Riot at Tyrone club match

[Goats Do Shave]

I saw him referee Pomeroy v Moy in a league game towards the end of last season.

I said on the board after the match that I had never seen a worse referee, & i couldn't believe he was the Tyrone's inter county representative!

He offered no protection to any of the players, but in particular the better players on view, such as Sean Cavanagh (who retired injured that day!).

Colm Cavanagh retaliated near the end of the game & was shown the line. It was inevitable!

How there wasn't a melee that day, I'll never know...as some fans had to be held back.

[loughshore lad]

There was no riot, there were no supporters involved nor was the referee physically handled or verbally abused in any way - I have no dout the referee's report will confim this. The ref lost control of the situation, and felt he had no option but to halt the game in the interest of player safety. In no way am I condoning what happened but the whole situation has been blown out of proportion by anti GAA sensationalist journalism by the BBC (nothing new there) and by RTE (who I thought would not have published suh information until they had all the facts to hand).

[EC Unique]

The county board should make an example both teams and the players/managers envolved and it might make others think twice. Our young must not be made think this is acceptable or our game is in big trouble.

[realredhandfan]

EC point understood and theres no room for violence in our games.  Let the GAC determine responsibility not the GAA board, Errigal were invloved in 2 such games last year, and yet they still ended up with the 2 titles,  Would you have liked them taken off you as an example to the rest?

[tieroan]

From talking to people that were at the game, no supporters were involved in this altercation at all. Do people within Tyrone not truly think that the permatanned attention seeking Mickey Hughes dispalyed his ever growing arrogant streak by walking off the field. Most referees within Tyrone cannot stand the sight of him but they have to get on with him so that they get to referee games as he is the chairman of the referees board. I thin kthis may have been his revenge for Dromore club getting away with hitting the referee after being defeated in last years county final. I know Dromore have lost alot of support in Tyrone due to the bitting incident in that game.

[phpearse]

I thin kthis may have been his revenge for Dromore club getting away with hitting the referee after being defeated in last years county final.

It was a county semi final...and the referee wasn't hit but he was shouted at as he left the field and had to make his way through a scrum to get to the tunnel so it didn't look good. You can't put any blame on Mickey Hughes for calling the match off, our games should have no place for people who come onto the field and elbows another player in the back of the neck. If a referee feels that a player could get seriously hurt then he has every right to call the game off.

[Guillem2]

From talking to people that were at the game, no supporters were involved in this altercation at all. Do people within Tyrone not truly think that the permatanned attention seeking Mickey Hughes dispalyed his ever growing arrogant streak by walking off the field. Most referees within Tyrone cannot stand the sight of him but they have to get on with him so that they get to referee games as he is the chairman of the referees board. I thin kthis may have been his revenge for Dromore club getting away with hitting the referee after being defeated in last years county final. I know Dromore have lost alot of support in Tyrone due to the bitting incident in that game.

Is this a wind up?

[EC Unique]

EC point understood and theres no room for violence in our games.  Let the GAC determine responsibility not the GAA board, Errigal were invloved in 2 such games last year, and yet they still ended up with the 2 titles,  Would you have liked them taken off you as an example to the rest?

We have players still serving suspensions for these games and rightly so. We have no complaints. This has to be stopped.

[Over the Bar]

I knew Michael Hughes personally when he started refereeing and he undoubtedly knows the rules of the game, probably better than most referees.  He does tend to let things go early on and let the game flow.  This however can mean that incidents go unpunished and resentment builds over the 70 mins. 

He doesnt talk enough to the players, other than answering them back which is no good.  He needs to take the lead and let them know who is boss from early on, but since its obvious he doesnt have this leadership quality, he should use the team captains more to do his work for him.   Call them to one side, inform them which of their players is looking like getting the line and let thme try to sort it before he lines them.  He'd get much more respect if he did something like this instead of yapping back at players when they complain to him.

[goal and a point]

I believe there were 2 similar incidents over the weekend that never made the headline - Glenullin v Loup (referee assaulted) - worse than the match in ardboe and in Armagh Dromintee v Tir na og Portadown - Portadown won and after the match there were a number of free for alls involving players, managers and supporters. At least the dromroe Ardboe match was left on the pitch

[full back]

Call them to one side, inform them which of their players is looking like getting the line and let thme try to sort it before he lines them.

This would open a whole new can of worms-similar to that in the Premiership a few weeks back.
It would never work simply because of inconsistency among referees.

[tieroan]

Gullium2 why would you think this is a wind up? And phpearse, i saw John Kerlin getting struck last year by a well know Dromore person. I Shutter to think of the reason why this was swept under the carpet, probably something to do with finances! Significantly, the ref caled it off because he had lost control, not because he feared for his safety.

[realredhandfan]

We have players still serving suspensions for these games and rightly so. We have no complaints. This has to be stopped.
EC Unique of course you are right.  But why set an example on 2 clubs.  If men through punches suspensions will follow, but the thought of anybody closing GAA pitches on Tyrone really is something Im not in favour of. 

[EC Unique]

but the thought of anybody closing GAA pitches on Tyrone really is something Im not in favour of. 

I would tend to agree that closing pitches is not the answer. I would be in favour of heavy suspensions and maybe docking league points. No club is innocent but a stand must be made to try and stop this. This is a perfect opportunity at the start of a new season to set new standards. Lets clean up our game and leave no reason for unfair reporting in the media instead of giving them easy fuel for GAA Bashing.

[clarshack]

I dont even think fining clubs is the answer either. Players should be fined individually. Surely if a player knew he would be significantly out of pocket he would think twice about getting involved in melees.