Shane and Michael discuss the recent retirement of inter-county referee Fergal Horgan, and what it means for officiating in the GAA.
Fergal Horgan, one of the top hurling referees in Ireland, recently announced his retirement from officiating, which Shane Stapleton describes as “very worrying”.
Michael Verney points out that the Tipp whistler is just 44 and at the peak of his powers, while Maurice Deegan is being forced to retire from football duties at 50 due to the age limit.
In a recent interview on Tipp Mid West Radio, Horgan cited a lack of appointments as the main reason for his decision to step away.
โThe first thing was due to lack of appointments in the last two or three years,โ Horgan said.
โDisappointing from my point of view that I worked hard over the last few years but havenโt got the appointments from Croke Park which I thought I should have got.
โNo one has the right to get any match, I suppose, but in light of the last two or three weeks, we have seen referees get an appointment that didnโt pass the fitness test.
“Thatโs not going down well with the referees.”
“I trained there since January,” he adds. “I did two matches in the League.
“[Another referee] was six weeks injured and came back and did three matches. That shouldnโt happen if you were doing your job right.”
Horgan concluded that he felt that the current situation was a farce. โPersonally, at the moment it is a farce what is going on there.”
Stapleton and Verney have their say, and broaden the discussion out toe officiating overall within the GAA.
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