North GAA Referee’s awaiting return to play protocols
By Shane Brophy
The chairman of the North Tipperary GAA Referee’s Committee Kieran Delaney has said his group are awaiting the release of the associations Return to Safe Activity document before ascertaining how many referees will make themselves available to officiate.
The GAA are set to unveil the Return to Safe Activity document later this week when the government signals that the country has moved to the second phase of the lifting of restrictions due to Covid-19.
This document will require approval from the government’s own expert group on Return to Sport, which currently considers Gaelic games a ‘Phase 4’ sport with a restart date of July 20th.
While a lot has been written and said about players being eager to get back in action, ultimately there are no games without referees who will have a strong say over whether competitive games can resume.
“As soon as we get something in writing and confirmation that we are going back on a certain date, we will meet as an organisation and thrash it out,” confirmed Kieran Delaney.
“There will be referees that will decide it’s not for them, for whatever reason, and that is fine and understandable.”
The fear will be that with refereeing numbers in the county already under pressure with fewer people taking up the whistle, that if too many opt out until a vaccine is developed that the games schedule will be impact as a result.
“When we do get up and running again, no matter whether it is an under 12 or a senior match there will be referees there to do the games,” stressed Delaney.
“There will be no games called off because we don’t have referees because of Covid-19.
“I will be striving to do everything in my power, working with both the North Board and the County Board to make sure that everyone is back on board, and everyone is made aware of the terms and conditions that we are going to be working under as it is unlikely to go back to the way it was.”
The Toomevara official is hoping that some of the younger referees that had trained to be a match official and stepped away in recent years may decide to come back but there is also a fear that some of the current stock will decide to hang up the whistle.
“It would be a great help if they did but the flip side of it is Covid-19 could decide for referees that I have had enough of it but certainly referees that have given up in the last few years I will certainly be doing everything in my power as chairman to get them back in the organisation again because referees are getting scarcer and scarcer,” Delaney said.
The North Tipperary Referees have yet to meet as a group to ascertain if there are any of its current stock of 23 officials who will be unwilling to come back, but in a personal capacity, Kieran Delaney is okay to get back in action when the time comes.
“If the senior board or the juvenile board ask Kieran Delaney to referee a match tomorrow morning, I am one hundred percent willing to referee the match, no problem whatsoever,” he said.
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