Updated at 14.04
“WE CAN’T ACCEPT the video unless it’s broadcast quality.”
It wasn’t RTÉ that was knocking the quality of my footage, but the FAI Disciplinary committee. A Cork City player had been red-carded for ‘foul and abusive language directed towards the referee’.
We thought our appeal was rock-solid; the player in question had been facing our match analysis camera when talking to the referee and it was clear on the footage that, while annoyed with the referee, he hadn’t used any foul or abusive language. The footage wasn’t accepted and the player was banned.
Getting a decision overturned by the FAI disciplinary Committee is difficult, though I can live with that. Usually bans are deserved, I can count on one hand the number of times I felt a red card ban was unfair. One such time was in Thomond Park when a member of our coaching staff at Limerick FC was sent to the stands when someone else swore at the ref. The fourth official seemed to just randomly pick someone from the bench. We appealed and lost.
It’s expected that the disciplinary committee back the position of referees where there’s interpretation or differing accounts of an incident. It elevates the referee’s authority. GAA referee decisions appear too open to loophole-finding administrators who know the rulebook better than the game. We saw it with the Connolly sending off in the All-Ireland Gaelic Football semi-final against Mayo.
When you see decisions like this overturned, you question why people want to be referees at all. Why would you put yourself in a position where you are often verbally abused?
Having to consider whether or not your association will back you on appeals and in disciplinary committees doesn’t help. This is particularly relevant in sports where multiple camera angles and pundit-driven shows give analysts and the viewing public opportunities and time to consider decisions made in seconds on the pitch. It’s not just the decision itself that’s analysed, but the impact and fall-out even down to the financial cost to club as a result of a mistake.
Public and pundit opinions are one thing, but it must be infuriating when you have referees from other codes mounting high horses.
I know the Rugby World Cup is about to start but I know little about it and I wouldn’t pick many of the Irish International players out of a line-up. Despite my lack of rugby knowledge, I somehow know who Nigel Owens is. This week, he spouted some nonsense about how he’d sort out football managers — like Jose Mourinho — and players if he was in charge of a football game. It’s a different game and a different level of scrutiny — I’m not sure rugby would give him any preparation for an English Premier League game.