GAA president Larry McCarthy suggests basketball rule to curb abuse as 'Respect the Referee Day' launched

The GAA has sprung into action in the wake of widely-publicised alleged assaults of referees in recent weeks.

Incidents in Roscommon and Wexford led to significant action in the counties in question.

On Thursday, the association announced an upcoming 'Respect the Referee Day' across the weekend of October 22 and 23.

"[It is] very important because it is kickstarting a campaign to try and change the culture of the organisation," outlined GAA president Larry McCarthy.

"Obviously what has happened in the last couple of weeks is absolutely and utterly unacceptable.

"The respect for referees and working with referees and recruiting of referees has been part of the strategic plan since we launched it last week and this will give it an impetus to start."

A survey in August revealed that over 23 per cent of referees who responded had experienced physical abuse during their careers. McCarthy was alarmed by the findings.

"Yeah, I was," he said.

"Any abuse is alarming but the physical abuse, what was it, 23 per cent? That's horrendous."

As for deterrents to such action, McCarthy mused that the GAA could look at rules implemented in other sports.

"Basketball have a very good way of doing things," he said.

"If the coach says something to a referee, all of a sudden the coach gets penalised, the team get penalised with free throws against them and they get loose possession of the ball.

"Is there something in there that we could do so that if you start verbally abusing a referee, he stops and gives you a warning? The next time it might be a 21-yard free or a penalty.

"Not only are you going to get a card for doing what you did, but the team is going to be punished as well. That's something we might look at in terms of implementing a rule and changing the overall culture."

In terms of shorter-term solutions, he says the association must clamp down on abuse with meaningful action.

"Stick to what's in the rulebook. And make sure they stick and make sure they are applied," he outlined.

"To me, there's a certain amount of 'Ah well, he didn't mean it. He will come in and apologise and at some level the punishment will be reduced.'

"Where if you implement it, the message will get out fairly quickly that any verbal abuse of a young referee for instance is going to cost you two years."

But affecting cultural change is a slow process.

"[It's] extremely difficult. And it's a long, slow process of changing culture," he acknowledged.

"It's not going to be instantaneous. But all of the things we're talking about...supporting the referee, disciplinary processes, putting out the messages we're going to be putting out next week are all part and parcel of it. But this is only a once-off. This is the start. We have to keep going and doing it."