. At this moment I don't believe we will be able to complete the full schedule of league and championship fixtures next year due to lack of numbers," said Monaghan.
Referees co-ordinator Donal Smyth reported that of the 52 registered referees in the county, only 11 of them officiate at hurling games. The O'Mahonys clubman also suggested that unless there is an increase in hurling whistlers the schedule of games in 2015 may not be completed.
"It is with a sense of disappointment that, especially in hurling, we have had to get referees from outside the county to officiate at games, but that is the situation we are in," added Smyth.
The referees' co-ordinator congratulated whistlers from the county who were in charge of intercounty matches during the year, adding, "their performances is a source of great pride for the GAA in the county and long may the great tradition of refereeing in the county continue."
