Is the GAA wrong to demand an apology for players’ outbursts?
FOR far too long in the GAA we’ve lived with the idea of muzzling people. This is a problem in Irish society in general — with every politician having to toe the party line or risk losing the whip. Naysayers, generally, treated as pariahs.
What’s wrong with people speaking their minds?
What’s wrong with a player like Anthony Masterson letting off steam after a game of massive importance for his team and for his county, where — as he sees it — all Wexford’s best efforts were undone by poor refereeing?
It’s far healthier in that situation for the player to vent his anger and it’s far healthier for the organisation in general that he be allowed to do so.
There seems to be this idea within the GAA and other associations that referees are thin-skinned and sensitive individuals who need absolute protection, nary a bad word allowed to be said against them by player or manager regardless of how bad that referee’s performance was. It’s nonsense, of course. There is surely not a more thick-skinned individual anywhere than your average GAA referee. If he’s not, he’s in the wrong business.
It takes a certain amount of confidence to become a referee in any sport, a huge amount of self-belief, perhaps even a level of self-importance. But no one is perfect. We all make mistakes and in the pressure bowl of a huge championship game at inter-county level the demands on any referee are massive. So the mistakes come, and they came aplenty in that Wexford/Limerick game.
Why try to run from that simple fact? Why not allow referees take the criticism for those mistakes that is surely their due?
It’s honest. It’s straight. It’s healthy. Very often in these cases the criticism is wrong, but instead of censuring the player for saying what’s on his mind, why can’t we instead have the situation where the referee is allowed to make a statement giving his side of the story?
I don’t believe in suppression. Even a glance at some of the many clerical scandals assailing us is enough to give us an idea of what happens to people when their natural instincts are forced down. When will the GAA wake up to the fact that criticism is good, argument is healthy, contrary views is what prompts progress?
You look at what happened to Kildare last week, a perfectly legitimate goal allowed by the umpire, then disallowed by the referee. Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney forced to bite his lip afterwards when the whole world knew what he was thinking. Why isn’t Kieran, and all those like him, allowed to vent his feelings?
And if they were, maybe the GAA would begin to address the very real problems it has, the kind of problems that give rise to so many of those poor decisions and those subsequent outbursts.
That disallowed goal? Video review. Those contentious points and wides? Likewise, with this simple criterion with no conclusive evidence, referee’s call stands. That disputed amount of time added on? Countdown clock.
But no — better by far, reckons the GAA, to suppress, to keep down, to quieten even those with obviously legitimate complaints.
In all these arguments it’s customary of course to state that referees have a tough job, a thankless job, an arduous job, and that for the most part, in 90% of their decisions, they get the calls right; it’s probably pertinent too to point out here that if any manager or player out there was batting at the same percentage, they’d be winning All-Irelands. Fact is, all the above is true. But let those arbiters take their medicine — in the long run, it’s not just good for them, it’s better for us all.
WHAT is most extraordinary about this week’s latest twist in the fallout from the Wexford-Limerick qualifier is not the GAA’s letter to Anthony Masterson but the reaction to it.
Just how anyone thought Croke Park were going to accept what the goalkeeper said about one of their officials when there were grounds in their official guide to punish him is a mystery.
The GAA would have also been aware they had to set a precedent and send out a warning — referees aren’t fair game for verbal attacks from players. While plenty of them bring it upon themselves, it’s got to the point now where referees’ authority is at an all-time low.
Had the GAA sat idly by as Derek Fahy’s acumen as a match official was denigrated it would have been an abdication of responsibility. Let’s be clear here — the possibility of a referees’ strike is not something that can be dismissed. They’ve been getting it in the neck this year. Again, they’ve been their own worst enemies on occasions but the level of criticism is unprecedentedly high.
Were they to down whistles it would arrest the GAA championship. A similar move by the players wouldn’t have the same potency as they can be replaced.
And what better time to withdraw services than at the height of the championships in August? But because these are the most qualified and experienced match officials around, the current panels of intercounty referees would be difficult to be substituted. As much as regard for the current crop isn’t exactly great, lesser qualified match officials taking charge would be catastrophic for the GAA.
In fairness, while Masterson’s utterances weren’t condonable they are completely understandable. His season had just been ended by a contentious decision. Not only that, he felt the burden of responsibility for the Leinster final defeat to Dublin. The game against Limerick had offered redemption. Instead, he got rejection. Admittedly, what Masterson said was in the heat of the moment but he could have articulated his sentiments a little better.
Saying Fahy is not the best referee in the country and everybody knows it would have been just as effective and less offensive than claiming the players and media believe him to be the worst match official around.
The argument offered by Masterson’s teammates in his defence is that he is an amateur and is not bound by a wage to keep his mouth shut. That is not entirely correct. As a member of the association, Masterson is obligated to uphold the rules and regulations of the organisation.
Yes, referees have got it so wrong this year but then so too have many players. As Marc Ó Sé has pointed out, how can he complain about the amount of errors a referee makes when he commits plenty himself? Incidentally, Ó Sé is a player who was incorrectly sent off by Fahy in the 2008 Munster final, a decision later overturned.
The GAA dole out justice their own way. It’s unlikely Fahy will get one of the remaining three games this summer. But what they can’t accept is the continuing sniping at inter-county referees.
They are a rare breed. Pat McEnaney becomes an extinct one at the end of this season. Another is believed to be so traumatised at the level of criticism he has received he is considering quitting.
That remains to be seen but what’s certain ishis confidence has been shot. And that’s what refereeing is all about — confidence. Without the men in black, there can be no games. That’s why the GAA acted.
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