'Culture problem' at the heart of the abuse of officials in Kilkenny and across Ireland

"There is a culture problem in this country among players and supporters in respect of officials."

That's according to Senator Shane Cassells, who raised the topic recently in Seanad Éireann.

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"We had GAA referees in Kilkenny who conducted a four-day strike because of sustained abuse of their officials," he said.

"It goes to the heart of the problem that there is a culture problem in this country among players and supporters in respect of officials.

"The administrators of the game need this to change because they realise not only that the strikes by officials will accelerate but that there is not a hope of attracting young referees in to fill the void when others move on."

Prior to referencing Kilkenny in his statement, the Senator raised other incidents from across the country.

"In November 2021, 550 games in the north Dublin schoolboy and schoolgirls league were cancelled because of a strike by referees due to the consistent abuse of referees in schoolboys and schoolgirls' football," he stated.

"It grieves me to think that a year and a half on, we are not in a better position. In fact, one might say we are in a worse one given that even in the past couple of weeks, Louth referees in the Louth and Meath district league went on strike because of an extremely serious incident where a referee was kung fu kicked by a player who was captured on camera doing so.

"The bans handed out were so weak that the referees felt they were not being protected and went on strike."

During the same debate, Minister of State Thomas Byrne stated that he condemned any form of abuse in sport, including online abuse, racism, discrimination or inappropriate behaviour towards anyone involved in sport.

"Referees, officials and players are an integral part of our sporting structure and deserve to be respected for the important role they play in sport," he said.

"Abuse of officials or players is wrong and should not be tolerated. Everybody involved in sport deserves to be treated with respect and should not feel unsafe or threatened from their officiating or participating in games.

"I am concerned that despite some genuine efforts of sporting organisations to address the issue, we are continuing to see incidents of abuse and violence aimed at referees and officials.

"What concerns me, in particular, is that we are seeing a great deal of this - by no means all of it - at underage games. A very large number of referees and officials are volunteers and without them most sports could not operate effectively or, indeed, survive.

"Sport fosters a great sense of belonging in our communities and we must never allow incidents of racism and violence to undermine the positive power of sport."