Many years ago - 18 to be exact - myself and a colleague, Michael Fortune, then of the Irish Press, went to the Roscommon dressing-room after the All-Ireland football final, where we spoke to the chairman of the Roscommon County Board, Micheal O'Callaghan.

He was irate after Roscommon had been beaten by Kerry on a score of 1-9 to 1-6, Roscommon having led by five points early in the match.

He was scathing about the performance of the referee - and al O'Callaghan was to pay a heavy price for the comments which were quoted in the following day's newspapers.

In those days the chairman of the county board of the beaten All-Ireland finalists was automatically named to lead the teams which went on the All Stars tour of the United States. Because al O'Callaghan was under censure for the critical remarks he had made he did not offer his services for that tour. This writer and Michael Fortune were, subsequently, to be blamed for his failure to make the tour. As the man said: "Them was the days."

Officials were forbidden from making critical assessments of the referee or his other officials. It might have been the case of drawing the wagons round in a circle but it had its merits.

How times have changed! Nowadays it seems that no sooner is the final whistle blown than all and sundry race to blame the referee. This has been particularly so in relation to last Sunday's Munster hurling final replay. The whistle was scarcely out of Willie Barrett's mouth before scorn and derision were being heaped on his shoulders.

Not having been at the match I am not in a position to be absolutely definite about the matter but from what I saw on television and from what I have read and heard, Barrett didn't hit or in any way abuse anybody in Thurles last Sunday. His most aggressive act was to send two players to the line after they had been engaged in an unseemly (to say the least) brawl and to write the names of a number of others in his little notebook.

And yet he had to put up with constant advice, not only from the paying spectators, who consider it their right, but also from highly-motivated sideline practitioners - and I'm not referring to the linesmen - who sought to influence his every decision.

The question here arises about the mental stability of the Willie Barretts of this world. Who in his right mind, one wonders, would spend his Sunday afternoons trying to bring order to chaos while 50,000 are baying for blood and 30 young men with sticks in their hands seek to gain possession of a small ball? Surely a day spent in the bosom of the family, mowing the lawn and partaking of a little glass of chilled chablis afterwards would appear to be much more to the taste of any man?

But no! Men like Willie Barrett offer themselves up on the altar of sportsmanship because they love the games and what they stand for. They then have to take the verbal and often intimidatory abuse which follows and seldom, if ever, are given an opportunity to either explain or defend their decisions.

My sympathy goes out to the Willie Barretts of this world and more people should consider the fact that without referees we would have no games at all. Imagine the chaos if Ger Loughnane and Gerald McCarthy were to sit down with their advisers and selectors whenever a dispute arose about how the game should be controlled!

Consider also the dilemma of Paul McGann from Westmeath who refereed the Leinster football semi-final between Kildare and Laois at Croke Park last Sunday - he was in grave danger of running out of notebook pages as he tried to cope.

By the end of the match he was festooned with paper. He had to cope with three pieces of paper in relation to substitutions from the Laois dug-out, and one from Kildare, one sending-off and nine bookings of players - as well as a total of 23 scores. How do these men do it? They are, usually older that the oldest player on the pitch but have to train every bit as hard as the players, they are expected to be everything to every player: nursemaid, godfather, adviser, judge and jury. What do they get? A paltry mileage allowance and chicken and chips and a couple of tickets on Hill 16 for the final.

Ger Loughnane and Gerald McCarthy decorated the game of hurling for many years and it is sad in the extreme to see them drawn into a contest with which they are unfamiliar. Perhaps the GAA should revert to the high moral ground which they occupied in 1980 when Micheal O'Callaghan was ruled out of the All Stars tour of the US. It would certainly be more conducive to the good name of the games if all concerned were prevailed upon to take a vow of silence for at least a week after any match.