In today’s Hospital Pass, we hear why the country’s top referee doesn’t need help from Hawk-Eye and good ol’ Micko waxes lyrical on the state of the nation.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the whistlers of this country would take any help they could get.
Having to engage in a spot of rapid-eye-movement in search of double-hops, off-the-ball tugs and square ball infringements, their job would be difficult enough already without thousands of nay-sayers – from both sides of the fence and neutrals alike – baying for blood from the stands.
So when the GAA formalised plans to introduce Hawk-Eye technology to counteract the prospect of disputed scores, you’d think the refs would be the happiest camp in the country.
But not so, according to Pat McEnaney, the best soon-to-be-retired referee in the country, who reckons there are a lot more pressing concerns than score detection technology.
“95 per cent of the issues this year have not been to do with scores registering but with square balls,” he told the Irish Daily Mail. “All of those issues could have been cleared up with the rule that we ran two years ago in the league. The rule was that once the ball leaves the foot then players are free to enter the square. It worked well and everyone knew where they stood.
“That also gave officials more time to concentrate fully on score issues. It’s very difficult to monitor square balls and then switch your concentration to whether the ball definitely went over the post or outside it.
“Hawk-Eye is fine although it seems to be quite expensive. The biggest single issue is the square-ball situation and if we change that and demand more from our umpires I think we’d see great benefits.”
Micko and the state of the nation
Meanwhile, Mick O’Dwyer has been having his say on the presidency. Well, everyone else has, so why not the most decorated manager in the history of the GAA?
But not only will Micko not be running himself, he reckons the job is a complete waste of time, space and money, and he hit out at the begrudgers – all the while doing a mighty fine impersonation of someone who might begrudge those who earn six-figure salaries.
“I wouldn’t have any interest,” he told Newstalk. “But I certainly think the presidency should be done away with and so should the Senate and nobody in the country should be paid more than €150,000 for the next four years until we get our country back to where it should be.
“There’s a lot of begrudgery that goes on in this country, not just in games but in business and everything.”
Ironically enough, such passionate talk about the state of the country makes Micko just about the perfect fit for a president.
