Kerry hurling referee shortage causing 'unhealthy' reliance on one official

In 2020, a total of 11 referees took charge of club hurling games in Kerry, with five of those from outside the county

The number of hurling referees in Kerry is "too small" and is leading to an “unhealthy” reliance on one particular referee, the county's referees committee secretary has said.

In 2020, a total of 11 referees took charge of club hurling games in Kerry, with five of those from outside the county (one from Dublin and four from Limerick).

The pool of homegrown hurling referees is so small that if either Causeway, Lixnaw, or Kilmoyley are playing Ballyduff, there are only two neutral referees in the county who can be called upon, and one of those works outside the county.

The details of Kerry’s hurling referee shortage is laid out by Kerry County Board referees' committee secretary Jeremiah Lynch in his report to the convention.

“We are struggling to recruit hurling referees and our pool is too small. To let you know how bad things are, if either Kilmoyley, Lixnaw, or Causeway are playing Ballyduff, there are only two neutral referees available, one who works outside the county. That is at all levels and is both unhealthy for the clubs and the referee himself,” Lynch wrote in his report.

“Once again, we must reiterate that the onus is on the clubs to recruit referees. Great strides have been made in the county to reduce the number of clubs without referees, but we must kick on again.” 

The referees' committee secretary said: “There is a lot of unpleasant criticism of referees which is unjust”.

“A lot of people criticising referees have never refereed a game themselves and simply don’t know the rules or have an interpretation of the rules that is in any way connected to reality. No referee should ever be verbally abused or feel threatened coming off a pitch after a game.

“If we have more referees, we will have more choices which will give us better standards of refereeing.” 

Kerry County Board secretary Peter Twiss, in his report, thanked Donie Buckley for his “huge contribution” to the senior football team. Buckley departed manager Peter Keane’s backroom team last March, the reason for which has never been clarified.

“My thanks to all our management teams who worked so hard during the year to ensure our teams were always very well prepared. In particular, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all involved was of paramount interest, so many thanks to all our backroom personnel for your help and guidance," Twiss wrote.

“A particular mention to Donie Buckley, who, while no longer involved with the Kerry senior footballers, has made a huge contribution to the progress of the team, and to U20 manager John Sugrue who achieved Munster success in his first year involved.”