Fears over assaults on referees

THE GAA's Director-General Liam Mulvihill has admitted to being worried by the upsurge of physical assaults on referees in recent months.

"Any one case of an attack on a referee is serious, but when you have a number of them over a short period of time it's obviously a major concern. And, it's one that we will be addressing through the Central Council and our structures," he said yesterday.

"There has been quite an amount of indiscipline in various events at club level over the last six months, some of them which were not reported in the national papers. We even had a very serious case in a colleges game in Dublin the other day. Every one of those issues causes us concern. It's something we would hope that would not be happening in an ideal situation.

"I have no doubt it will be raised by the Central Council. All I know is that all of us who have responsibility are concerned and are worried about what has been happening.

"There are two aspects, the first being the indiscipline that it shows. Secondly, it shows that there seems to be a lack of respect towards referees," he said.

In answer to a question, he said he wasn't ruling out the possibility that attitudes could be influenced by big games. "The overall attitude can be affected by a certain climate which is built up," he commented.

The tough stance adopted by the Kerry County Board, through the severity of the penalties they imposed following the assault on a referee in the recent hurling semi-final, 'set a great example' for other units, he agreed.

On a happier note, Mr Mulvihill said it was a matter of pride for the GAA that they had the opportunity of show-casing their international game in Australia at the same time as the Rugby World Cup.

"It can't be underestimated that the eyes of the sporting world are going to be on Australia in October and November, so the fact that we have our own international game being show-cased is a marvellous opportunity for us.

"It's an opportunity for us to say, 'we are here too and we have a major game that as a spectacle will more than hold its own with anything else that's happening," he added.