Croke Park failing its inter-county referees

TOP Gaelic football referee John Bannon has slammed the Croke Park back-up for inter-county referees and he is calling for a separate Referees’ Department in the GAA.

In a frank interview with the Irish Examiner, Bannon said that the regular referees' meetings did not even have video footage of some of the most controversial incidents of the championship season.

Bannon is so unhappy with the back-up provided by Croke Park, where refereeing is a wing of the Coaching and Games Development section, that he has framed a motion calling for the formation of a referee's department.