Down Club Hurling & Football

[thewobbler]

The 10 rules of being a modern Gaelic Football spectator:

1. Get extremely vocally upset at the first decision against your side, regardless of context. Make sure to call the referee a **** during your outburst.

2. Loudly demand a black card every time one of your team is fouled. Then vociferously shout down opposing fans as not knowing the black card rule, when they do likewise. Make sure to call the referee a **** during all these exchanges.

3. Scream about head injuries anytime one of your team hits the ground. Call your opponents out for blatant cheating if they do likewise, while peppering your exclamations with a clear opinion that the ref is a ****.

4. When play descends into that shite when players move the ball from side to side for a couple of minutes, use this quiet time to loudly confirm to friends across the stand/terrace, that the ref is a cheating **** who has always hated your club.

5. When a player makes a decision to launch the ball 70 yards up field, which confuses everyone and it ends up, with a bounce, some 90 yards away, never refuse this opportunity to tell that **** in black to stay up with the play.

6. No matter how little or lengthy the amount of stoppage time displayed on the board, use this opportunity to loudly call the ref out as a cheating ****.

7. Should the ref let things go, then he's the direct cause of any injury during the match, and he should be held liable. If he blows most things up and hands out cards in accordance with the rules, he's an over officious p***k who thinks we are all there to watch him. There is no middle ground. Make sure he knows.

8. At least twice during the match, try to grab the attention of a selector and deliver your key message "have a f**king word with that ref, he's a f**king disgrace."

9. When exiting the game, look out for and then corner neutrals who you can loudly bully into agreeing with your assessment, that the **** ref has clearly never played the game, doesn't know the rules, and hates your team.

10. If someone brings up this match in a few months or years time, and you've only vague or no memories of it, ask who the ref was. And no matter who it was, just open with "that ****? f**k I remember it well, he fucked us that night, that ****".

[Oglach]

Did you take the time to make that up yourself?
Pathetic.
Watch the game back and come back.

[TakeTheMark]

Is it not enough to win? You have to be sore winners too?

Right after covid, the county board had to call retired refs up and beg them to come back to the game due to a shortage of refs. After reading several of the posts on here, it isn't exactly difficult to see why very few want to get involved in refereeing any more.

The criticism on here has been nothing short of disgusting. Calling the man a 'cheat' because he gave a few decisions against the team that WON? Not a very good cheat in my book if thats the case...

Seriously though, what would he have to gain by intentionally favouring one team over another? Goes around the county doing games at all age levels, several times a week, in wind, hail or shine for years, to get to the biggest stage in Down football with the thousands in attendance, and the cameras there for the country watching, to what? Cheat one team out of it? Think about it. Please, just think.

If a referee does have a bad game, just remember that like a player they have about 2 seconds to make a decision. Sometimes they will get it wrong. They are human after all. A player sometimes makes the wrong choice, hits the wrong pass or hits a shot wide, and I can tell you they rarely get lambasted the way officials do.

It's ok to say a ref has had a bad game, but some of the posts here have been way over the line.

[GAABoardMod5]

A few posts deleted and modified a few posts that quoted some unacceptable words/accusations.

[terrifictommy]

There's a certain trend appearing here. I don't get it, I don't like it. It's not the spirit of our games.

3 finals this weekend. Each one a step up from each other in quality but all 3 made brilliant viewing. TV coverage was class. Well done to the 3 winners, all deserved to win on the day. Commiseration's to the beaten finalist's, they all put in a great shift.

[SamFever]

 Well pleased for Danny Hughes.

[guevara]

The Referee was poor for both sides. Made some strange calls but any Kilcoo supporter thinking he favoured The Point are deluded. Ward's Yellow was as clear a red as you will see. Closed fist on McGarry right in front of The Ref. Ryan McEvoy's was again an easy decision. Contact with the head after the ball had gone.

Ruairi McGivern was very lucky to only get a yellow also.

The free at the end for Kilcoo was laughable. Hooked the defenders arm and fell to the ground.

Supporters are all experts from the stand. Sport has always been that way. But by and large all fans want is a referee to get the big decisions correct and use all his fellow officials to help him do that. Yesterday that did not happen.

[Targetman]

Very strange call for mom. Think PD was surprised himself! A few CPN men were in with a shout. From the winners I thought Ryan J, Ryan Mc and Miceal Rooney all very good.

The Red must have been picking MOM!!

[Hard2Listen2]

Always found O'Hare to be a good ref.
Always fair to both sides & measured in his approach.
Doesn't make rash decisions & takes no lip from any player or coach.

[Truth hurts]

The Referee was poor for both sides. Made some strange calls but any Kilcoo supporter thinking he favoured The Point are deluded. Ward's Yellow was as clear a red as you will see. Closed fist on McGarry right in front of The Ref. Ryan McEvoy's was again an easy decision. Contact with the head after the ball had gone.

Ruairi McGivern was very lucky to only get a yellow also.

The free at the end for Kilcoo was laughable. Hooked the defenders arm and fell to the ground.

Supporters are all experts from the stand. Sport has always been that way. But by and large all fans want is a referee to get the big decisions correct and use all his fellow officials to help him do that. Yesterday that did not happen.

The referee did well and let the game flow. So much has been said recently about respecting the ref yet yesterday a Kilcoo player and secretary ran to the ref at the end of the game after winning a county title with number 15 getting shown a red card.
Then a Kilcoo executive member made personal attacks on social media towards him, That's not in the spirit of the game.  I for one do not like the way we are going down the line of bullying and trying to influence refs. Without them, there are no games.
The ref  done well and we need to respect this.

[outinfront]

Nothing wrong with the refereeing yesterday.  Good final, very narrow margins in the end.

[thebar]

The Referee was poor for both sides. Made some strange calls but any Kilcoo supporter thinking he favoured The Point are deluded. Ward's Yellow was as clear a red as you will see. Closed fist on McGarry right in front of The Ref. Ryan McEvoy's was again an easy decision. Contact with the head after the ball had gone.

Ruairi McGivern was very lucky to only get a yellow also.

The free at the end for Kilcoo was laughable. Hooked the defenders arm and fell to the ground.

Supporters are all experts from the stand. Sport has always been that way. But by and large all fans want is a referee to get the big decisions correct and use all his fellow officials to help him do that. Yesterday that did not happen.

The referee did well and let the game flow. So much has been said recently about respecting the ref yet yesterday a Kilcoo player and secretary ran to the ref at the end of the game after winning a county title with number 15 getting shown a red card.
Then a Kilcoo executive member made personal attacks on social media towards him, That's not in the spirit of the game.  I for one do not like the way we are going down the line of bullying and trying to influence refs. Without them, there are no games.
The ref  done well and we need to respect this.

Without the referees there are no games. They do there best and of course won't get everything right all the time but should at least be respected. Sad to see the actions of a few after the game yesterday and tripe said afterwards on social media. 

[Truth hurts]

Laverty needs to have Patrick Grant, Oisin Savage, Pat Havern, Gary McMahon, and Micheal Rooney on his panel.

Will Jerome stay on with Ballybay?

[manwithnoplan]

Laverty needs to have Patrick Grant, Oisin Savage, Pat Havern, Gary McMahon, and Micheal Rooney on his panel.

Will Jerome stay on with Ballybay?

Is Savage still under 20? If so let him get that last year at that level, gives time to further develop physically. No doubt a player with big potential.

Not sure about Paddy Grant, yes he was excellent on Friday night but I don't think that makes the case for getting him on the panel. Maybe though give the likes of him and other stand out Div3/4 players a chance in some early friendly games/in house games, does no harm to expose players from the lower divisions to that standard. If anything it should benefit them personally, and also their clubs, even if they don't make the cut in the end. Can only be good in the long term.

[Truth hurts]

Massive win for Carryduff v Clonduff, I cannot remember them being over strong at this level during underage?