Page 20 - 2020ClareCamogieBoardAGM

Annual Referee’s Committee Report 2020

2
The 2020 Referees Committee consisted of Ger Hoey, Marie-Louise Kaiser, Ann-Marie McGann, Mary
Griffey, Joe O’Donnell, At the start of the season we had a meeting to plan for the year ahead.
These plans soon had to be revised due to the covid 19 pandemic which saw all camogie activities suspended
from March till the end of June.
This year saw 300 games played, compared to 612 last year and 29 active referees available to officiate at
these. To comply with covid 19 guidelines the referees had to complete an online covid back to play course
and complete & refresh the health questionnaire before each game. I would like to commend the referees who
have officiated at our games in difficult circumstances.

Topics addressed over the year were:
• Referees education: at the start of the season we offered the yearly refresher course to existing camogie
referees, to hurling referees to become available as camogie referees, and to club coaches. We feel it
is very important that camogie referees are familiar with the camogie rules and rule differences
between Hurling and Camogie and the same applies to camogie coaches. Having the knowledge of the
proper rules on the field and on the side-line would eliminate a lot of shouting during games. As every
year we offered a referee’s foundation course. This course was held just before lockdown with 10
participants. They were not allowed to sit the test, but were able to complete the course and do the test
online in October. I received confirmation of completion from 3 girls. The first whistle course was
planned for April, but had to be cancelled.

• In 2019 we had introduced a system where the referees get the fee paid by the clubs on the day as
before but referees receive an additional €10 per game, if they send in the referees report to the fixtures
secretary. this system has proven to be a success last year and again this year.
A positive trend is also the number of referees who send in the reports electronically, this number has
gone up from 11 last year to 16 this year. It is envisaged that the new GAA management system will
include an app for referee’s reports. I would encourage referees to use this app and reduce the waste
of paper further.
• Match official’s abuse: There still seems to be an increase in referee abuse when it comes to the latter
stages of the competitions. We will be encouraging any referee to report same and will refer to the
relevant committees. Please remember that any form of referee abuse is unacceptable and will not be
tolerated.
• Club contact regarding referees: Referees lists are circulated yearly after being updated according to
attendance at refresher course and referee’s foundation course. This year a special list had to be
compiled which included only referees who had complied with the covid regulations. Clubs were
encouraged to use younger referees who had done the first whistle course or foundation course last
year for the u12 league games and u10and u8 go games. These young players were able to complete
the health questionnaire through their training group
• Referees need to be garda vetted and have attended safeguarding 1 course. They must be registered
with a GAA club and in the event of refereeing intercounty games with a camogie club.
• Mentoring: young referees mentoring was not available in this year of the pandemic.

We would like to sincerely thank all those who officiated at matches this year. Without your efforts we would
not be provided with competitive games from our talented players. I especially would like to thank those
referees who arrive at the games with umpires and lines people. It shows the respect the players deserve and
is hugely appreciated by the players, mentors and the county board.

Marie-Louise Kaiser
Referees Committee