Time GAA took charge of umpire appointments

A FANTASTIC Munster hurling final on Sunday, and yet all the talk yesterday and today, and probably all this week, is about yet another terrible call by a referee.

It’s nothing new of course, and I’d safely say there isn’t a player or a manager in the country, at club or county level, who hasn’t been adversely affected by a bad decision by a linesman, an umpire or a referee, at some time in his career. I’m going to focus here though on the inter-county scene, where poor officiating has become almost an epidemic, a new controversy every week.

There are seven officials at all top GAA games now — the referee, four umpires and two linesmen, both of whom are also themselves top referees. You have one guy with overall authority, the man in the middle, but most of the big problems over the last few years have been caused by the others on the team, and by the umpires especially.