Barry Kelly: Society less tolerant of refereeing gaffes

All-Ireland final referee Barry Kelly believes a less tolerant society is contributing to much more intense pressure on match officials.

Kelly was heavily criticised by Kilkenny boss Brian Cody for awarding a last-minute free to Tipperary in last year’s drawn All-Ireland final.

Cody escaped a ban for calling the decision “criminal” and Kelly feels far more leeway is afforded to players than to referees.

“We’re more impatient as people,” Kelly said. “You send a text to a friend and if they don’t immediately reply, you think, ‘What’s the problem?’”

“There is much less tolerance of mistakes but more tolerance of players. They can miss a goal but a referee can have a good game for 68, 69 or 70 minutes and make one mistake and suddenly you’re the bad guy.”

The Westmeath official also says his experience as a secondary school teacher benefits him on the pitch. “I employ some of that classroom management style on the pitch in terms of not taking cheek or subordination.

“It also helps with people skills more than if I was sitting in an office for eight hours a day.”

Kelly was speaking at a referee conference at the National Sports Campus on Saturday where David Coldrick also outlined some of the challenges facing amateur officials. Meath’s Coldrick, who works as an actuary in Dublin, specifically referenced last year’s drawn Ulster Championship preliminary round clash when he failed to give a card to Down’s Conor Maginn after he had conceded a penalty for fouling Tyrone’s Mark Donnelly.

“I’d had a hectic build-up with work and my head wasn’t fully right,” Coldrick explained. “There were a lot of decisions in a short space of time.

“These decisions stay with you and you’ll have people asking you about them in work but there is learning in every situation.”