The 8 different types of referees you encounter in the GAA

You get different characters.

At this rate, you know who's who in the referee world, sometimes you're delighted with who is reffing and sometimes you are cursing your luck. But what type of referees are there? The one that wants to be your mate You’re not exactly sure what his motive is but he wants to be your friend by the looks of things. At Junior level, he’ll say stuff like “Were you all out drinking last night, ayy” or ask if the team will be going for pints after the match. At the more serious competitions, he’ll ask about your season and your performance over the course of the year and might even throw in a question about work or college. The one that’s easily sweet-talked by the captain What’s the old saying? If you can’t spot the sucker at the table it’s probably you. You notice before you all warm up your captain is off chatting away to the referee, all he’s doing is buttering him up. And it works too, blatant fouls by your team will lead to your captain joking with the ref and helping your team escapes bookings and when the time comes to be serious about a decision the ref listens hard to what your captain has to say. The lad that is strict on the gum guard rule Nobody wants to wear a gum guard, they’re a pain in the hole, to be honest. For the most part referees around the country are sound about it but there’s always that one lad during the season. Every referee warns about wearing the gum guard before the start of the game but this f*cker means it, getting lads to run off to the dressing room to beat the band so they can get their gum guards. Nothing worse. The one that insists on no talking back Now, us players aren’t angels are there are lads who just can’t let things go. They’ll still be hounding the referee about a small decision and the captain has to tell them in no uncertain terms to shut it. But, we’re all entitled to question a decision if it’s absolute bullsh*t. Yet, sometimes you’re not allowed say a thing, a simple “Ah ref” is met with a scorn and the referee saying “Do you want me to move the free up”. Ah…just piss off. The one that blows up everything No, like he blows up literally EVERYTHING. You and your man are having a bit of a tussle off the ball….WHISTLE You’re committed to a tackle but are a fraction late…WHISTLE You dispossess someone cleanly…WHISTLE You look at your man…F*CKING WHISTLE The one that is constantly threatening to book you He tells the captain that he won’t be afraid to brandish the yellow and red cards but he is. This referee is all bark and no bite, he’ll tell you that if you do that again you’re getting a booking but he doesn’t have the cajones. The game could well descend into chaos and not a card will be shown. The one that just shouldn’t be reffing He just has no business being there, he can’t keep up with play, he doesn’t know the rules and is just awful at controlling the game when things get out of hand. The pushover It’s easy to get this referee flustered, challenge him and he doesn’t know what to do. If you start giving out about his decision and say stuff like “I got the ball” you might just end up getting him to throw the ball in rather than award the free. Pfffft….What a pushover.