The GAA Should Follow UEFA and Start Appointing Female Officials

History was made this week when a team of female officials took charge of a major European Soccer game in the men’s game for the very first time.

For those that watch soccer at any level over the past few years to see a woman take charge of a game or to run the line would be nothing new, but for three women to be involved in the one game is very rare but is something very much to be welcomed.

There will be some that will not have liked to see French referee Stephanie Frappart stand in the middle of a field in Istanbul, with a whistle flanked by Manuela Nicolosi from Italy and Michelle O’Neill from Ireland stand in the middle of the field with the two team captains before the game and to officiate over the 120 minutes which the game ran.

There is some of course even some high profile players and presenters who whether jokingly or seriously made comments about female officials and have found themselves in some hot water for what they had to say.

Thankfully those that express such views are few and far between. There might have been people who in the past who have expressed views about women taking part in sport and claim that their chosen sport is not really a game, but thankfully many of these people have allowed themselves to be educated.

After hearing that this season’s Super Cup final officials would be female, it put me thinking. Could the same happen in the world of GAA? Could we see the day when teams like Tipperary and Kilkenny who contests this year’s All-Ireland Hurling Final be refereed by a female in the coming years with females also running the line and also acting as umpires. Could we see the day when teams like Kerry and Dublin run out to a full house on All-Ireland Football Final day and be refereed by a woman who would be assisted by a team of female officials?

In the last few days I have taken time to look at both the Ladies Football and Camogie Associations websites where I went into the section where the results of this year’s games are given.

When it comes to Ladies Football the fixture and results section leaves a little to be desired. All the results and upcoming fixtures are to be found, but in the majority of cases they do not give the names of those that take charge of the games. In Camogie they do much better as the referee is given for each game which is played.

Looking through the information which is available in Ladies Football there appears to be three female referee’s on the inter county scene at a national level. Maybe there is more but as they are not listed it is hard to tell. There may be more used in the provinces but sadly the Ladies Football Association does not list provincial results or fixtures on their website. On the Camogie front again things are a little better as there appears to be five female referee’s on the inter county referee’s list.

In both games there is one name that stands out as the leading female referee in the chosen game which they are officiating. In Camogie most if not all supporters of the game will have heard and seen Liz Dempsey in action as a knight of the whistle. The names of Suzanne Ford, Julie O’Neill, Louise Smith and Angela Moran may not be as well know but hopefully for them we will see them involved in more profile games going forward.

In Ladies Football Maggie Farrelly became the first female official to take charge of an inter county men’s game when she was in the middle in a McKenna Cup game between Fermanagh and Saint Mary’s University three years ago. The other two female referee’s on the inter county scene are Siobhan Coyle and Lorraine O’Sullivan who hopefully will become household names going forward.

The question has to be asked could we see someone like Liz Dempsey or Maggie Farrelly take charge of an All-Ireland Final in the men’s game in the coming years and for them to be assisted by those already named that, and of course they can, but it would need for those that take charge of appointing officials to start taking notice of what they can do.

First up we need to see more female referee’s appointed in each of the counties and they given charge of games, and not just in the less glamorous games, but be appointed to take charge in county finals at the highest level, make their way onto the Provincial lists of referee’s and ultimately onto the national panel of referees.

There was a time when the involvement of women in the GAA consisted of bringing children to training and matches and for the washing of the jerseys.

Thankfully these days are long gone. We have seen women get involved in different aspects of the association and some have and do hold high profile positions on different county boards and sit on different committees at provincial level.

We have seen Joanne Cantwell take over the presenting of Sunday Game programme and we have a number of female presenters on the different G.A.A. programmes which we can hear on National Radio, and have a number of excellent female analysis but sadly we don’t see enough of them on the television.

With more and more women getting involved in different positions in the G.A.A. with some as pointed out already reaching the top, the next step surly would be for the G.A.A. to start encouraging women to become knights of the whistle and getting the best of them to take charge of the big games. There is plenty of women out there more than capable of doing the job, women that have an excellent understanding of the rules and who have the fitness to take charge of games.

Will it happen that we will see a team of female officials take charge of major games like what we saw in Istanbul during the week when it comes to hurling or football? To be honest right now, I can’t see it happen, but nobody would love to see it happen more than I would sometime in the future.