27-04-2025
Why the time is right for referees to be heard
My TV commentary assignments for the last three weekends have included the football league final highlights between Kerry and Mayo in Croke Park, the live Ulster Championship match between Tyrone and Cavan in Omagh and the Munster Hurling Championship thriller, the Battle of the Champions, All Ireland Champions Clare and League Champions Cork in Ennis last Sunday.
Normal duty for me, but one crucial ingredient has been added to my usual Sunday cocktail of football and hurling.
The referees in all three games have been attached with microphones, so we in the commentary box and the outside broadcast unit televising the game, can hear what the referee is saying to the players and indeed vice versa.
When you look at those games, it's a wide enough geographical spread, which I think you will agree, if we were scientifically minded, is a fair sample in terms of culture, behaviour and accents.
A League Final, an Ulster Football Championship match and a Munster hurling game that was a repeat of last year's humdinger All Ireland Hurling Final. I emphasise all this for a particular reason.
The three referees were David Coldrick from Meath, Martin McNally of Corduff, Co Monaghan, and Liam Gordon from Galway, who took charge of the hurling match in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in Ennis, Co Clare.
Refereeing any game, at any level, is not easy and I have often wondered privately and publicly why any individual would want to take up the whistle, although there is something that inherently appeals to people.
It's a gift to be involved in the games, no matter what age we are and to contribute significantly to the sport that we love. Some might say it's even a drug. But whatever it is, it draws us to be part of it and of course to be relevant. It's a worthy quality.
We all come from somewhere and sometimes in the heat of battle all pragmatism goes out the window - not alone do people shout abuse at match officials at the ground, they also roar at the television in the kitchen or sitting room.
Referees are not exclusive to that reaction I can assure you - players and commentators get an earful as well. But here is the bottom line. Everybody is trying to do their best, to be fair, honestly and simply to get it right.
And that's why my respect for David Coldrick, Martin McNally and Liam Gordon has gone through the roof.
In all three games, they were excellent. I say that for one reason. I could hear what they were saying to the players on the pitch. I'm not saying they got every call right, they didn't. But nobody ever does. We are all human.
Hearing what each referee was saying was informative, intelligent and helpful to both the players, and to myself and co-commentators Éamonn Fitzmaurice and Michael Duignan who also had the privilege of eavesdropping on what was being said.
'Stop acting the maggot'
The three referees, David, Martin and Liam, knew each player by their first name. If they didn't have that knowledge, and they knew a particular player had committed an infringement or a foul, but he was giving the opposing team the advantage at that time, he would ask his officials, while running and keeping up with the play, the first name of the player responsible for the foul. Then, when the advantage was over, he went back to the offending player and, calling him by his first name, explained he saw, and gave him a verbal warning - or else booked him by showing him a yellow card.
When passions were aroused, as they do regularly in the championship and tempers were frayed, their communications with the players on the field surrounded by 20,000 people in some instances was impressive.
My favourite reaction was from Galway referee Liam Gordon when he told one player in Cusack Park to "stop acting the maggot" - and he did, immediately.
In all three games the referee had to explain several decisions he made but did so succinctly and decisively but always with a smile and a word of kindness including: "I'd make the same decision in the other direction if I had to Johnny."
In some cases he would be brutally honest and say: "I didn't see that Johnny, but I'll keep an eye out for it the next time."
In all three games, all I saw and heard from the players from Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone, Cavan, Cork and Clare was respect and acknowledgment. Of course, they disagreed or questioned the referee. That's normal, but there was no bad language, no insults, only respect.
Funnily enough, I could compare having access to the referees' conversation last Sunday with NOT having it on Saturday when I was on duty on RTÉ Radio 1 for the Wexford v Antrim match in the Leinster Championship.
Some of the decisions that went against Antrim were rather puzzling and by no means did I think Wexford were an 11 points better team.
The Purple and Gold have one of my heroes in Lee Chin, but while I think Wexford would have won anyway, key decisions went against them at crucial times leading to a lot of frustration and annoyance in the Antrim camp. The referee being mic'd up in Wexford Park would have been both interesting and helpful.
Experimentation
My journey began when the new rules were experimented with on interprovincial teams in Croke Park last October - David Coldrick and Conor Lane were in charge when I was doing the commentary in Croke Park.
Their audio was available to our audiences at that particular time. Previously, we had access to audio from the referees for All-Ireland semi-finals and finals but it was only beamed to our editorial team who were working outside broadcast units parked under the Hogan Stand. In other words, I didn't hear the referee but now things have changed.
Speaking last month, top class football referee David Coldrick called for his and colleagues' audio to be transmitted in broadcasts, as is the case in rugby.
He wore a microphone during his officiating of the 2015 All-Ireland Football Final between Dublin and Kerry. It was for a once-off documentary, but I find it impossible to comprehend that 10 years later we are still in the same boat with GAA referees' words not being heard by television audiences.
So why not? What are we afraid of? Why is this not part of our games in 2025? A bad call by the referee? I guarantee you that any anger we have seen over the last number of years could have been dissipated by simple communication with the referee.
There is no such thing as perfection. However, the vast majority of our referees are genuinely top-class.
Is it bad language by the players or abuse to the referee?
The players are bright, intelligent young men and women, highly-educated and wonderful ambassadors for our games. And let's say somebody does use bad language in a moment of passion. As I mentioned already, in three games, I heard no bad language whatsoever. But if it did happen, I'm sure the criticism that would surround the event would guarantee it wouldn't happen again.
I think the reality is that audiences would really enjoy the experience of knowing what a referee is thinking and why they made a particular call. From my experience, limited as it may be, we have nothing to be fearful of. It's time we did this and move into the 21st Century. The positives far outweigh the negatives.
Let's give this a chance. Let's try it.
