Cork referee shortage: '500 children were left without football and that’s devastating'

28 grassroots games in Cork were called off on Sunday as efforts to find referees to cover the games proved fruitless.

ONE OF THE FEW: Cork referee Pat Cronin looks on as Riverstown's Shannon Carson attempts to round Lakewood's Sinead Kelly during the GE Healthcare CWSSL Senior Womens Premier league match at Lakewood. Picture: Howard Crowdy

A severe referee shortage in Cork that caused 28 grassroots games to be postponed last Sunday is not going to abate any time soon, says Cork Schoolboys League chairman Peter Connolly.

“We are in a very sad situation. I don’t know where we are going from here. 500 children were left without football on Sunday. And that’s devastating.” 

Several matches were called off late on Saturday evening as all efforts to find referees to cover the games proved fruitless.

The Cork Schoolboys League works off a panel of 55 referees but less than half that number are available to cover games every weekend, Connolly says.

“We had problems last year too and if we didn’t have the help and cooperation from other leagues we would have been in dire straits.

“I can’t praise the referees from other leagues enough, helping us out. We are doing our best, but it’s a very difficult situation.

“One ref last weekend did three games on Saturday morning and three games on Sunday morning.” 

He doesn’t put the shortage down to the familiar narrative that referees are being put off by too much abuse from players and sidelines.

“I wouldn’t think so. Our clubs are after copping on in that regard. We had a meeting of all the clubs and said there would be zero tolerance, there would be expulsions.” 

The same shortage of officials affected girls' football in Cork last weekend too, arguably more so given the rapid expansion of the female game. 

Rather than have widespread postponements, the Cork schoolgirls CWSSL league has decided to allow some matches go ahead with a volunteer referee from one of the clubs involved. In some cases, club coaches referee one half each.

“There is a huge shortage,” said CWSSL fixtures secretary Steve Mulcahy. 

“We have had great help from other leagues too. But our league is expanding so quickly and we have the same number of referees or fewer.

“I have a small panel of refs anyway, but on a given weekend, only half of them might be available, for various reasons. Some of them are GAA refs too. They could be doing shift work, or they just want family time.

“But the picture isn’t getting better any time soon, so if I postponed games there would be chaos, we’d get nowhere. It’s not the Champions League, I think some of these games can go ahead with a club referee.

“As long as the two clubs agree, we get the game on and let the girls play.”

Mulcahy thinks more could be done to make better use of the referees that are available.

“There is a little bit of inflexibility with some leagues, that all games have to kick off at 11am and 2pm, for instance. I don’t think the pool of referees is being used properly.

“If those games could be spread out across the weekend, the refs who are available could do more games.

“I can’t afford to be inflexible with kickoff times. I had one referee who did six games for me in one day in Passage last weekend.” 

Like Connolly, Mulcahy doesn’t believe the shortage is down to abuse.

“There’s little or no abuse at girls' football. The attitude from the sideline is generally very good.

“I don’t think refereeing is the calling it used to be. They are constantly putting teenagers through the refereeing course, but are they really available to referee? They are often working at the weekend or have other commitments. Sometimes it’s just something to put on the CV.”