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Refs need to improve on issue of pull-downs: McEnaney

Former inter-county referee Pat McEnaney says match officials need to get the pull-down fouls right this summer
Former inter-county referee Pat McEnaney says match officials need to get the pull-down fouls right this summer Former inter-county referee Pat McEnaney says match officials need to get the pull-down fouls right this summer

FORMER inter-county referee Pat McEnaney says the deliberate pull-down is the biggest single challenge facing this summer’s Championship referees.

McEnaney, who stepped down as chairman of the Referees' Association at the end of last season, believes that referees need to administer the black card rules with more rigor than they did in 2014.

“I think the challenge [for referees] this year is the deliberate pull-down. We’ve got to get better at it, it’s as simple as that,” said McEnaney.

“The black card on body-checking has been a great addition to the game but the big challenge is getting the deliberate pull-downs right.”

Regarded as one of the best referees in the country before retiring in 2010, the Monaghan native rued the amount of bad decisions made by the top officials in the country last season.

“Some of the bad decisions were quite easy to get right and we didn’t get them right, top referees didn’t get them right,” he said.

“When we got together the referees acknowledged themselves that some of the ones they missed were disappointing to say the least. We need to be more consistent with the deliberate pull down.

“There were times when we issued yellow cards for deliberate pull-downs and they were black card offences.”

Speaking prior to last Sunday's Ulster Championship preliminary round game between Donegal and Tyrone, McEnaney’s former colleage Joe McQuillan came in for some heavy criticism.

The Cavan referee failed in the area where McEnaney pinpointed as the greatest need for improvement: the deliberate pull-down.

McQuillan issued a yellow card rather than a black card to Donegal’s Martin O’Reilly for a deliberate pull-down on Tyrone’s Mattie Donnelly in the opening minutes.

Later in the half, Donegal's Christy Toye was lucky to receive only a yellow card for a similar infringement involving Tyrone’s Ronan McNabb.

The only black card of the day was issued to Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh for an identical challenge on Donegal’s Paddy McGrath.

While acknowledging the failings of referees in last summer’s Championship, McEnaney added that sometimes the referee can be an “easy target” for the media after big games.

“I think the punditry has to be fair and balanced,” he said.

“The problem with journalists and the media is they don’t need to talk to the referee, so they can become an easy target. The media needs managers, the media needs players – they don’t need a referee.

“But a lot of the time criticism has been fair and balanced.”

McEnaney, who has been replaced by Kerry’s Sean Walsh as the head of the referees association, says the general standard of refereeing football games at inter-county level is reasonably good.

“I think there is room for improvement in hurling but the standard of refereeing in Gaelic football is quite good at national level.”

With Sky Sports now a major player in the Championship, there is likely to be an even sharper focus on the men in black.

“You can see it [increased scrutiny] as a problem or a challenge. To me, if I was refereeing, I would see that as a challenge. Every decision I make, that’s a challenge to me. I don’t believe referees will fear that. Referees love getting every decision right.”

McEnaney added: “If you take Eddie Kinsella’s performance when Dublin played Kerry in a National League game there were nine or 10 cards in it – yellows, blacks, reds. And when you look at every one of those incidents he got them all right.

“You talk to any inter-county referee and they’ll tell you refereeing at inter-county football is much easier to referee than club football. You have a more disciplined player and you’ve more disciplined football than club football.”

During his three years as the head of the Referees' Association McEnaney oversaw the implementation of the black card – a new layer of disciplinary measures that he insists have benefited the game.

“We travelled the 32 counties on two different occasions to launch the black card, which was a major change in rule, and I think the level of discipline in hurling has improved.

"Hurling is a highly skilled game... but there's an old school of thought out there: ‘If there’s nobody killed, then there’s no need for a red card.’

“Hurling is a game that needs protection by rules – and sometimes that doesn’t sit well with people.

“If hurling people really care about the game, if someone is jumping up and down about the red cards we missed in hurling, then they are the ones that really care about the game.”