Three axed from referees’ list

Three high-profile hurling referees have been dropped from this year’s championship panel.

Michael Wadding of Waterford, who refereed the 2010 decider between Tipperary and Kilkenny, Cork’s Cathal McAllister and Laois’s Anthony Stapleton were told the news following a meeting with national referees’ chairman Pat McEnaney on Tuesday night.

The Monaghan native called for a significant improvement from hurling match officials this year, but it is believed the decision has been made due to his belief that a smaller pool of championship referees will improve both their fitness and decisions.

Last November he confirmed a number of referees would lose their status.

“The panel size that we agreed for 2013 [National Leagues] is no more than 50 for football and 45 for hurling. The problem is that it needs to go lower because we have only 80 hurling matches in the National Leagues, for example, and we’re looking to give every referee three or four games.

“You need to have top referees doing more matches, so that’s why the numbers were reduced, plus the fact that we’re always asking the provincial councils to provide fresh faces and new names. This year they’ve come up with seven new football and five new hurling referees.

“We’ve had a look and said that we’re going to run with them. Some people have lost out.”