Youth games suffering due to the lack of referees

YOUTH games are suffering because of the shortage of referees within the County, the chairperson of the Tyrone Competitions Control Committee has warned.

In his annual report to Convention the head of the CCC Raymond Monteith cautions about the adverse effect that the dwindling numbers of referees is having on Gaelic Games within Tyrone, and especially at underage level, despite the issue being repeatedly highlighted every year and an ongoing appeal for recruitment being put out.

“ These calls have, in the main, been ignored and we have now hit crisis point. This year, a number of games in both hurling and football had to be pulled at short notice due to referee shortages. Unfortunately, it is predominantly youth games that are suffering”, Mr Monteith points out in his report.

The Trillick man added that the Referees Committee will be putting proposals to the CCC and those clubs who are not providing an adequate number of referees may well see repercussions around their games.

He added: “ Verbal, physical and social media abuse has to stop and referee recruitment has to become as important an issue for your club committee as coaching recruitment. To all those men who have gave such commitment this last year, I thank you. Many of you have refereed over 30 games. If players were asked to play 30 games, there would be uproar.”

The CCC official also expressed concern that the youth football fixturing schedule in Tyrone as a whole was disrupted by the prolonged inter-county Minor season and stressed that a solution has to be found at Ulster and Central Council level.

Elsewhere he pointed out that this year saw more suspensions issued to team mentors than had been the case in the previous few years.

“ This is yet another worrying trend that has to be eradicated from our youth games. Unfortunately the ‘Give Respect, Get Respect’ mantra too often falls on deaf ears.”

Turning his attentions to adult football Raymond Monteith said that the prolonged All-County League season should also be tackled, suggesting that the number of Starred Games (clubs fielding without County players) may have to be extended in the future.

“ While we would like to start all our leagues earlier, the restriction of a maximum five games without County players limits the opportunity. It also leads to an overload of fixtures in August. There are also teams waiting on promotion/relegation play offs after the championship is over. None of these scenarios are ideal for our players. This has to be looked at in the coming months with a view to an alternative structure for 2026.”

Meanwhile Shane Dorrity, chairperson of the Tyrone Referee’s Administraion Committee, also spoke of the demands being placed on match officials and said that the reduced number of refs was having a detrimental impact on hurling in particular.

“ We had five adult hurling teams (4 from Tyrone and one from Fermanagh) and ten youth teams this year. Adult hurling started in July with the League and finished in October. Youth hurling started in May although the first few fixtures had to be postponed due to only one referee being available. Youth hurling finished concluded November.

“ It has been a tough year for hurling fixtures due to a lack of officials being available resulting in Tyrone requesting 5 referees from Derry, 2 from Fermanagh and 1 from Armagh in order for competitions going ahead. A serious question hangs over the sustainability of Tyrone providing hurling competitions. Clubs need to prioritise recruitment as we only had referee representation from 4 hurling clubs. Fixture congestion and fixtures outside the county were some of the factors, but six hurling clubs need to look at referee recruitment,” Mr Dorrity contended.