Finding refs and going rallying

DRIVE TO SURVIVE Colm Connor and Ger Flanagan won their class in the Birr Rally.


The Way I see it
Ger Flanagan

IT was quite worrying to read in last week’s Mayo News about the potential refereeing crisis in the county that could see club games called off due to a shortage of match officials.
It’s a crisis that has been looming on over the horizon for quite some time, all the warning signs and red lights have been flashing before us for ages.
But in true Irish style, we tend not to act until the ball is burst.
I got my own first-hand experience of what lies ahead last Friday evening in Castlebar before the County Under-18 B championship semi-final between Balla and Ardmoy McHales.
As I was walking into the back pitch I met well-known referee, Martin ‘Lofty’ Walsh, togging out in the back of his van preparing to referee the game.
He told me that he was on the line in a game in Clogher, but got the call at the last minute to shoot to Castlebar instead and officiate this game.
The 15-minute window he was working with left him no time to organise umpires or anything.
So yours truly was duly nailed for the job, and I thought in the best interests of our season it would be no harm to give ‘Lofty’ a dig-out on this occasion.
And in the interests of complete honesty for this column, I knew if I positioned myself at the Balla scoring end I would definitely be able to give them the rub of the green and any contentious hawk-eye points.
As it turned out my umpiring debut will have to wait, as the game had to be abandoned as the top pitch at Mulvey Park is ‘officially closed’ we were told, meaning players weren’t insured.
It was poor form for players, management and supporters on all sides to find out at that late stage in the day, but that’s an argument for another time.
But the bones of this issue is that Mayo GAA clubs really need to take this crisis seriously and place heavy emphasis on recruiting referees.
It can be as thankless a job as any in the GAA world, and one that not every personality can handle. But deeper scouting within clubs for that person will help identify the right people.
I’m confident every club has a few potential referees, they just need to flush them out.
Maybe the GAA and County Boards can take a look at the budgets to increase payment to referees, increasing the attractiveness of the gig straight away.
Because it’s currently lacking ‘pulling power’ for most people to consider it.
You can’t ignore the fact either that the average age profile of referees is quite high in Mayo. Very few young referees have come through in recent years, with the exception of Cormac Reape from Knockmore who, to his credit, is excellent on the whistle.
But it’s the likes of ‘Lofty’ Walsh and company who are keeping the show on the road. And as much as I give out to him when I’m playing (and that can be quite a lot sometimes because I can be as cranky as the next man), you can have nothing but serious respect for the former Castlebar Mitchels footballer.
The man had both his hips done, is in his 60s, and he’s still going about the place with the enthusiasm of a spring calf…. Albeit moving a bit slower than he was in his prime!
My actions may suggest the opposite at times – call it frustration, passion or being a red-head – but I have serious respect for any man or woman who puts themselves forward to officiate a game.
We’re lucky to have some very good referees in the county, some at the highest level in the country, and we also have some not so good ones. But sure look, God loves a trier!
The harsh reality we’re facing is that referees of Lofty’s vintage won’t be around forever.
When they hang up their whistle they’ll leave a large void to be filled.
With 3,000-plus games to be officiated this year in Mayo, the dam is starting to creak.
Now is the time for every club to take action and do their bit to help.

A brilliant weekend of rallying in Birr

I’M happy to report that not all Mayo folk left Leinster last Sunday empty-handed and disappointed.
Your correspondent missed the National League Final between Mayo and Kerry due to taking part in the Birr Rally, navigating for fellow Balla man Colm Connor on our second outing this year.
We left Leinster much happier than most Mayo people, however, having came home in first place in Class 1 by a whole 50 seconds!
Whatever cobwebs Colm had a few weeks back in the Mayo Stages were long blown away because the Belcarra man was in sensational form behind the wheel.
Conditions were absolutely beautiful and the two stages were extremely fast, while the Mayo Stages was more intricate and tricky.
We were hitting some incredible speed along narrow, bumpy roads and in one section, hit a blind jump that sent us near vertical in the air and landing with the almightiest of bangs!
I have to say it has been a perfect — if rather unusual — start to my navigating career, because we have had a third place and first place finish in our first two races.
Conditions were perfect and the rain stayed away on both days too.
Overall, it was a seriously hectic weekend, mind you.
On Saturday evening we left Balla at 7am to do the recce drive in Birr and put the car through scrutiny, before flying back to Cong for a Michael Walsh League game against The Neale.
We arrived five minutes before throw-in and missed the start of the game, coming off the bench after about 15 minutes.
It wasn’t all good however, because an 18-year-old by the name of Stephen Moran slotted into my centre-back position for the entirety of the game and had a storming debut.
I’m wondering should I be worried.
Aside from that, tt was a serious evening for football; hard ground and fast ball. Cong was in incredible shape and The Neale GAA club are doing great work back there in developing their facilities – it’s a really top ground.
Thankfully we came out of it with a hard-fought win and were rewarded with an away trip to Belmullet in the next round!
The body was sore come the 6am alarm time for Sunday morning having to be at our safety briefing for 8am.
But the adrenaline and excitement of the day makes it fly by.
It was great to see Ballinrobe man Andy Walsh buzzing around the place having climbed Croagh Patrick the previous day to raise more than €13,000 for charity.
He kept us updated at the end of the stages as to the state of play in the Mayo match, which really was the only dark cloud on a busy weekend.