Dublin boss Gavin favours using two refs for football

Jim Gavin believes the idea of semi-professional referees would jar with the GAA’s amateur ethos, but the Dublin manager has advocated using two referees in Gaelic football.

His Mayo counterpart, James Horan, floated the idea of semi-pro officials recently, but Gavin was echoing the words of Clare hurling boss Davy Fitzgerald in advocating twice as many whistlers on the field of play.

Fitzgerald has proposed the move for hurling specifically in the past given the greater speed of that game, yet Gavin pointed out the bigger ball code already has some experience of that particular experiment.

“The only professional people in the association should be the administrators,” said Gavin yesterday.

“Officials or players, we need to keep that amateur ethos. I see we have some of our top officials officiating at some of the games on the sidelines and there is no reason why they can’t step onto the field to assist the referee as a second referee like in Compromise Rules.

“There is lots of experiences there among the top referees from the Rules that two referees work. Anything to share the load for referees has to be welcomed.”

Gavin was speaking the morning after the country’s top referees had been called to Croke Park for an emergency meeting following high-profile errors made by some of the top officials in the opening weeks of the championship.

Both David Coldrick and Joe McQuillan erred in their application of the black card rule in their duties during the Down-Tyrone and Derry-Donegal games respectively, leading to frenzied debate over the controversial new rules.

The introduction of the black card has been met with considerable opposition in some quarters, not the least among them Gavin’s managerial union which was responsible for the scrapping of the sin bin in a previous lifetime.

“Change can sometimes be difficult for some people to accept. This is part of our rules and it ain’t going away so we just need to accept that it is a big challenge, but it is one that needs to be met and the National Referees Committee Chairman has accepted that. The standards that they have set themselves, which are very high, haven’t been achieved in some areas but knowing the individuals involved and their high levels of competence I am sure that they will address it. They are addressing it.”

For all the attention on a few obvious incidents, Gavin is adamant the new regulations have already been a force for good, arguing the volume of cynical fouls has fallen dramatically. He was dismissive of the assertion that the black card will inadvertently lead to a return to widespread blanket defensive systems, pointing out teams have been utilising defensive tactics long before a third colour card was introduced.

Yet, what effect Wednesday night’s meeting at HQ has on the championship in the short, medium and long-term remains to be seen. Undoubtedly, there will be more attention than ever on the men in the middle the next few weeks.

Yet Gavin doesn’t believe Dublin and Laois, who meet in a Leinster quarter-final on Sunday week, or any of the other teams out soon will have to worry about any backlash of cards as a result of the Croke Park get-together this week.

“No. I think the broader context of the rule [is what] we need to look at … We talk about change – that was a big, big change for the GAA rule book. As an association, we took a big step across that Rubicon, that cynical play wouldn’t be tolerated in Gaelic football.”