Meath GAA officials to probe case after referee is abused

A county Meath referee has been the subject of abusive phone calls over the past week following his officiating of a club football game.

The referee, aged in his mid-twenties, whistled an underage football match in the middle of last week where he issued a red card to one player.

Outraged supporters directed heavy criticism at the referee after the final-whistle and he has since been the target of offensive phone calls. The revelation emerged during a discussion about the lack of respect for club referees at Monday night’s meeting of the Meath county board.

The report of the referee in question was to be investigated at last night’s meeting of the county’s CCC.

Donal Smyth, coordinator of the county’s referees’ committee, was incensed at the despicable treatment levelled at the young referee.

“He’s a young referee which worries me,” said Smyth.

“It has been something that I have been highlighting this year. It is the same all over the country.

“You send out young fellas, you send out referees to do their best, it is just sometimes things don’t happen. It is the follow through that is the problem. It is the phone call from a private number afterwards that is the problem.”

This particular incident was raised by Curraha delegate Mick Kelly at the county board meeting, but Smyth admitted to have been aware of the abusive phone calls prior to this.

“I had been in contact with the referee. I had rang him as I had been aware of the situation.

“We will investigate the matter when we get the report and take it from there.”

Smyth revealed this latest targeting of a referee represents a growing trend within the county.

“I have spoken about this before. It [abuse towards referee] is just something that has been a bit of a worry now in the last while. You don’t want to see these things creeping in.

“The CCC has been very pro-active this year, we have brought in a number of clubs in relation to abuse from supporters towards referees and they have been spoken to. In fairness, the CCC have been very good.”