Down Club Hurling & Football

[Truth hurts]

Well done to the u20's

[sdg]

Anyone know the official attendance from Newry on Saturday?

[DuffGael]

Bosco vDrumgath tonight, the referee forgot to turn up, and he's from Newry, like WTF!!

People are human, it happens

[Godsown]

Bosco vDrumgath tonight, the referee forgot to turn up, and he's from Newry, like WTF!!

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt

[terrifictommy]

From what I've seen there's a real shortage out there rite now. There are fixtures not going ahead because of it.
Poor attendance in Newry, bit of a shame. 

[downtothecore]

From what I've seen there's a real shortage out there rite now. There are fixtures not going ahead because of it.
Poor attendance in Newry, bit of a shame. 

It's a tough job a referee with little support. I take to my hat off to the folks who do it as I would not be up for it.

[skat man]

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

[johnnycool]

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

Not sure it was brushed under the carpet as I think the outcomes were shared with the referees during a meeting at the start of the year.

One of Paul Faloons requests to have all championship referee's mic'd up and recorded is to be introduced this year I believe.

[thewobbler]

There's a significant chunk of our small pool of referees approaching (and past) retirement age.

I'm a realist (I hope) and I'd be properly worried about our county's ability to run a full schedule of fixtures in the next 3-5 years.

And I'd be even more worried about such a situation might be resolved with short term measures (e.g no referees for u14, no u16 grade at all, alternate weekends for ACFL 1 and 2, and so on). Really, because there is no solution.

I've refereed a dozen or so u12 (go) games the past year. Even at that level, the culture - by roughly half the clubs involved - towards referees from players, managers and spectators is revolting. And i would firmly believe that the "roughly half" becomes "roughly  three quarters" by minor level and "just about everyone" by senior.

Do our next generations a favour. Actually just give them a chance to play football. If you're involved with a team, at any grade, develop a policy that referee abuse will not be tolerated.

[skat man]

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

Not sure it was brushed under the carpet as I think the outcomes were shared with the referees during a meeting at the start of the year.

One of Paul Faloons requests to have all championship referee's mic'd up and recorded is to be introduced this year I believe.

Surely with such a robust investigation being carried out by croke park on behalf of down into how the county board handled the process then all clubs would be privy to the findings of that report? I dont think such a report even exists or any investigation was carried out.
officials are micd up anyway in championship but there isnt enough to go around on big match weekends , and as for recording everything im not sure how that happens without all new gear purchased.

the very fact no one knows exactly whats gone on 7 months later is a disgrace.

i agree completely wobbler, it has to be on coaches and club to enforce

[johnnycool]

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

Not sure it was brushed under the carpet as I think the outcomes were shared with the referees during a meeting at the start of the year.

One of Paul Faloons requests to have all championship referee's mic'd up and recorded is to be introduced this year I believe.

Surely with such a robust investigation being carried out by croke park on behalf of down into how the county board handled the process then all clubs would be privy to the findings of that report? I dont think such a report even exists or any investigation was carried out.
officials are micd up anyway in championship but there isnt enough to go around on big match weekends , and as for recording everything im not sure how that happens without all new gear purchased.

the very fact no one knows exactly whats gone on 7 months later is a disgrace.

i agree completely wobbler, it has to be on coaches and club to enforce

yep, that came out of the meeting and is on Down CCC to provide the correct equipment to aid and back up the referees.


In Antrim if you don't provide a designated referee you lose all home games. Is this a thing in Down?

[Mourne Red]

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

Not sure it was brushed under the carpet as I think the outcomes were shared with the referees during a meeting at the start of the year.

One of Paul Faloons requests to have all championship referee's mic'd up and recorded is to be introduced this year I believe.

Surely with such a robust investigation being carried out by croke park on behalf of down into how the county board handled the process then all clubs would be privy to the findings of that report? I dont think such a report even exists or any investigation was carried out.
officials are micd up anyway in championship but there isnt enough to go around on big match weekends , and as for recording everything im not sure how that happens without all new gear purchased.

the very fact no one knows exactly whats gone on 7 months later is a disgrace.

i agree completely wobbler, it has to be on coaches and club to enforce

yep, that came out of the meeting and is on Down CCC to provide the correct equipment to aid and back up the referees.


In Antrim if you don't provide a designated referee you lose all home games. Is this a thing in Down?

Don't think it's a thing in Down.. I know that's the same in Fermanagh where clubs need to have at least 1 referee within the club, probably a measure that will need brought in here if the shortage is as bad as a few have mentioned

[thewobbler]

No Johnny. There's been various motions by clubs over the year at convention along those lines, but to the best of my knowledge, none have succeeded.

I do wonder when I see such motions. While I get the gist of what they're trying to achieve, those clubs who currently have multiple referees, do they have an active policy of encouraging and fostering referees, or are they just lucky?

[johnnycool]

No Johnny. There's been various motions by clubs over the year at convention along those lines, but to the best of my knowledge, none have succeeded.

I do wonder when I see such motions. While I get the gist of what they're trying to achieve, those clubs who currently have multiple referees, do they have an active policy of encouraging and fostering referees, or are they just lucky?

I'm not sure, refereeing appeals (I'll use the word lightly) to a certain type of person or persons but probably easier if a group of people do it together as I see Dromara have 4 people starting the training together.

More power to them.

[Caitlin]

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

Not sure it was brushed under the carpet as I think the outcomes were shared with the referees during a meeting at the start of the year.

One of Paul Faloons requests to have all championship referee's mic'd up and recorded is to be introduced this year I believe.

Surely with such a robust investigation being carried out by croke park on behalf of down into how the county board handled the process then all clubs would be privy to the findings of that report? I dont think such a report even exists or any investigation was carried out.
officials are micd up anyway in championship but there isnt enough to go around on big match weekends , and as for recording everything im not sure how that happens without all new gear purchased.

the very fact no one knows exactly whats gone on 7 months later is a disgrace.

i agree completely wobbler, it has to be on coaches and club to enforce

The report findings were shared with our county board rep.

There are two different issues here; the report reflects a sad chapter in our county's history where there were no winners. The recommendations should be implemented and we move on.

Each club has a responsibility to develop referees and , more importantly, develop respect for referees. We can learn from the LGFA; at a game on Saturday one of our players got injured and the ref handled the situation very well, both teams gave and got respect.