Five or six weeks ago I was told by a die-hard GAA man with great contacts that referees had been told at a general meeting not to talk to the media in general – and the Tyrone Times in particular, apparently because we give them a hard time. Assuming that this did happen, it's good to know that some things never change.
Two things relevant to referees immediately came to mind.
One was what happened a year or two back when there was a little bit of hassle at a Dromore senior match when Mickey Hughes allegedly phoned round to instruct his members not to take charge
of any matches involving St.Dympnas teams, ladies or underage included – only to have to pull his horns in after advice from a higher authority.
The other was a claim made to me by a well-known referee that whistlers in this county are the least rewarded in the province.
As someone who values the job they do, even if some of them don't do it very well – especially the high-profile ones I see on the television, the latter was something that concerned me.
And I would be disappointed if that's the case, especially as regular readers of this page will know I have said more than once that I wouldn't do their job for a million quid. The fact that I don't need the money makes it easy to say that, of course!
So let's cut to the chase and, according to Tyrone county PRO Damian Harvey, Tyrone referees get £20 per match. There are no expenses and it doesn't matter how far the officials have to travel – or whether it's a county final at senior level, a friendly or an U14 league game. But a referee told me it's actually £25 for an adult game, up from £20 last year.
Well, guess what? That's close to bottom of the barrel remuneration.
In Fermanagh. With 23 clubs providing a total of 53 referees registered, they pay their 'men in black' £20 across all levels, Erne county secretary Tom Boyle tells me. And the fee is inclusive of travel costs.
And the Down referees – with 46 clubs, one hurling only - are as poorly paid. They get that across the board, whether it's the senior county final or merely an U12 game. Andy, by the way, I had to dig that information out without the help of county officials – three contacted over a three and a half week period – and none provided the information.
Antrim officials were not any better. Three of them produced not a single reply, this time not even the courtesy of an acknowledgement. But, anyway, my own sources tell me that they get £30. 51 clubs play in Antrim, 15 football only, eleven hurling only.
Armagh, says county secretary Paddy Nugent, have 44 football clubs which produce 35 referees and these are paid £30 per match; it's not a fee but is intended to cover travelling all over the Orchard county.
But, and get a grip on this, it pays to take charge of games in Derry – as the information gleaned from county secretary Danny Scullion reveals. For adult games, Oak Leaf referees receive £40! Even for underage TIes, they receive £25 a touch. There are 45 clubs who produce approximately 85 referees. Those payments cover their expenses as well.
Across the border, it seems that they do extremely well also, at least by our standards.
Cavan, with the 41 Breffni clubs putting forward 68 officials, referees get 50 euro for a single match and 60 euro for a double fixture.
In Monaghan, there's some confusion about how many referees are operating right now – or what they are paid.
County secretary Ailish McEntee told me: "We are currently running a recruitment programme for referees and would not have exact figures at present. Like all other counties we find it difficult to get referees especially for hurling competitions. Our fixtures programme, juvenile and adult, consist of 1400 games. We are fortunate to have a core group of very committed referees; however, more are needed. We have 33 clubs."
And Donegal, 39 clubs and one exclusively hurling club, have 54 referees at adult level and 35 for underage, simply pay expenses, before games, 25 euro or 50 cent per mile - whichever is the greater. Those officiating on a double-header receive 50 euro.
So, what message comes across to me from this little survey? Referees secretary Mickey Hughes should devote less energy to griping about bad publicity and more to convincing the powers-that-be that they should cough up some more of their reputed abundance of hard cash to rewarding his hard-working members. They are not the worst paid – but they are close; and they deserve more!
The full article contains 800 words and appears in Tyrone Times newspaper.
