Referee's to strike on........

[Muck Savage]

I think to be fair the county board looked at from the point of view that it was unfair to rob U21 players their chance of playing U21 hurling when it was a luntic idiotic supporter that did the deed.

Sure you could say that about any team that have a clown that hits the ref. Fact is the county board are showing a lot of disrespect to the Ref's. Before the allowed the club back in they should have ensured that they handed over the clown, this way all would have been sorted. The clown gets a 2 year ban and his name out there, the ref's get some respect and the next clown would think twice.

[TheManFromFerbane]

I think to be fair the county board looked at from the point of view that it was unfair to rob U21 players their chance of playing U21 hurling when it was a luntic idiotic supporter that did the deed.

Sure you could say that about any team that have a clown that hits the ref. Fact is the county board are showing a lot of disrespect to the Ref's. Before the allowed the club back in they should have ensured that they handed over the clown, this way all would have been sorted. The clown gets a 2 year ban and his name out there, the ref's get some respect and the next clown would think twice.

Fair point but at the same time its easy to see their thinking behind it. They want lads playing the game not missing a year of U-21. If you were a hurler from Ballyskenach in your last year of U-21 and had to miss it because of something a Shinrone supporter did you'd be fairly pissed off.

Not saying it was the right decision but I can see where they were coming from.

[midfield]

Even if the assailant comes forward now - what difference will it make? Id say that the refs are more angry at the way the county board backed down than anything.

[Archangel]

We had a challenge game on Sat last, and one of our lads broke his thumb, now has 2 pins in it!!!
Obviously no official referee in charge, so I don't know how he's been looked after.
To be honest, it's hard to see players take to the field knowing they ain't insured.

[TheManFromFerbane]

I presume this is going to be up for discussion again tonight?

[Muck Savage]

Could do with the weekend off football, Busy weekend with U21's Saturday, Hurlers & Footballers Sunday and HQ Monday. The wife will be happy

[beirut]

According to the HoganStand the Refs have called off the strike. Will there be games this weekend?

[Hyper]

I believe they've called it off

[green&white]

was on 2fm news this morning stating that the strike was off and afull list of both hurling and football league fixtures were due to be fulfilled this weekend!
Great to see it sorted, but sad to see our little county in the news for the wrong reasons! Shame on that so-called supporter from Shinrone.. If your man enough to throw a box, stand up and face the consequences!

[Silken Thomas]

We had a challenge game on Sat last, and one of our lads broke his thumb, now has 2 pins in it!!!
Obviously no official referee in charge, so I don't know how he's been looked after.
To be honest, it's hard to see players take to the field knowing they ain't insured.

Archangel, Not trying to rub you up the wrong way, or even rub you at all but surely if this player has paid club membership he is covered by insurance?

Similarily there is no official at training, so what happens if you get injured then?

[Lone Shark]

I'm both surprised and relieved that they have called it off - I genuinely didn't expect them to just because they had "made their point" so to speak. I've no doubt it took a lot of good will to do it and I would hope that this isn't abused in the future.

I think he point is that GAA player insurance covers you for playing in matches where there is an official GAA referee in charge - there may be some weaselling in the offing by the insurance company if that stipulation wasn't met - remains to be seen though.

[Bord na Mona man]

We had a challenge game on Sat last, and one of our lads broke his thumb, now has 2 pins in it!!!
Obviously no official referee in charge, so I don't know how he's been looked after.
To be honest, it's hard to see players take to the field knowing they ain't insured.

Archangel, Not trying to rub you up the wrong way, or even rub you at all but surely if this player has paid club membership he is covered by insurance?

Similarily there is no official at training, so what happens if you get injured then?

If it was officially sanctioned training session, then the player is covered by insurance.

[Archangel]

This is one of the usual things. I've never heard of anyone being able to say EXACTLY what a players rights are regarding insurance & welfare etc. You get the usual, pay you membership and you're covered. ??? Is players insurance enough, or would you be better off getting your own?


@Born Na Mona Man, the only rub I'm able for these days is from a physio,to try and breathe life back into tired old muscles!

Like Anne O'Connell in Tullamore, I'd nearly get myself hurt just to get another rub from her. Schwing!!

[TheManFromFerbane]

I think challenge matches are deemed training sessions under the rules as far as I can remeber. I wouldn't bother getting a seperate insurance on your own. From my leaving cert days one of the principles of insurance is that you can't make a profit on it so if you are covered by two insurers they just split the bill.

Haven't heard great things about the lads the GAA are tied in with. I don't know the exact details but I think the usual craic of being slow to pay, trying to weasel out of paying etc... applies.

Maybe someone else here can give some details? MKH??

[ballymanabroad]

Further to this topic I noticed this on the An Fear Rua site....

I had an interesting conversation with a lawyer over the weekend.

It seems that while players exempt themselves somewhat from the rule of law in relation to assault by participating contact sport, there is a duty of care on the hosting club for the safety of the Referee in terms of his physical safety.

Taking into consideration the recent assaults on referee, all of which are now "gone legal", what the hell are we coming to in this association when referees have to resort to Civil law let alone criminal law to protect themselves.

If the rate of assault keeps up, the GAA could find itself joined in a law suit that will cause significant monetary burden for Clubs in terms of stewarding at Clubs games.

and...

If a referre is assualted and decides to take a civil case against GAA (his employer ) especially if assailant is not "of means" he may have a very stateable case.
1.Employer has same obligations towards part time as full time employees.
2. Foreseable risk (countless assualts in last few years )
3. How was risk evaluated? Prob not all.
4. How was risk controlled. Prob not at all.
5. How was referee trained to deal with such situations?
etc etc

If current mess is left fester, the recruiting of good referees will be impossible, also the potential costs are enormous.
As a organisation, GAA needs to do whatever necessary to get to a similar position as rugby in relation to the role of the referee.
The difference is startling and is clearly linked with current problems

By law the host club has a duty to protect the referee so does this leave the club open to the possibility of being sued for failing to carry out it's duty? If a referee receives injuries so severe his insurance does not cover all his hospital/rehab bills, it seems that the referee would be well within his legal rights to sue the host club.