It's been a strange few months for GAA referees.
The conditions for referees at club level have been questionable at best, with officials in Kilkenny going on strike earlier this year in protest against abuse from supporters.
Many intercounty referees faced question marks over their decision making during this summer's championship, but the GAA continued their policy of withholding comment on refereeing performances.
One referee who has continually put in exemplary performances is David Gough. Meath man Gough refereed the All-Ireland senior football final for the second time earlier this year, earning plaudits from pundits and fans for his spot-on control of the clash between Dublin and Kerry at Croke Park.
Gough is one of the best in the game - but even he is on the fence about any potential change which would see the GAA publicly comment on refereeing performances.
GAA: David Gough makes intriguing comparison with Premier League referees
30 July 2023; Referee David Gough shows a yellow card to Michael Fitzsimons of Dublin during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Dublin and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Recent incidents in soccer have seen PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) publicly comment on poor decisions, and even withdraw referees from selection for Premier League games.
The most noteworthy incident came when a blatant penalty was not given against Manchester United's goalkeeper in their opening game of the season against Wolves, with referee Simon Hooper dropped from Premier League rotation the following weekend, alongside the VAR officials responsible for the call.
Appearing on the Game on Sunday podcast, David Gough was on the fence as to whether public comment from the GAA on refereeing performances would be positive move, in light of abuse from fans:
It doesn't happen in GAA, Croke Park don't come out and make public statements on referee's performances.
We have called for that at length inside ourselves that, at times, we need someone from Croke Park to come out and back up our decision and say, 'well, no, David has got that right.'
But then we also have to accept that sometimes they're going to have to come out and say, 'well, lookit, he didn't get that right.'
Referencing the incident which saw Hooper and his fellow officials stood down by PGMOL chief Howard Webb, Gough argued that referees could not argue with consequences for poor performances, given players must deal with similar peril:
That particular incident, the match officials were stood down by Howard Webb and the English FA.
That's fair enough. It's a difficult one to take but it's no different to a player who has a bad day at the office not starting the next day.
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