The GAA has hit back at this season's unprecedented level of criticism directed at match referees in a statement released yesterday.

The National Referees Committee noted with concern that referees' performances are being judged on the basis of one mistake rather than in an overall context.

It was also pointed out that little consideration is given to the effort which referees put into their preparation for matches, the greater opportunities commentators and television analysts have to review individual incidents and the pressures of big matches.

The strongly worded statement comes after the latest weekend of referee-generated controversy in what has been a difficult summer for the GAA. Referee Dickie Murphy was criticised after last Sunday's All-Ireland hurling semi-final in which All-Ireland champions Offaly were defeated by Cork.

Offaly were angry over a couple of decisions which went against them and which they felt altered the course of the match: a couple of frees given against John Troy and the amount of stoppage time played at the end of the first half.

In the immediate aftermath both Offaly manager Michael Bond and captain Brian Whelahan were critical of Murphy although Bond didn't repeat his comments on that night's television and over the following day went to some lengths to distance himself from his original reaction by stating his belief that Murphy was still the best referee in the country.

Offaly county chairman Brendan Ward did, however, reiterate the county's dissatisfaction on Monday and his comments appeared in the following day's Irish Independent. This is presumably behind the reference in the statement to county officials publicly criticising referees.

The match came just a fortnight after Offaly referee Pat Horan had been in the spotlight for playing insufficient injury-time at the end of the drawn Clare-Galway quarter-final.

Both matches came under an intense media spotlight and generated public comment on RTE Radio's Sportcall, the public access programme which was also referred to in the statement.

An abridged form of the statement:

"The Referees Committee notes with great concern the volume of undeserved criticism of intercounty referees in recent times.

Referees will always make mistakes - as will players, managers, and officials. But of the large amount of split second decisions made by a referee in the course of a game, the emphasis now seems to be totally on a few mistakes he may have made.

". . . inter-county referees have to be fitter than ever. It is obligatory for them to pass a rigorous fitness test each year.

They must keep themselves fit and they are required to attend monthly meetings with the Referees Committee where incidents from the previous months games are analysed and discussed openly.

" . . . more than ever before, because of TV playback, and the facility of every partisan supporter to broadcast his or her opinion over the airwaves, inter-county refereeing is a hugely stressful job.

"Officials should realise the consequences of public criticism of our inter-county referees. In a survey carried out by the Referees Committee in 1998 in all 32 counties, the one single greatest obstacle to recruiting new Referees was not money or time. It was the level of verbal abuse from mentors, supporters, officials, and players in that order.

"Finally, a plea to all commentators, journalists, and officials, please put the Referees performance in context . . . We maintain that modern top referees are better than ever before. On a human level, like the players, they worry about their performances days before a big game . . . They deserve to have their over-all performances assessed and any mistakes to be measured against that."

Rory Kinsella stepped down this summer as manager of the Wexford hurlers. He has natural sympathy for his fellow countyman Murphy but also for referees in general.

"For a start, without them we wouldn't have a game. They do make mistakes just as we all do but I don't think they go out to show bias. What happens is that people get very emotional after matches and if they were to leave it for a few days, they'd probably think the better of it.

"I don't think press reporters after matches should push people into corners and look for controversial headlines either. Brian Whelahan was very emotional after the defeat but I bet if you talk to Brian today, he wouldn't be so outspoken."

Looking back on his own experiences with referees over five years' involvement with the Wexford hurlers, Kinsella admits that at times he was frustrated by what he regarded as poor decision-making.

"We were affected on a few occasions and I was unhappy, particularly last year but there's very little you can do. You'd also be aware that referees do have their courses and standards; in other words they're doing their best as well.

"There's also too much criticism. At club level, I often ask people complaining about the referee, `is your club providing one?' I know about this because my club hasn't provided a referee for years now. It's easy to criticise if you're not involved in any way on the officiating side of the game."

The GAA has announced that despite the huge demand yesterday for tickets for the Clare v Kilkenny All-Ireland semi-final - with long queues from early morning at Croke Park - a limited number of tickets have been returned by county boards and will be on sale from 9.00 a.m. today. Due to the ground developments, Sunday's capacity is reduced to around 57,000 and will be full.