Referee Recruitment in Down

The County are appealing to all Clubs to encourage members to read the following paragraphs concerning referee recruitment. It’s a cliche, but we would not be able to enjoy games without the presence of all of our officials, especially the referees. Please give the appeal special consideration.

A Chara

On Saturday last, Paul Faloon was the Referee for the Antrim v Wicklow Division 3 Allianz League Game and on Sunday Maggie Farrelly refereed London v Leitrim in Division 4.

We in Down are trying to recruit new Referees in Football and in Hurling, we are looking for the next Paul Faloon or our very own Maggie Farrelly, I mention Paul and Maggie to indicate that Refereeing can open all doors if you are committed and really want to progress. Paul is now one of the Top 16 Referees in the Country and we are very proud of his achievement as we were equally proud of Ciaran Branagan who has now retired from Inter County Refereeing.

We have 12 Clubs who currently don’t have a Club Referee, we have a number of Dual Clubs who don’t have an active Hurling Referee, our target is to have every Club with at least one Referee and if they are a Dual Club then they should have Football and Hurling Referees.

We would also appeal to those retired players in Football and Hurling to seize the moment, take the opportunity to still be involved in the game, seize the chance to stay fit and most importantly still get enjoyment by being active in the GAA.

Cathal O’Flynn and Hugh Torney enjoy officiating at a recent Down Senior Hurling Championship

The Course for New Referees is now available online, so you can complete from the comfort of your own Home, it can be accessed as follows :

Find attached the Online Inservice Training Course for 2022. This course must be completed by the 31st of March 2022 for all qualified Referees.

The In-Service 2022 courses are now also published and open for enrolment:

Football: – https://learning.gaa.ie/lms/course/view.php?id=10842

Enrolment key = RefISF22

Hurling: – https://learning.gaa.ie/lms/course/view.php?id=10843

Enrolment key = RefISH22

Each week will update Clubs in relation to new Referees coming onboard, our target for Monday 28^th February is to have Six New Referees signed up to the Online Course.

So Club Officers we ask you to lend a hand and by next Monday see if you can have a new Club Referee signed up to the Training.

At 12.00 on Monday 28^th we will issue our next bulletin with the names and Clubs of our new Referees listed and we will do that on a weekly basis going forward.

If you have any questions in the meantime please contact our Referees Administrator and now also Ulster Referees Administrator Sean Rooney 07710455266 or refereesadministrator.down@gaa.ie

Is mise

Seán Óg Mac an tSaoir

Seán Óg McAteer

Runaí Coiste Chontae an Dúin

46-48 Main Street

Castlewellan

County Down

BT31 9DG

Mobile : 07739700705

Tel: 028 437 70880

By michaelcorcoran Thu 24th Feb