After a winter and spring of hibernation, bar the odd appearance for Colm Cooper's retirement and the League final, Darragh Ó Sé's Irish Times column returned on Wednesday ahead of the Championship's first big weekend of action.
Ó Sé's columns can always be counted on for a good story and he doesn't let us down today.
The six-time All-Ireland winner tells of an inter-county referee who he spoke to a number of years ago. The ref was from a small club with sparse resources.
So tight was money with his club, the official had resorted to acquiring footballs from inter-county teams at the various games he refereed around the country.
And he told me with a sort of a haunted look about him. “Ah Christ Darragh, the thing has my heart broken. We’re only a small club so everything is a struggle. It’s gone that bad that I’m stealing footballs for them.”
What do you mean, stealing footballs? Who are you stealing them from?
“The counties. Kerry, Dublin, whoever I’m reffing.”
The referee had found that the optimal time to slip the ball into his bag was at half-time. Whistle blown for the break, he would walk down the tunnel, ball in hand. Full time was when the kitmen were more vigilant. But at half-time, their guard was down.
Then you head down into the referee’s dressing room and stick it in your bag. You come back out then for the second half and stand out in midfield waiting for the teams and when it comes to the time, you look around and go, “Christ lads, has nobody a ball? Are we going to play this game or not?” So one of the teams kicks you out a new ball and you’re away in a hack.
Ó Sé added that he thought he heard 'every stroke going in the GAA but this was a new one.'
Picture credit: Sportsfile
