Is it finally time for two refs for all county games

[Ball Hopper]

Why not just give a whistle to each of the men running the lines, since they are inter-county referees anyway?

[Milltown Row2]

I get your point but the pros far outweigh the cons in my opinion.  Having a ref in each half will cut down on off the ball stuff and will ensure a ref doesn't have to make a call from 80 yards away.  Think of all the bad calls that have been made over the years because the ref couldn't see what was going on because he was blocked or was too far away.  I think the consistency thing could be overcome easily by appointing refs with similar styles for games.  I think county players work way to hard to have a season taken away by bad or missed calls.  Look at the limerick sideline on Saturday, shocking that the ref, linesman and umpires all missed it yet every Limerick player did.  It's just not good enough.

The linesman and his umpires didn't see it! But another ref on the other side of the pitch would have? Ffs stupid point, one ref is plenty, he's wired up to the umpires and linesmen plus fourth official at at Croke the Hawkeye team, but hey one more will sort it! Give the linesmen more power, I'm all for that, in circumstances I've refd at I'll blindly take the call of a linesman and blow straight away

Refs, like players won't always have the best game, anyone looking to have game played at rugby pace and monitored accordingly can go f**k themselves. The game is fine as it is, two cracking semifinals should produce a brilliant final

An umpire is not a ref, and as an aside, wtf does there have to be two of them?  Two umpires each end,  4 in total but only one ref??

Two or more refs are used in many sports, even indoor court team handball where the game shifts end to end in a few seconds.  It's not about one ref's interpretation of the rules of the game, it's about the rules of the game being applied and two refs, one in each half, can work together to police the game.

I've highlighted what should be done, though you never seen that bit, the umpires are needed, if you've ever done umpire before at a club game on your own, its difficult enough to get the flight of the ball on your own side without having to go chasing over to the other side to catch sight of it, I'll agree that bog ball would be easier.

Counties struggle to get fixtures covered by referee's on a weekly bases, no shortage of keyboard ref's and kids tournament ref's or behind the fence ref's (who never knoow the rules) but now we are looking 2 referees at these games? Good one, good luck with that

[inthrough]

Wouldn't it be a lot easier if people stopped complaining & accepted the fact that the officials are human like everyone else and will make mistakes.

It's a game at the end of the day.

[Esmarelda]

Why not just give a whistle to each of the men running the lines, since they are inter-county referees anyway?

So simple. Just get them to step in a few yards from the line, give them a whistle and away you go.

[Keyser soze]

Hurling rules are not meant to be implemented per say. They are merely guide lines. If you were to implement the game by the rule book then it would turn into a game of free's. I referee hurling game's and never once felt the need for two referee's. Even in bad tempered games. If you have good solid lines men and umpires that should be enough.

If you are going to use a Latin phrase in an attempt to look educated and lend weight to your point, it might be advisable to at least be able to spell the phrase correctly rather than give a phonetic rendering which indicates that you have not only never seen the words written down but do not really understand what they mean.

[Rossfan]

Hurley stuff, Refs, and Rules have a very loose association with each other

[playwiththewind1st]

Hurley stuff, Refs, and Rules have a very loose association with each other

Throw ball in. Blow for half time.. Throw ball in again. Blow for full time. Hurling is a manly game & reffing it is a piece of piss basically.

[sligoman2]

I get your point but the pros far outweigh the cons in my opinion.  Having a ref in each half will cut down on off the ball stuff and will ensure a ref doesn't have to make a call from 80 yards away.  Think of all the bad calls that have been made over the years because the ref couldn't see what was going on because he was blocked or was too far away.  I think the consistency thing could be overcome easily by appointing refs with similar styles for games.  I think county players work way to hard to have a season taken away by bad or missed calls.  Look at the limerick sideline on Saturday, shocking that the ref, linesman and umpires all missed it yet every Limerick player did.  It's just not good enough.

The linesman and his umpires didn't see it! But another ref on the other side of the pitch would have? Ffs stupid point, one ref is plenty, he's wired up to the umpires and linesmen plus fourth official at at Croke the Hawkeye team, but hey one more will sort it! Give the linesmen more power, I'm all for that, in circumstances I've refd at I'll blindly take the call of a linesman and blow straight away

Refs, like players won't always have the best game, anyone looking to have game played at rugby pace and monitored accordingly can go f**k themselves. The game is fine as it is, two cracking semifinals should produce a brilliant final

An umpire is not a ref, and as an aside, wtf does there have to be two of them?  Two umpires each end,  4 in total but only one ref??

Two or more refs are used in many sports, even indoor court team handball where the game shifts end to end in a few seconds.  It's not about one ref's interpretation of the rules of the game, it's about the rules of the game being applied and two refs, one in each half, can work together to police the game.

I've highlighted what should be done, though you never seen that bit, the umpires are needed, if you've ever done umpire before at a club game on your own, its difficult enough to get the flight of the ball on your own side without having to go chasing over to the other side to catch sight of it, I'll agree that bog ball would be easier.

Counties struggle to get fixtures covered by referee's on a weekly bases, no shortage of keyboard ref's and kids tournament ref's or behind the fence ref's (who never knoow the rules) but now we are looking 2 referees at these games? Good one, good luck with that

Milltown, the title of the thread clearly states that this proposal is for county games only.  You are correct that it's hard to find refs now and in my opinion it's because of all the abuse they get.  My point is that having two refs will alleviate the pressure on one man AND cut out a lot of the nasty stuff that apparently linesmen and umps don't see or act on.
Unfortunately the default mode in most seasoned Gaa folk  is "change is bad" or "it's grand as it is".  I hope the GAA try the 2 refs out very soon, there too much effort being put in by players to have it all lost due bad calls made by refs who have an impossible task with the speed and tactics employed in today's game.

[Milltown Row2]

I get that, I'm a player, supporter/ manager and a ref. the effort all players put into the game at any level should be rewarded by better refereeing, no one would say any different, I just feel that an 'extra' ref, would not actually bring anything else to the game other than his interpretations of the same rules! ending up with two cheating/useless bstards who havent got a clue!

considering the ref's on the line and fourth official are all intercounty referees is more than enough to referee a game

[t_mac]

I get that, I'm a player, supporter/ manager and a ref. the effort all players put into the game at any level should be rewarded by better refereeing, no one would say any different, I just feel that an 'extra' ref, would not actually bring anything else to the game other than his interpretations of the same rules! ending up with two cheating/useless bstards who havent got a clue!

considering the ref's on the line and fourth official are all intercounty referees is more than enough to referee a game

The issue is the cheating players and the coaching of cheating players, you could have 10 referees but if players are going out of their way to cheat it's going to be hard to get all calls correct.

[t_mac]

Why not just give a whistle to each of the men running the lines, since they are inter-county referees anyway?

So simple. Just get them to step in a few yards from the line, give them a whistle and away you go.

Or umpires as they are well . . . .  brothers, nephews, drinking buddies of the ref!

[Taylor]

While players/coaches have to take responsibility for the cheating element surely the next logical step if for linesmen and umpires to actually have an input.

Even at county level they seem unable/unwilling to give any sort of help to the referee - you will off course get the odd time a fella gets a belt at the other side of the field being caught by the umpire but if they other 6 pairs of eyes actually helped the ref surely things would improve?

[Milltown Row2]

Why not just give a whistle to each of the men running the lines, since they are inter-county referees anyway?

So simple. Just get them to step in a few yards from the line, give them a whistle and away you go.

Or umpires as they are well . . . .  brothers, nephews, drinking buddies of the ref!

Nearly impossible to have it any other way, for these refs to have someone heading around the country to help the ref out is hard work, they are giving up a whole day or possibly a night, there are umpire courses that I'd say all of the umpires you see would have gone through

[sligoman2]

I thought I was resurrect this thread to see if opinions have changed on this topic.  I still firmly believe that 2 refs are required especially with the pace of the game now and the amount of "nasty stuff" that happens off the ball.  I reset the poll so people can vote if they would like.

[Eamonnca1]

I'm still surprised it hasn't been tried. As stated before, Milwaukee HC (always innovative) has done it for years in their internal league.