There is a story in Cork GAA circles about an incident between former Cork fullback and President of the GAA Con Murphy, and Cork’s greatest hurler, Christy Ring.
The story goes that one day when Christy Ring was playing for Glen Rovers he challenged for a ball with a defender. The ball passed cleanly between the two players and continued in towards the Glen Rovers full forward line. Con Murphy was refereeing the game and he immediately blew for foul against Ring.
Christy Ring protested his innocence, but Con Murphy was adamant, “The only way the ball could have passed between ye is that you did something,” Murphy said. Needless to say both Christy Ring and the rest of Glen Rovers were left fuming. Obviously that incident happened before I was born, but I’m sure the whole of Blackpool howled their dissatisfaction with the decision at Con Murphy. But the ref stood his ground.
I have heard that story several times and it has always been told as a funny incident, but there is a serious side to it too. Firstly, it tells you that Christy Ring was so good at every aspect of hurling that he could use the margins of fair play to suit the situation he found himself in at any stage of a game.
Secondly, it showed that Con Murphy not only knew Christy Ring’s style of play well (the pair were teammates in the 1940s), but he also understood the game of hurling. He may not have seen what Christy Ring did, but he knew that what happened could only have occurred if Christy Ring fouled his opponent in some way or other. Finally, he also had the courage, or the nerve, to award a free against Christy Ring.
For the sake of argument let’s suppose that Christy Ring did foul, and that Con Murphy, like everyone else, did not see the foul. Was he correct to blow the whistle? I think it can be argued that even though he did not actually see the foul, he got the correct result. It also sent out a signal to all the players that he was in charge.
Now, let’s take the Ring v Murphy case and apply the logic to some of the refereeing we saw over the weekend. Firstly take the Kerry v Tyrone game and the performance of David Coldrick. I know a man who used to referee junior provincial club rugby in Leinster in the 1970s and 80s – before the sin bin. He maintained that if a referee had to send a player from the pitch it was tantamount to admitting that he could not control the game. I wonder what this man would make of David Coldrick who issued 15 yellow cards, then a red card –which was deserved- and then two more yellow when at least one of them was a carbon copy of the red card incident.
Seventeen yellow and one red card is hardly the performance of a control freak. Neither is it the performance of a man who understands the basics of the game he was supposed to be refereeing. Former Kerry great Darragh O’Sé wrote a very revealing article on the Irish Times of July 11th last where he outlined how team set about “controlling” the play in modern inter-county football. “The truth is,” he wrote “to be really successful, you need to have a strong element of cynicism in your play.”
Ó Sé added, “You learn to play the opposition and you learn to play the referee. If you see a referee letting a push in the back go early on, you’re damn well going to give a little nudge…if he looks lenient on pulling on a loose ball on the ground…you’re going to assume you have a bit more licence in that area as well.” (Its not just Gaelic Football that is like this, all sports from horseracing to yachting are like this at the top. Fair play to Darragh O Sé for being honest and straightforward about it.)
Back to last Saturday. Both the Kerry and Tyrone players are hardened and experienced veterans. They all knew how to read David Coldrick. After 10 minutes both sets of players had him sized up. Thereafter, they basically ignored his “Ah lads, cool down” approach and set about stamping their own authority on the game. The result was a game that the late writer and broadcaster Breandán Ó hEithir would have described as “one that should only be played between consenting adults.”
Moving from Killarney on Saturday to Croke Park on Sunday and the Leinster Senior Football final. Marty Duffy was the referee. (Marty Duffy also got “honourable” mention in Darragh O’Sé piece in the Irish Times for his role in the Tadgh Kenneally affair at the beginning of the 2009 All-Ireland final.) On Sunday Duffy was fortunate that the Dublin and Meath teams seemed to concentrate on their own game plans rather than trying to cancel out the other plan. This allowed him to remain reasonably anonymous for three quarters of the game.
All that changed when Eoghan O’Gara shot a point for Dublin. The Meath defence claimed it was wide. They bullied the umpire into agreeing. The linesman Maurice Deegan saw it was a point and, ever before it was shown on the big screen, entered the field to tell Marty Duffy that it was a point. Only then did Marty Duffy tell the umpire to signal that the shot went over the bar. The real problem here is that Duffy had a perfect view of the ball going over the bar. He was only 30m away from the kick. Why did he not have the gumption to instruct his umpire to raise the flag immediately? If you are put “in charge” of the game, then take charge. What ever the Glen may have thought of Con Murphy the day he whistled Christy Ring, you have to say he took charge of the game.
Having become the centre of attention for a few minutes during the Eoghan O’Gara point incident, Duffy then decided he was not going to risk the wrath of the Dubs anymore. Meath brought the margin down to a goal and, as injury time ticked away, the Royal County needed to get the ball up the field quickly to get an equalising goal. As they tried, both Eoghan O’Gara and Barry Cahill “rugby tackled” Meath players. Both tackles were sending off offences. Duffy did award frees to Meath but he did not dismiss either offender.
Had he taken the correct action and issued red cards, it probably would not have saved Meath, but it would mean that Dublin could not use those players in their quarterfinal in two weeks time. It would also have removed the suspicion that surely is out there among the teams remaining in the championship, that Marty Duffy is not a strong character in a crisis situation. As Darragh Ó Sé would put it, they “will assume they have a bit more licence”.
There is no denying that referees, in all sports, have a difficult job to do. Incidents happen very quickly and it is often difficult to tell the difference between a great skill, and a well-executed piece of chicanery. Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal or Neil Back’s robbing of Peter Stringer in the 2002 Heineken Cup Final are just two of many examples. No referee will be correct all the time, and nobody expects that. All the players and the spectators want is for referees to be consistent and to take charge of the game without fear or favour.