Antrim Hurling

[saffronog]

Here c mcallister working in England and tosh retired

[btdtgtt]

Still the oisins for me - Rossa will show good in championship but too busy socialising to put full season together which Glenariffe will do. Galls also good enough to challenge oisins but the big ball will as usual smother them over the course of the season mr2?

[saffronog]

A happy Christmas lads

Only about 6 weeks for Shams to get it right and then new season underway.

[Seamroga in exile]

Is it wrong to have a beer at 9.15 on St Stephen's day morning?

[btdtgtt]

It is if u were hoping to tog out in Parnell! Otherwise enjoy it - us mc cooeys call that the breakfast of champions!

[samboswig]

Was hearing from a few refs there over Christmas there that they might not ref any games for a set period of time in protest at the whole Rasharkin thing.

Anyone hear anything like this? Has ManinGreenandblack heard anthing? It would be reasonable for some kind of gesture no?

[ManInBlackandGreen]

At the moment Refs are waiting to see what the county board are doing and the complete lack of action from antrims own referee committee is only making the situation only worse IMO, very very poor performance by them completely. One thing seems to be hard and fast though that Rasharkin will have no referees at all from South Antrim or N Antrim in any code this coming season, if there is a weakness in this it will be the referees from SW Antrim who seem to lack a backbone from all the rumors coming back.

We are always told that you have the full support of bla bla bla and we couldn't have games without referee's this time is does seem to be for real. G Duffy I am lead to believe has been asking for a meeting of all referee's to discuss all issues including health and safety etc etc but to date he hasn't had any definitive response from county or referee's committee, none of them seem to want to allow referee's to actually have a voice, and if this is not a perfect case to justify a referee's equivalent to the GPA I don't know what is. So in reality it shows that no-one seems to really give a fck about the man in the middle so quid pro quo as the say, if clubs are now left with a very small amount if any referee's come the new season or the Ulster league etc etc then why worry let the clubs do something about it then.

It is the pure lack of action and communication from county exc and referee's committee that does seem to be contributing to a worsening situation, why go out to referee a game get you plums kicked in then be totally sent to Coventry by your own county and have wee Joe and the likes doing back room deals to suit themselves and their own careers in the GAA like RM for doing a voluntary job by the people you are doing it for, why?

[samboswig]

Ok thanks for the info - will be interesting to see what happens. Wouldnt be comfortable though with people naming names and accusing them of inscrupulous deals in dark backrooms.

Are they not volunteers too? Maybe its all the bitchin and hatin and poisin that holds us all back. Only an oul thought.

[ManInBlackandGreen]

I hear what you say sbw but its out there in the public domain so its not such a big secret especially if your a referee in Antrim and Ulster, and yes they are also volunteers (officials) who effect change, influence and are supposed to represent the best interests of us all, on this occasion that did not happen and all you have to do is look at RM who did the right thing and has now been crucified for it. Who represents Ray now? Agreed we have a lot of bitch n,hating and poison like all counties but don't loose sight of the fact that a man that has given his life to the GAA has now been treated like a leper so that others may serve their own cause, and to then ignore the concerns of referee's in the county you can only expect some anger and frustration, and there is plenty of that around at the moment. 

[samboswig]

Well I wouldnt say he has been treated like a leper. The individual bans still stand and presumably the RIC will deal with any legal charges that may arise - and if it all happened as you say then those charges will be made for sure and convictions are then a possibility. More excellent media coverage of Antrim GAA.

[ManInBlackandGreen]

Your missing the point SBW, its our own county that has sent him to Coventry to protect themselves from the RIC and the spin off in this legal process, the charges etc etc will look after themselves as they do in a court room I'm sure, that's not the issue and never was. And yes as a referee that knows him well he has and still is being treated as the proverbial leper. As far as Antrim and media is concerned they are bringing on themselves nothing new there! Don't want to get into a tit for tat with you but the point is WHAT WILL YOUR COUNTY DO FOR YOU WHEN THE SH** HITS THE FAN and this has proved absolutely nothing to frank about it.

[Arthur_Friend]

RIC?

[playwiththewind1st]

Every time there was an "incident", the mantra was put it in your report, that's the end of your involvement & it will be dealt with.

There was never any feedback, nor were the miscreants ever properly dealt with.

Over the years, an acceptable level of misconduct has come to be the norm & this is partially why the current situation has arisen.

The Referees Committee should insist that there is no more lip service, of the "referees are great" sort of crap, that has been dished out for years.

If necessary, referees should be entitled to make verbal submissions to both CCC & CHC & they should be entitled to know that their abusers are not getting off with it time & time again, i.e. transparent punishments.

There is also far too much of this human rights nonsense that has crept into the GAA recently, whereby you appeal & appeal & appeal again to higher authorities, until you get a decision that you don't like overturned.

If the authorities do not stand up for referees, then they will soon find it hard to run the show, when there aren't any left to put their heads above the parapet. By then, it'll be too late.

[Milltown Row2]

If we were honest with ourselves from the start RM included, there was always going to be an appeal, certain things were going to change in the punishments that were initially dealt to Rasharkin.

Referees will feel aggrieved but what is the best course of action? Not refereeing Rasharkin games? No winners here at all. Ray has been the biggest loser in this.

[4father]

Yes there was always going to be an appeal.  It is wrong to punish the entire club in my opinion.  Playing all of their matches away and being banned from under 21 championship as well as the individual bans are sufficient and still send a very strong message out which is the purpose of the thing. 

Clubs have a right to appeal.  Referee's who are also members know this.  You have to accept the rules of our democratic association.  Rasharkin are protecting their club using the rules that govern clubs from Burt to Ballygunner.  If referee's are talking about a strike or any other action against the democratic decisions taken, then they too are bringing the GAA into disrepute if you ask me.