Original subtitles

(distant shouting)

(shouting grows)

COMMS: And the referee blows the full-time whistle

and just look at this! Oh, yeah.

Just look- they need to get the protection in there for the referee.

It's in excusable, really.

There's a bit of argy bargy going on out there.

The referee has ended up on the ground.

This is all wrong, this is all wrong that the referee is being interfered with.

And this is one of the reasons the GAA has been saying we've gotta keep fans off the field

they've no business being out there.

This is absolutely wrong what is happening the referee.

Why did you decide to do this research?

One key incident where I witnessed in a game

a referee being physically assaulted after that game

and I suppose where that sort of left me was wondering, okay,

what sort of support is there for that individual

and what can we do to try to stop that abuse from happening?

That started with a survey that we did on the career long experiences

of verbal abuse and physical assault in match officials.

In terms of verbal abuse, about 96% of referees said at some

point in their career that they had experienced some

form of verbal abuse. For physical abuse,

for physical assault it was about 20% over the course of their career,

so about one in five or so.

And what we also found in that research was that that had

an impact on their mental health.

Greater experiences of abuse were linked with higher anxiety,

higher depression, lower well-being,

but also greater intentions to leave as a referee.

We've also just published a follow-up survey to that which looked at

the 2022 - 2023 season and what we found in that survey was

about 88% had said single season, this was of about 300 referees,

that they had experienced verbal abuse.

To find 88% had experienced that in a single season

I think is shockingly high.

And what that shows is that it's still a problem,

it's still an issue and it's prevalent

and it's something that's experienced by almost every referee.

Oh, that's brilliant. That's fantastic.

That saves me a bit of hassle.

Terry, you take that one there. Thank you.

That's perfect. Thank you.

COMMS: There is the whistle for the end. (crowd roar)

They'll march into the All-Ireland semi-final..

..Gone down injured. Referee saw nothing wrong with the challenge.

Some of the Kerry players have stopped, Dublin haven't.

(crowd roar)

We're talking about the key responsibilities of refereeing

you know and it's really, really important that, you know

player safety, head height challenges and stuff like that...

How big of an issue is the abuse of referees in the GAA?

I believe it's substantial.

I work with intercounty referees.

I was asked to do a seminar on one Saturday,

probably about eight years ago, to speak to referees around mental

health and how they were on the field and off the field.

So I remember asking them if they made a big mistake and the

game became about them.

How did they deal with that?

And the aftermath of maybe being highlighted on the Sunday game or

social media gets a hold of it.

How did they go back into work on a Monday?

And there was silence in the room and one referee stood up and said,

this is the elephant in the room, that this is what they're dealing

with and nobody is particularly talking about it.

So as a result of that, Croke Park asked me to provide a service

to the intercounty referees.

There's about 80 referees in total, both hurling and football.

How often do referees come to you to talk about physical and verbal

abuse that they may have received?

They may pick up the phone the following day.

They may contact you three months later

and they could be suffering for those three months.

Anxiety is huge and sometimes depression.

And some referees, maybe it's human nature,

have a tendency sometimes to bottle that up and hold onto it themselves.

But it's important that the service is there to be able to support

them and help them in it.

From what you have heard from referees,

is there a crisis within the GAA?

One of the biggest threats to the GAA would be refereeing

in the next five to 10 years if we don't change the system.

It's not a free. No one had the ball.

It's a hot ball. I'm stopping for a head injury.

(shouting)

No, went for the ball.

(whistle blows)

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

CHILD: They're all these. Right, so what do we do now?

What do you think we do? The third letter.

Go to the third letter. Yeah.

So that's an I and that's an S.

(girls shout)

..All about owning the run, let's go.

Boys, listen up. You play football, I won't have any bother.

All neutrals, right?

If they tell me there's anything, I'll deal with it. All right?

(whistle blows)

We get four in each leg done and then we're into our straight leg.

(lively chatter)

I always like to check. D'you know you can do that? Yeah.

Remember, in the play before the substitution, give me a heads up.

Barry, it's going to be a sub from Tyrone

or it's going to be a sub for Dublin.

Just I know that's in my head. That's what's coming up.

♪♪ (crowd cheer)

COMMS: Dublin are absolutely awesome here at Croke Park.

Nice ball inside... opportunity. Another one on its way.

Ian Murphy finds his goal scoring touch.

18 for 15, and 25 into 6.

I need to make sure the gumshield's in first.

Gumshield in, has to be in your mouth.

Have you a gumshield in your mouth?

Okay. Up to the middle.

Okay. I have a double.

Double Tyrone substitution. Next break.

Double Tyrone substitution.

So I have 25 in for 6 and I have 18 in for 15.

(whistle blows)

Do you want to stop? Okay...

15, I'm looking for 15. And 6. And 6 please.

COMMS: Once again it's Dublin on the attack.

Creative dispense and finishing!

Hill 16 is alive and well.

It's been a bad afternoon for Tyrone.

A wonderful afternoon for Dublin.

Good game, lads. Good communication. Thank you very much.

Nice and clear.

You're doing all right, too.

Tyrone, Dublin and temporary Dublin as well.

(indistinct chatter)

COMMS: Shane Walsh makes it a draw game again with a minute to go.

..Under pressure. Free in, Galway!

Well, they've won a lot of those.

..there is a pitch invasion now. The referee decides to blow it up.

It's over and Galway have won three in a row.

I worked with a referee and we had a chat one day about,

you know, making a mistake in a game and we sort of calculated over

70 minutes how many decisions the referee has to make

and between frees, what's a free and not a free and letting the game

run and making that decision and yellow cards and red cards

and timing and ticks and scores.

We calculated around 500 decisions in a game.

So, you know, if you get the majority of those right,

you're probably on the right track.

You're not going to get them all right.

But that's how much pressure a referee is under

and me sitting on the sideline screaming abuse

probably isn't going to help the referee.

(shouting)

Queer, pansy boy, batty boy, faggot.

To see it happening was shocking.

You can hear a bit of emotions in my voice.

To a certain extent it was almost normalised or that it was

the referee's fault because of how he had refereed that game.

Abuse impacts on anxiety, depression, well being and

intentions to leave as a referee.

Okay. This is the first step in developing the support for referees.

We had some issues about referees abuse and how we didn't provide

the facilities or resources for refereeing to help

referees out dealing with that.

We didn't even know the extent of the problem.

So then we started a survey and that started the journey

to where we are today, which is RefWell.

We recruit really well. I think up to today,

say this year, now I think we've over 600 referees.

Recruitment though probably doesn't show the whole story.

I think the retention of referees after two and three years becomes

an issue for us, and that's part of this program

to keep them engaged with it.

We lose so many refs for so many reasons.

And one of the main reasons I find we lose refs is not even

the headbanger on the sideline who's given off to,

you know what he's like.

And everybody knows what he's like.

Very often it can be if you do send somebody off and they have somebody

very clever and they get a hearing and they get the person off

on a technicality, and the following week you're

refereeing that match and that person runs out

and you say I thought I sent you off? Yeah, but I got off.

So many, particularly if it's something to do with what they said to you or

abuse of a referee or whatever.

So there are issues in here for all of us.

So the final thing I want to say to all of you is just thank you all

for taking that whistle and going out onto the field and

becoming a referee.

I hope you enjoy today.

COMMS: Ladies and gentlemen, please give David Gough from Slane

our referee and his team of officials a round of applause

for his contributions to today's game.

(crowd commotion) Now, now. Now, now.

My expectation of you today is concentration and control.

Concentration for 35, 37, 38 minutes until we get back in here

and reassess. Any information that you have,

you're coming in straight way.

You're not waiting for a break in play.

I want that information and then I'll decide what I'm going to do with it.

You're covering the kickouts either half.

You're going to work along the lines with me.

Work the lines, mark the frees. Stay with me.

I'll be telling them where to take them from.

We're going to keep tight control of this.

If there's messing going on off the ball, feed it into me straight

away and I will talk to players as I run past.

The whole thing has to be controlled.

We know from experience and Joe, you know as well, these are

the most difficult games, All-Ireland semi-finals.

Someone is going to be hurt today going home. All right?

And we have to make sure that everyone has equal opportunity

to win this game and give our best for 70 minutes, 75, 80 -

whatever it ends up being, just full control.

It's going to take eight pairs of eyes and the eight of us

to get this across the line today.

(whistle blows)

No, no, around here. Stop, Paul.

You know exactly what you're at.

You're high and you're late. You never got the ball.

You got the m- Paul.

End of conversation. End of conversation.

I got the ball though.

He held it. Don't test my patience, Paul.

I've explained that there's no other way.

(crowd commotion)

(whistle blows)

Dean, how are we in there?

Just keeping an eye on number 7 Armagh.

7 Armagh. He knows it already.

Aidan, Aidan!

(whistle blows) Cut it out!

COMMS: David Gough...

to his credit has spotted an infringement off the ball.

The free is quickly taken. It's going to Armagh.

Brilliant strength from him for a young lad.

And to kick the score. It's back to two.

He's consistent.

Dean, will you have a word with Blaine Hughes?

Tell him to stop pushing David Clifford.

He should be nowhere near him.

We're going to have a big 15 minutes here, so all eyes on and

plenty of communication.

(crowd roar)

(whistle blows)