Seán Moran listens to a call for players to share the responsibility for the standard of refereeing

Refereeing standards are good but players share the responsibility for improving them. That is the current outlook of Dan McCartan, chairman of the National Referees Committee.

He was responding to the number of controversies that have arisen this summer in high-profile matches, culminating in last Sunday's Cork-Kerry All-Ireland semi-final, which saw three players red-carded and a few others who could as easily have earned the same sanction.

"There have been 29 games in the hurling championship and 66 in football. My view is that the standard is good, but that there is plenty of room for improvement.

"Referees work hard at what they do and of course they don't always succeed. But their fitness levels are good, they analyse their own performances, receive reports and focus on areas where improvement is needed."

Referring to "the at times corrosive levels of criticism", McCartan says that referees are under "enormous pressures" and do not always receive the support they should get.

"It has to be said that players and mentors must also accept responsibilities in this area. That's why we introduced dialogue with a view to getting a better understanding and to breaking down any prejudices or barriers between teams and referees.

"I feel knowledge of the rules is part of the problem and that there is a need for education as part of players' training programmes. We have offered all the counties the availability of referees' tutors to attend training and talk about the rules. Few have taken it up.

"We take the view that if we're going to change attitudes, develop respect for the rules and respect for the referee as upholder of those rules, we need an education programme to explain the rules."

McCartan also makes the point that in recent years, there has been a need to recruit additional referees and that there have been inevitable problems as the newcomers have adjusted to the games at the highest level.

"It's not by any means an excuse but we have introduced in recent years 18 referees to championship football and 12 to hurling. All three provincial hurling finals this year were refereed by officials making their debut at that level. So there has been a degree of development, which obviously can't be done that quickly."

Asked if he accepted that there had been slippage in overall standards this year, McCartan - a former chair of the Games Administration Committee - disagreed.

"Maybe I'm too close to it, but I'm not conscious of a disimprovement."