Maggie Farrelly says there is an enormous amount of respect for referees at inter-county level - but that underage is a different matter entirely.
Top referee Farrelly - the first woman to referee a men’s National League game (Leitrim v London in February, 2022) - says most abuse of match officials occurs at juvenile games.
“The silent sideline doesn’t happen,” she says of an initiative some counties have attempted to introduce independent of the GAA at central level.
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“It’s not knowing the rules that leads to their frustration and maybe anguish that leads to them taking the opportunity to hit out.
“You see mad men and mad women going bonkers along the line for no reason because they feel the referee is wrong.”
Cavan whistler Farrelly, who was speaking as part of Championship sponsor SuperValu's 'Community Includes Everyone,' initiative, says the culture has to change in terms of attitude towards referees.
“At home (Laragh United) our manager is a club player and he represented Cavan over-40s.
“He said under no circumstances would he ever, ever go out to referee a game and that’s down to the fact of the amount of abuse that referees do get. That’s the unfortunate part about it.
“We all have the experts sitting in the stands just ready to ridicule somebody and probably the most frustrating part of it is that they don’t actually know the rules themselves.
“They are abusing somebody for something that they’ve done and they’re not sure of the rules themselves.”
Farrelly continues: “You’ll never win an All Star for being a referee.
“Everybody in the stands will find some sort of criticism of the person that’s running about with the whistle.
“I’ve never been nominated for an All Star for being a referee and I don’t think any other referee has been either.”
Farrelly doesn’t do social media and says she isn’t a tetchy person.
She focuses on training in the mornings before work, her job, refereeing and playing.
Farrelly, who joined the Ulster GAA referee academy in 2008, has learned to ignore the critics:
“It’s (refereeing) a very hard job and very challenging,” she says.
“Nobody would ever put themselves out there to feel that they were just going to be abused for 60-70 minutes.
“You don’t go out with that mindset. You go out to do the best job you possibly can - regardless of gender.
“You are there on merit to referee the game.
“The 60-70,000 people who are sitting in the stands watching you and giving their opinion of your decisions, you don’t see too many of them running about with a whistle in their mouth.”
The education and training co-ordinator with Donegal Sports Partnership says her decision to stay off social media has nothing to do with the abuse referees get.
“I prefer to be out running about,” she continues.
“It’s a lifestyle choice. I’ve no interest in any kind of social media apart from my work.
“I have no personal accounts. I’m not a techy person. I don’t even watch television.
“I’m up every morning at quarter past five before work.
“I start work at 8am and finish at four and if I’m training with my club in the evening time I head off to that as well.
“On these bright mornings I can get out on the pitch. Otherwise I’m in the gym. I enjoy the whole physical fitness aspect.
“You could cover 8km easily during a League game”
In 2021, trailblazer Farrelly became the first woman to referee a senior county final when she took charge of the Cavan decider.
Farrelly was on the line for Monaghan’s recent Ulster Championship victory over Tyrone.
“Unfortunately I haven’t made the Championship panel but so there’s no doubt that I’ll be involved in some capacity this summer,” she says.
“That’s nothing new for somebody who’s only been introduced to refereeing at inter-county level within the last year or so.
“I’m going to be involved. I was heavily involved in last year’s Championship. I officiated in the Junior, Tailteann Cup and the Sam Maguire competitions.”
Farrelly’s ambition is to referee a men’s All-Ireland final, having officiated in two ladies senior deciders and one junior.
“I think it’s everybody’s ambition once you get to this level,” she says.
“You’d like to put yourself out there to be in that position.
“It’s like everything else. You’re not just going to sit at a plateau and think: ‘This is it. This is my dream here’ - when everybody wants to be out in Croke Park refereeing an All-Ireland final.
“Whether it comes to me or not I don’t know.
“Of the 39 referees that are on the panel, some have accomplished that and my fellow Cavan referee Joe McQuillan has done it on four occasions so the aspirations are there for everybody.”
Farrelly continued: “It’s about being patient and being resilient to the fact that I’m the first woman.
“So be it. At the end of the day, I’m a referee. I do the same rules’ test, the same fitness test as my male counterparts and I’m treated no differently.
“That was the case for me. I felt that the opportunities were there and I had to be patient.
“I was on the National Panel last year and I’m grateful for that and I was on the National Panel this year but to be on the Championship Panel is very different and it is very difficult to break into after less than two years’ on the panel.”
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