Roscommon postpone all GAA games as referees go on strike

Weekend fixtures off in wake of incident in which referee was injured

Referee Kevin Naughton lying injured during the St Aidan’s v St Dominic’s game

All Roscommon club games scheduled for this weekend have been postponed as referees in the county have gone on strike.

The withdrawal of services by Roscommon referees is in response to the incident that occurred during an underage match in the county on Wednesday that required an ambulance to be called for referee Kevin Naughton.

The group match between St Aidan’s and St Dominic’s in Ballyforan was abandoned in the second half after the match official suffered an injury following an exchange with an individual at the game. Naughton was kept in hospital overnight for observation and released the following morning.

Disgusted by the treatment of Naughton, referee representatives met with county board officials Thursday night and informed them they would not be officiating at games this weekend.

The strike action, which will run up to Sunday midnight, has left the county board with no option but to postpone all Roscommon club games scheduled across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

A Roscommon statement this afternoon confirmed the strike: “Roscommon GAA have been informed by the Roscommon Referee’s Committee that they are withdrawing their services for all matches scheduled in the county for today, tomorrow and Sunday.

“The Referee’s Committee feel that this action is necessary to strongly condemn any form of violence, aggression or abuse towards match officials in the GAA.

“Roscommon GAA strongly condemns any behaviour that puts any of our match officials at risk.

“All matches that were due to be played this weekend will be rescheduled to the 16th, 17th and 18th September 2022.”