Tomás McCarthy reports
Waterford chairman Sean Michael O’Regan called for a culture change in how GAA referees are treated at last night’s online convention.“The one major obstacle to recruiting referees is undoubtedly the abuse handed out by players, mentors, supporters and parents. This is a major factor in pushing people away from refereeing. The onus is on us all to recruit new referees but I pose the question: are we also the ones that are providing the greatest obstacle to achieving this? How is it that we can enjoy friendly discussions with referees at our work places, in our clubs, in our communities and before matches but assume referees and officials are fair game for 60 or 70 minutes when the game starts? They are simply officiating our games. Unless we collectively change this culture, this situation will simply not improve. I would ask you all here tonight that your actions must be louder than your words at games. Let’s all start a culture change. Bring it back to your clubs and discuss at it AGMs. When you’re in the stands or on the sidelines, you need to be the one to shout stop.”He also confirmed that the redevelopment of Walsh Park will begin in 2022. “It will be well into the New Year before we get started but the intention is to start next year.”Vice chairman Neil Moore claimed that the 2022 GAA calendar will put Waterford under pressure to complete the club championships on time. “The new season is going to prove exceptionally challenging for counties like Waterford. The dual player, it’s like death by a thousand cuts at this stage coming out of Croke Park. The All Ireland club semi finals, the proposal to move those to December came under the old GAA calendar. That proposal has to be reviewed now that split season has come in through Covid. The Munster club hurling championship is penciled in for October 22 and 23 next year. That’s going to place enormous challenges on us getting our club season finished.”Secretary Pat Flynn agreed with Moore. “At the moment, it looks like we will only have 13 weeks for our championships. There’s no possibility of us completing our two championships in 13 weeks. We need 15 weeks at a minimum to complete our championships.”A Modeligo motion seeking 16 weeks exclusively for club games from 2023 was supported by Déise clubs.
