The GAA recently sparked a national debate when they issued a reiteration of their rules that U12s teams across the country should not be playing competitive games where there are winners, but instead using the GO Games model as intended.
Following on from the remarks a national debate has ensued with people labouring over whether competition at U12 is pushing children away from our games or whether competition needs to be introduced at a young age to keep kids interested in GAA.
Speaking on RTE's Upfront With Katie Hannon last night, former intercounty referee Rory Hickey offered up plenty of food for thought with his take on the situation, making the point that competition at that age only leads to frustration and a lack of retention for everybody including parents, coaches, players and junior GAA referee's.
A small U12s field and you've a coach that thinks he's Brian Lohan and you've another coach on the other side that think's he's Henry Shefflin...you've a junior whistler that might be 13 or 14 years of age.
Down the stretch the referee makes two mistakes, they start screaming at the referee, there's two points in it, there's 8 subs nobody got on. So at the end of the game regardless of the result who's frustrated?
You have to realise that U12 games are some of the most attended games... The parents are frustrated that their kid didn't get a game, the coach is frustrated that they might have lost a game and there's a terrible atmosphere.
The 16 kids who haven't got a game are they going to come back the next day? No. The junior whistler that was under so much pressure refereeing the match, are they going to come back the next day? Maybe not.... It's essential that you have Go Games.
‘Under 12s games are some of the most attended games – the parents are frustrated; the coaches are frustrated’ @RoryHickey5
Rory Hickey, a former county referee, gives his views on the GAA rules around non-competitive play in U12s games. #RTEUpfront pic.twitter.com/NpaO1FIkSM— Upfront with Katie Hannon (@RTEUpfront) May 29, 2023
Hickey's sentiment of a dial-back in competition to encourage kids to keep playing GAA is certainly one shared by a lot of people, however, his comments on retaining young referees have never been more important with county boards up and down the country battling with referee shortages.
Sharing a similar sentiment to Hickey's, Kerry GAA star and school teacher David Clifford also called for a scaleback in competitiveness within the GAA and a focus on the 'real things we get from the GAA' to help with player retention.
"I think we have to scale that back a small bit where we have new members joining, it has to be more about the real things we get from the GAA"
Watch more insights from David Clifford here: https://t.co/waEvqiuC2p@SuperValuIRL #CommunityIncludesEveryone pic.twitter.com/VFQQWsyhUj— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) May 26, 2023
While everybody seems to be weighing in on this GAA debate, Hickey's strong comments surely deserve significant weight considering the Clare man's experience in refereeing the game.
SEE ALSO: Oisin McConville Would Be 'Shocked' If Dublin Win Sam Maguire
