Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

With more and more of the bad aspects of football across the water creeping into our games here, the GAA must act to make sure referees are protected, writes Emmet Moloney...

I am always amazed when managers off the field and players on it give out about and to referees. John O’Mahony and Davy Fitzgerald are just two of the most recent examples of managers looking to blame referees after their team has lost a game. O’Mahony is the most surprising. He has won All-Irelands with Galway and Connacht titles with Leitrim, Galway and his native Mayo – yet he still believes that the man in black cost his team their game against Meath.

A disputed sideline ball was at the crux of his torment. From the line ball came a Royal goal and obviously, because Mayo lost the game by three points, this was why. The line ball. Had the subsequent kick been won by the Connacht men and cleared down the field we would never have heard of it again.

This is where modern managers fall down. Stealing from their soccer counterparts and playing the spin game. The ref got it wrong and cost them the game. That’s what happened. It can never be the fault of their team. Mayo conceded 2-15 and the referee kicked none of it. They missed more than that and, again, the ref didn’t kick any woeful wides or drop harmless kicks into the Meath goalie’s hands. Hard and all as it is to accept, your team fell away and Meath came and grabbed the match. Not the ref.

Look in the mirror, John.

We understand a little more about Davy Fitz. We keep hearing about how his passion for the game is wonderful and how he wears his heart on his sleeve. This apparently allows him to berate anyone and everyone after a match. His outburst after the first Limerick match was ridiculous but his attack on Barry Gavin after the Kilkenny loss was downright shameful.

John O’Mahony and Davy Fitz are two of the most highly visible and respected figures in the game. But they can’t be allowed to get away with this behaviour. They are dragging the association into disrepute and they should be faced head on. Ban the pair of them, I say.

Giving out about a referee after you have lost a game must be the most fruitless exercise going. The match is over. (You lost. And unless you are Offaly ’98, that’s it!)

If a manager cannot keep his discipline, head and mouth in check after a game, it is a fair question to ask: How can he keep it during a game? Ranting and raving on the sideline about a referee encourages your players to do the same. That’s a very bad idea. If a manager can’t keep his head on the sideline, can he keep it in the dressing room?

Players who complain to referees are also on a hiding to nothing. The misguided think that giving out to a ref will eventually pay off. Not true. A player who annoys a referee will rarely, if ever, get the benefit of the doubt. That benefit of the doubt can be the difference between winning and losing a game. But if you swear at a referee and try and make a show of him in front of 50,000 people, don’t act all surprised when he blows against you in a tight call. You brought it on yourself.

Davy Fitz was an incredible goalkeeper for Clare, but towards the end of his career he felt the need to get involved with referees, umpires, opposing players and supporters. Talk about making a rod for your own back. As a manager he is supposed to instil discipline in his players. Why haven’t Mayo done anything in the three years John O’Mahony has been in charge? I would suggest the answer lies in his behaviour in defeat. That’s not the John O’Mahony we used to know and respect.

The stakes are so high, the abuse from so-called spectators so bad, that managers are feeling pressure they never felt before. It takes a cool head on the sideline to see the bigger picture. Lashing out at referees, the Munster Council and anyone close at hand is not the way.

And what about referees? Can they take this lying down? They shouldn’t. And they won’t. Their own are getting kicked around. Referees are a tight bunch and who could blame them? It’s time we saw a kick from them. They are men, with no agendas, doing their best. They deserve a lot better than they are getting. They should be protected.

Imagine if a referee gave a post-match press conference and told us what was really said to him during and after a match? Put microphones on them for a start. That would put manners on some of the abuse being hurled at them.

The diving and play-acting we see creeping into Gaelic games is a direct result of the lack of respect being shown to referees. President after president of the GAA decries the violence and as of yet, none of them has really done a thing to stop it.

Watch the All-Ireland gold series on TG4 and any game that John Moloney was in charge of. When the Tipperary man blew the whistle players put the ball down and walked away. They were different times but an All-Ireland medal handed out then has the same currency as today’s. Watching managers at matches disputing every free that goes against them, being in a linesman’s ear for the full 70 minutes, generally setting a bad example, worries me. Supporters take their lead from this kind of carry-on. A manager with blinkers on can incite supporters to go further. Believe it or not, lads, your team does foul now and again.

Of course when supporters think they have a licence to bawl abuse at officialdom, their language and behaviour deteriorates. Kids watch this and think it is okay. Before we know it we’ll be having a minute’s applause for a sad death instead of our immaculately preserved and dignified minute’s silence. That’s what they do in England, having lost any semblance of discipline with players, managers and, especially, supporters. None can be trusted to stay quiet for such an honour, so they all clap for a minute.

Don’t laugh, it will happen here yet.
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