McGuinness: Pressure on referees is killing games
Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, Tipperary goalkeeper Brendan Cummins and Wexford hurler Darren Stamp are others who have drawn attention to the manner in which match officials are being judged, both from the stands and Croke Park.
Like them, McGuinness has all but absolved referees of blame for what he believes is the over-officious manner in which games are being officiated, going so far as to say that he actually feels sorry for the men in black.
“A lot of decisions made in the last few years have been reflective of decisions made in the Premier League in England,” he explained. “We didn’t need the yellow cards. We have got a cultural identity in this country and these are our indigenous games.
“We had a fella booked for diving, our full-back, who if you knew him you would know he wouldn’t do that. That is your full-back in the first 10 minutes of the game so there are a lot of things going on not reflective of our indigenous sport.
“What we need to do is go back in time rather than go forward in time and protect what we have got which are phenomenal games played with common sense. If people are aggressive or consistently fouling that has to be addressed but this other stuff is not important but yet it is annoying and frustrating everybody.”
McGuinness described how he met Fermanagh’s Marty Higgins at a recent function not long after the official had been heavily criticised for his handling of the Laois-Donegal round seven game and the conversation opened his eyes to the pressure referees faced.
Approximately 50 whistlers are on the official panel for the Allianz Football League and another 42-45 for the hurling equivalent but those numbers will be curbed to around 18 and 10 respectively for the upcoming championships.
“I was also informed that there is a panel of assessors and not all the assessors get to assess in the championship so they have to pick every single technicality out for their points to be high so you are in a position where referees and assessors are fighting for stripes.”
The result in many instances has been games blighted by a raft of stoppages to the frustration of spectators, players and managers who routinely speak afterwards about how there was “hardly a dirty foul” in the entire 70 minutes.
“If you are a coach you need to know what is going to happen on a consistent basis and we don’t know on Sunday how the thing is going to go down.
“That is very, very difficult for managers. The GAA should come out and be more transparent with the referees and the assessors.”
McGuinness’ isn’t calling for assessors to be culled but he is asking for a system of operating that allows more common sense to be used.
Not surprisingly, those opinions are not shared in the offices of Croke Park. Not for the first time in recent weeks, national match referees manager Pat Doherty found himself defending the current setup yesterday evening.
The Westmeath man explained that assessors were the only means by which Croke Park could monitor the performance of referees on a weekly basis and added that they were also used to help educate the officials as well.
He also rejected the suggestion the GAA have been aping the disciplinary example of English football and asked some interesting questions on the vexed topic of technical fouls and punishment.
“I am Laois and you are Donegal and if the ref decides to allow a Laois player throw the ball and the move ends with a goal, then what would be said about that? Would Jimmy like to decide which technical rules to ignore?
“The rules are the rules are the rules. The referee is not entitled to say a throw in the middle of the field from the number eight to the number nine is alright but a throw closer to goal isn’t. The referee does not have that option. It is not his choice.”
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