Under pressure and scrutiny

Focus on referees: Keith Duggantalks to the newly appointed referees' co-ordinator , Pierce Freaney

Another GAA season is about to begin in earnest and already the subject of rules and regulations is high on the agenda. The Saturday night "Lights" billing of Tyrone and Dublin in Croke Park has been a tremendous success, with a capacity 82,300 expected. It would be naive to think the great championship duels between the counties in 2005 along with last February's brawl in Omagh did not contribute to the appeal.

The last thing the GAA hierarchy will want will be to open the National League with another spectacular row and, as ever, the responsibility falls on the referees to try to keep order through what will be another long and emotional season.

And it won't take too long before players, managers or critics make the referee a scapegoat.

GAA people look at the rigorous and absolute authority that, for instance, rugby referees exercise on a pitch and wonder why the same cannot apply in football and hurling.

"It can be a thankless job - and there is none more thankless that this," said Pierce Freaney, the newly appointed referees' co-ordinator, who will officially take up the position next week.

"Referees don't often get credit. But the guys that are out there enjoy it and are in it for the right reasons and are able to deal with the hassles that come with it. It is probably a culture thing in this country.

"And certainly referees trying to do a job at club level have to perform under very difficult circumstances sometimes, when the crowd is at them and players are giving out. Some of the treatment at that level can be quite rough.

"But at national level, it is probably not as bad, often because they cannot actually hear what has been said to them. And also, the GAA referees operating at the level have the temperament to handle the situation."

Michael Monaghan, the Kildare whistler who handled last year's All-Ireland final, recently decided to step off the intercounty football referees' panel. While the rules in hurling are clearly defined, refereeing Gaelic football can be notoriously difficult given that the rules are so open to interpretation and, as often as not, overlooked. Referees deemed to be performing to a consistently high level therefore tend to become recognised figures in their own right and Monahan was rewarded with a number of high-profile championship matches in recent years. Surely that experience will be hard to replace?

"I know Mick from Kildare, I was part of his growing up," says Freaney. "And he was a natural from the beginning. He was a good listener, he had a feel for the rules and he was able to command the respect of the players. That is the vital quality. Some occupations would lend themselves towards projecting that sort of authority but it is something that can be developed.

"Being able to stay cool and cope in a situation where a massive crowd is judging your performance also plays a huge part of it. And there are instances where young referees show tremendous potential but simply don't enjoy the experience of officiating in front of big crowds.

"Even our most experienced officials would say they can get extremely nervous before the bigger championship games because there is a lot of pressure. And Mick has all those attributes so it is a shame he can't give the time for now. That is why we have to keep recruiting new officials."

Freaney reckons the GAA is fairly satisfied with the quality and choices of referees on the national panels for hurling and football. The association is more concerned with training fresh whistlers. He travelled to Tullamore on Thursday night, where 20 people had signed up for foundation-level refereeing courses. There are similar courses being run throughout the country.

Throughout the year he will liaise with the other constituent officiating bodies, including the umpire-training initiative. Scoring controversies have cast the silent men in white in an unfavourable light in recent years. All umpires now will be strongly encouraged to take part in the training courses and receive their certificates, though they are not mandatory.

"Umpires won't be checked at the gates of matches to see if their certificates are in order," says Freaney. "But referees will probably be drawn to choosing umpires who have taken the training courses."

The GAA began to get serious about the quality of its officiating under Joe McDonagh's presidency but the standards are ongoing.

As refereeing assessors are now commonplace at matches, the official is under increased scrutiny. He is expected to apply the law but also stands accused of spoiling the game if he is overly fussy.

Is helping to make the game a better spectacle part of the referee's brief?

"Absolutely not," Freaney says. "His job is to apply the rules. That is it. To go the other way is a very dangerous practice. If it works, you are a hero but if you lose control of the game, the consequences are plain to see."

Freaney himself refereed at local level and spent over a decade as a volunteer working at administrative level. After Dubliner David O'Donovan was controversially relieved of his role as referees' co-ordinator before Christmas, Freaney went for the vacant post and was given the role.

He knows he is supervising a much-maligned cast of men but hopes that more uniform and consistent application of the rules will lead to smoother relations in the coming seasons. And he says that people ought to be mindful that refereeing is not the easiest job in the world.

"I suppose it helps if referees have played hurling or football at some level. But it is rare that top players go on to become top referees. They usually go into management. Or spend their time on the golf course."