Monitoring the men in black

PADDY COLLINS has seen it from all sides — from much respected man in black to chairman of the referees’ body to county board secretary in Westmeath.

He has a clear recollection of being savaged by assessors on a couple of occasions, but feels that the current system is much more streamlined.

Pressure on referees nowadays is “coming from everywhere,” he says.

There’s isn’t widespread agreement with Cody’s viewpoint — far from it — but he has his backers. Seamus Aldridge, the former Kildare Secretary and ex-Leinster chairman, is best known as the man in charge of the 1978 All-Ireland when Mikey Sheehy scored that famous goal against Paddy Cullen. “I think Brian Cody is absolutely on the ball,’’ he commented.

The way system works, an assessor appointed from Croke Park monitors the referee’s performance and submits a report. The referee receives a copy and has the facility to discuss it with the assessor, or challenge it. At official level, it’s accepted that it’s not a perfect system, but it is the best available.

Some of the people I spoke with privately questioned the ability of assessors known to them — individuals who never made it as an inter-county referee, or were part of county squads. There is a committee in place for tutoring them and some of the assessors known to me did distinguish themselves as referees.

Pierce Freaney, a former Kilkenny hurler who played with St. Finbarrs when stationed as a Garda in Cork, has the title of ‘Match Official Co-Ordinator’ in Croke Park. He admits that there have been occasions when assessments were ‘written off.’ “If a referee really disagrees with his assessment, it will be examined. And it has happened where assessments have been found to be unfair and overly critical,’’ he explained.

Referees are ‘totally comfortable’ with the system, but they face pressure from all sides. A lot it stems from a ‘lack of acceptance’ of discipline, he feels, something that’s endemic in society. “Nobody wants to accept being disciplined or being punished,’’ he commented. Interestingly, while Limerick referee Pat O’Connor wondered if young referees were being put under pressure by assessors, Freaney countered by saying that they have ‘grown up’ with a system that was only in its infancy when he himself refereed.

“There is no other way to get up the referees’ ladder without proving you are able to perform at the highest level. And, the only way we can monitor that is by sending out people who are trained to assess them.”

Collins, who handled four football finals between 1976 and 1989, admits that referees are under considerably more pressure nowadays, with radio phone-ins “the bane of his life.” Rarely does anybody do anything on the field of play to make his job any easier — and that includes players and management.

“You have live tv from early May until after the All-Irelands. There’s no comparison between the type of pressure that’s on referees now. Other than the pressures of having to adjudicate on what happens during a game you have all this in-depth analysis.

“People are inclined to think that the referee has the same view that the instant replay is providing when a judgement call. It doesn’t dawn on them that the referee does not see it like that. Live television creates a climate whereby people watching in their sitting room think that the referees has seen it in the same manner as they see it — and should have adjudicated on it in the same manner as they would.’’

Of all the people I consulted with, Seamus Aldridge (typically) was the most outspoken, agreeing totally with Brian Cody.

“This assessment — I don’t concur with it at all. If Pat McEnaney is assessed three times and gets three zeros, he’ll still be picked for the top match. There are people doing assessments I certainly would not appoint,’’

He has no doubt that referees should be allowed the right of reply if they are taken to task by television analysts, explaining: “I remember the time of the famous (Sheehy/Cullen) incident in 1978, I asked the then President if I could go on tv to explain it. I felt it would have ‘taken the steam out of it,’ but he would not let me.’’

George Ryan from Tipperary, who refereed the All-Ireland hurling finals of 1979 and 1985, isn’t convinced that the assessment procedure makes the referee’s job harder. “They might say the pressure isn’t there, but it’s bound to be at the back of your mind,’’ he stated. “The system may be helpful, but not everybody will take criticism. In my time, I was very grateful for constructive assessment.”

However, other than performances being dissected in the media, he feels that much greater pressure comes from having to administer the rules as they relate to the use of cards. “I don’t know how they keep track of the black cards and the yellow cards. And then keep note of time as well, that’s something I would like to see taken out of their hands. The hooter system like the use in ladies football would surely be better.’’

Limerick man Sean O’Connor refereed Munster finals in both codes and handled the All-Ireland hurling finals of 1969 and 1975. He served as an assessor up to two years ago, when he found it too time-consuming. Back in his own time, it was mostly a question of being appointed ‘and refereeing the match as they saw it.’

His experience of the assessment procedure was, he says, totally positive. “I don’t believe they come under pressure from assessors. Many’s the time a ref rang me when there were incidents in a match and a few thanked me afterwards for the way I wrote about them.

“Any match that I went to, no one put me under pressure about what to write or what to say in a report. I never had a conflict with a referee over an assessment — and I used to be out every week because I was doing hurling and football at the time.’’

Fellow county man Sean O’Grady, who was in charge of the 1977 hurling final, points out that there was ‘no pressure’ on referees back then. But then, like so many young referees, he came under the wing of the late John Moloney. “For John, refereeing was 80% common sense and 20% rules, that’s when he said to me starting out.

“However, referees can’t practice common sense nowadays, because they are going to be knocked on it. I’d be inclined to agree up to a point with what Brian Cody said. I’d say that assessors are definitely putting pressure on referees.’’

Pierce Freaney poses the question, ‘what is common sense,’ adding: “I have yet to get a definition of what it is. How do you tell a referee? The only definition that makes sense is that ‘common sense’ means refereeing it the way the other fellow sees it. A pull with a hurley is a sending-off offence no matter where it happens.

“Everything has to be within the rules. If there is a problem with defending as it is (as Cody maintained and Brian Lohan agreed in an RTÉ interview), then the rules need to change. We can only apply the rules.

“You can’t tell the referee to be lenient on this fellow and lenient on that fellow. If he breaks a rule, then it’s a free. You have the usual cry, ‘allow advantage,’ but if you allow an advantage, people are cribbing because they are not getting a free. And, with free-takers now — you know yourself, from 90 yards out — with people like Henry Shefflin, Ken McGrath and Jerry O’Connor ‘tapping’ them over — the advantage is a free!”

Overall, he is satisfied that the various bodies in charge of referee feeling they are ‘doing the right thing’ and that it has brought about an improvement. At the end of the day it’s all about making referees better and having them all performing to a similar standard.

“It’s definitely not our job to let play flow. That’s the players’ job — if they play within the rules. And if they did that, then maybe there’d be no need for a referee!”