Three-time All-Ireland final referee Fergal Horgan quits inter-county game

CALLING TIME: Referee Fergal Horgan during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Kilkenny and Cork at Croke Park in 2021. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Three-time All-Ireland hurling final referee Fergal Horgan has quit inter-county refereeing, citing frustration at the lack of games he was asked to take charge of during the last two years.

One of the most respected officials in the game, Horgan said there is an imbalance in referee appointments at central level and that referees from Munster “are not getting a fair crack of the whip”.

The Tipperary native was disappointed at being assigned only two Allianz League games this spring - Cork-Limerick and Waterford-Antrim - while another referee who was out injured for a six-week spell was given three games upon his return.

Horgan also mentioned the story broken by the Irish Examiner last Friday about a football referee being assigned a provincial championship game last weekend despite failing the pre-championship fitness test, noting how this decision did not sit well among top level referees.

He added that a lot of football and hurling inter-county referees are not happy “with the way things are going at the moment”. 

His own view of what is going on at central level is that “it is a farce”.

Speaking to Tipp Mid West Radio on Tuesday evening, the 2017, 2020, and 2021 All-Ireland final referee said he was “100% finished” with inter-county officiating, lamented the complete lack of support for match officials from Croke Park, and insisted he would not encourage anyone to take up the whistle.

“The first thing was due to lack of appointments in the last two or three years,” Horgan told Tipp Mid West Radio of his decision to step away from inter-county refereeing less than a fortnight out from the start of the Leinster and Munster hurling championships.

“Disappointing from my point of view that I worked hard over the last few years but haven’t got the appointments from Croke Park which I thought I should have got.

“No one has the right to get any match, I suppose, but in light of the last two or three weeks, we have seen referees get an appointment that didn’t pass the fitness test. That’s not going down well with the referees.

“The Leinster chairman is on CRAC (Central Referees Appointments Committee), the Connacht man over referees is on CRAC. We feel that we are not getting a fair crack of the whip in Munster.” 

When asked if he felt there was an imbalance in appointments, Horgan replied: “Absolutely, it’s huge”.

The Knockavilla-Donaskeigh Kickhams clubman said this had become particularly apparent in recent weeks.

“I trained there since January. I did two matches in the League. [Another referee] was six weeks injured and came back and did three matches. That shouldn’t happen if you were doing your job right.

“Referees are very uneasy. I am one of the referees that stepped away in the last few weeks. Big decision for me to step away.

“For Croke Park or whoever wants to take note of what is going on, it might take one or two more [to quit], but I know for a fact a lot of referees in football and hurling are not happy with the way things are going at the moment. I can see why.

“Personally, at the moment it is a farce what is going on there.” 

His departure, he believes, will enable more games to be given to referees from Leinster and Connacht. It's an imbalanced trend he claims has been going on for two years.

When relaying news of his retirement to Croke Park. Horgan said there was silence in return.

“I got no response from the referees chairman or no response from anyone involved in CRAC. Donal Smyth (the GAA’s national match officials manager) gave me a phone call when I text him the first night. After I text him to say I wouldn’t be back, he never text me back.

“I got no contact from Croke Park the last two weeks. That told me where I stand in their community. I will say to anyone that I am disappointed with the way I was treated, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.

“I am very disappointed with the way Croke Park treat referees. There is no support there for referees. I couldn’t see why anybody would referee in the future.” 

Horgan’s mid-season departure means the 2023 hurling referees championship panel has reduced from 12 to 11 in size.