O'Rourke 'ref bias' comments provoke storm

Former Meath footballer Colm O'Rourke has courted controversy after accusing Australian referee Mathew James of being biased during last Friday's International Rules first Test in Perth.

O'Rourke, who managed Ireland to victory in the 1999 series Down Under, hit out at James, who was making his debut as a series official, in his Sunday Independent column.

The three-time AllStar forward said: "They (the Australians) did not need any help from the officials, but the Australian referee was blatantly biased while the Irish ref David Coldrick went by the rules.

"Someone needs to have a word with the Australian official before next Friday or else it will be a waste of time playing these games.

"The absolute independence of the refs has to be the starting point. I am sure that the Irish officials will be making that point when the review meeting takes place this week in Melbourne," he added.

The Aussies certainly did not need the assistance of James in the landslide 100-64 first Test win, and statistics from the game would seem to go against O'Rourke's reasoning.

During the 80 minutes at the Subiaco Oval, Australia were the beneficiaries of 32 free kicks to Ireland's 26. The Irish were also rightly stung for seven 20-metre penalties as a lack of rulebook knowledge saw Pete McGrath's side stepping over marks and fouling the ball when being tackled.

James did make one obvious mistake. Australia's penalty goal was scored by Chris Johnson when, according to the rulebook, it should have been taken by the fouled player, Kepler Bradley.

THE AFL (Australian Football League) Umpires Association has reacted angrily to O'Rourke's comments.

Association chief executive Bill Deller told The Western Australian newspaper: "I'll be speaking to Mathew about what's been written. We will seek legal guidance and they can advise Mathew on what to do if he wants to take action.

"He would have to fund it himself because we don't have the money to do that. There's only been a couple of examples where umpires have taken action."