CONCERN WAS raised today at the communication system in place for the appointments of referees within the GAA in Donegal.
The Chairman of the Donegal Competitions Controls Committee (CCC), Declan Martin, and the Referees Administrator, Shane Toolan, both raised the matter in their reports to today’s County Convention.
It was revealed that some fixtures in 2016 had to be postponed after the non-appearance of a referee to the venue at the appointed time.
“We still have to communicate better in trying to get games covered and make sure that games are reported properly, as there were a number of games that had to be rescheduled due to non-attendance of referees,” Martin said in his report.
“This is something that we need to avoid in the future.”
Toolan, who has completed his first year in the Referee’s Administrator’s role, said he had conducted a ‘review of the existing procedures and have brought forward new internal structures and reporting arrangements’.
This, he said, was in order to ‘streamline’ refereeing matters and have them on a par with other counties.
During the year, the appointment system was automated and this caused some issues with referees claiming they had not received notification of games – in cases resulting in those fixtures having to be rescheduled.
Mr Toolan added: “The late rearranging of and time changes of throw-ins has a major disruptive influence on appointments and at times has resulted in up to 14 changes for each fixture change if linesmen are also included.
“We hope clubs will understand this and be patient.
[adrotate group=”46″]“2016 has been a learning curve and we hope with our new procedures that we will be in a better position this time next season.
“We will be introducing two new academies for the new referees, one in the north and one in the south, who joined this year.
“They will be looked after by tutors who, not alone will train them, but also arrange for mentoring and assist in suitable appointments with the underage boards.”
Martin also urged the active referees to improve their submission of reports to the CCC, something he said was ‘a major issue’ in 2016.
[adrotate group=”38″]He said: “It is very important that referee reports should be with the secretary within three days.”
Toolan was at pains to plead with clubs to source more referees, noting disappointment at what he called ‘a number of clubs’ not providing active officials at present.
“It is good to note that a number of these clubs are actively helping in our recruitment drive,” Mr Toolan added.
“I would also point out, especially to the senior clubs, that one active referee is scarcely enough if that club is fielding teams from adult to all underage levels.
“If coaches and managers wish for neutral referees for all competitive fixtures then the provision of at least three active referees per club must be a minimum.”
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