Bosses call on referees to be more consistent

MORE consistency in refereeing and greater consultation!

The call came yesterday from inter county managers at the launch of the Bank of Ireland football championship. Kerry coach Pat O’Shea articulated the frustration of players in relation to being either ‘ticked’ or yellow carded for particular incidents by one referee and not by another.

But he accepted players had a responsibility not to let their team-mates down and, from a Kerry perspective, this entailed living up to set standards.

“Every player goes out to play to the best of his ability and you compliment them every time they do that. But players have to take the responsibility that goes with our situation as All-Ireland champions — to uphold many of the features you expect from them when they go out and perform,’’ he commented.

On refereeing standards, he agreed that the key word was ‘consistency’ and that problems only arose where there was inconsistency from game to game.

“If there was consultation after games — so that managers and players particularly can be more aware of what to expect from the referee — that might help. What is frustrating for players is that their point is not taken on board when it comes to find out the reasoning why cards are given out.

“There were incidents at the start of the League where players who received cards ‘would have loved to know why’.’’

According to Mayo manager John O’Mahony there was ‘a big difference’ in standards between the finish of the League and the start. He said: “Obviously referees were brought in and had to referee to the letter of the law. But no matter what rules are there, you have to have a common sense approach. And we had that by the end of the League.

“We all talk about the intensity of the championship, if we had that last February — the way the games were refereed that time — you’d have uproar in the country. I think it’s progressing, as it does most years. It’s very important to open up the channels to make sure that players are not frustrated — that there is a level of discipline in the game but with a common sense approach.

The Dublin manager Paul Caffrey was happy to think that standards had improved after the opening rounds of the League: “You have to be very careful about criticising new referees. It’s like trying new players in positions — you have to blood them, give them experience and let them make the couple of errors.’’

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte remarked that while consistency was ‘key,’ it wasn’t easy to achieve!

“We have to be respectful of the fact that referees have to act in ‘live’ time and that’s not easy. I’m happy that the GAA are prepared to look at things in that respect, that a referee will make the decision in good faith in the time and that it can be changed if necessary. I think that’s a positive move.

“In the past a referee could make a decision and it couldn’t be touched.

‘‘Now, if the referee does not make the right call and someone else can look at it from a more distanced view and have time to mull over it, it may be changed.

“As long as that prevails, we can live with the odd mistake here and there!"