Roscommon referees withdraw their services in wake of alleged assault

Games in county are postponed as Referee’s Committee tell county board they are withdrawing all officials for the weekend

GAA referees in Roscommon have withdrawn their services in the wake of an alleged assault on a match official this week.

As a result all matches in the county have been postponed this weekend, and will be no rescheduled for September 16th- 18th.

The Roscommon county board issued a statement on the matter: “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.”

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“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.”

The decision comes in the wake of an alleged attack on referee Kevin Naughton, of Clann na nGael, during a minor match on Wednesday night between St Aidan’s and St Dominic’s in Ballyforan. Roscommon GAA are investigated the incident.

Gardaí are also investigating the incident. A video clip is in circulation on social media but it doesn’t capture the assault, moving instead from the play to a shot of the referee lying on the ground.