Roscommon official Kevin Naughton says he is "trying to deal" with his health as the GAA investigates an alleged assault during an underage Gaelic football match.
Naughton was left needing medical attention following an incident during the game. The under-17 match at Ballyforan in Roscommon between hosts St Aidan’s and St Dominic’s was abandoned as a result on Wednesday evening.
The ref was last night home recovering after he was released from hospital. When contacted by phone by the Irish Mirror, Mr Naughton told us: "Healthwise, I'm trying to deal with that at this stage but I won't be saying anymore.
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"I won't be making a statement at this time. I appreciate the call but I'm not prepared to say anything in any media at this time."
All GAA fixtures in Roscommon are set to fall by the wayside this weekend as referees in the county have withdrawn their services.
Roscommon officials remain hopeful that a solution can still be found, however, with a circular to clubs this morning saying: “Following extensive talks late last night and into the early hours of today, the referees committee have withdrawn their services for this weekend. A final effort is being made this morning.”
The incident happened inside 30 seconds of the second half where Mr Naughton, who is well-respected in the county, was approached by a man who walked onto the field from the sideline.
It is believed Mr Naughton red-carded the individual, who is not a player, before he fell to the ground after being allegedly assaulted.
The ref was tended to by medical personnel before and was brought to hospital as a precaution.
Although footage of the victim on the ground went viral, no footage has emerged yet of the altercation which led to Mr Naughton needing treatment.
The referee's own club Clann na nGael, in Athlone, did not respond to inquiries last night.
However local Independent TD Denis Naughten, who supports the same club, told how he and others who know the referee were stunned at the news.
The politician told us: "I think it has come as a shock to all of us that something like that would happen.
"I know Kevin Naughton, he's a neighbour of mine. He is someone who I have always found to be a very fair referee.
"The reality is, it's not an easy job to be a referee in this country. And it is important that they are given due respect regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the decisions that they make.
"I think a full investigation needs to be carried out by the GAA into the circumstances surrounding this."
Roscommon GAA confirmed its Competitions Control Committee will investigate the incident while St Aidan's is conducting its own probe and will assist in the county one.
The Irish Mirror understands that the CCC will then hand a report to GAA headquarters who will make a recommendation to the county on what sanction should be put in place.
A spokesman for the county said: "Roscommon GAA is aware of an incident involving a referee during an underage match in Ballyforan on Wednesday evening.
"We would like to wish the referee involved in this incident a speedy recovery.
"Roscommon GAA strongly condemns any behaviour that puts any of our match officials at risk.
"The CCC will commence a full investigation into the incident
"We will not be making any further comment at this time.”
While a statement from St Aidan's read: "St Aidan's GAA club is currently investigating an incident that occurred during a U-17 championship game on our club grounds on Wednesday evening.
"First and foremost, our thoughts are with the referee, and we wish him a speedy recovery. We would also like to thank the medical personnel who assisted him following the incident.
"The club will cooperate fully with the Roscommon CCC and Roscommon GAA in their investigation in the matter.
"We will not be making any further comment at this time."
Gardai said it was aware of the footage and were carrying out enquiries.
But sources last night said that if the ref makes a statement to gardai, it could escalate to an assault causing harm probe.
And one source added: "Each person that was present could potentially be treated as a witness.
"And if it was to progress, gardai would look to speak to every person present in the ground who attended the game.
"They would also look for the CCTV if there is any, or footage recorded by the teams themselves, or from people who were watching the game."
One of the leading referees in the country David Gough last night branded the incident as "frightening."
And he told the Irish Mirror: "It is also an assault. And if it happened on the street or anywhere outside the white lines of the football pitch, it would be investigated by the gardai. It is a serious assault."
He personally has never been physically assaulted refereeing a game, but has been verbally abused.
But he insists that the spotlight should be shifted to the perpetrator in the case.
He said: "We need to look at the perpetrator. The one thing the media is concentrating on is the referee, the referee is the headline. There is nothing to say whoever it was who carried this out caused a referee to be knocked out. The focus is on the wrong person."
The top inter-county ref, from Slane in Co Meath, told how the incident has the potential of becoming a "watershed moment" but he said he did not know if the GAA will react in a way that it should.
He said: "Quite often they come out and make a statement on it.
"They will not condone the behaviour, they will offer full support to the referee and state that they always support referees and that they have a zero tolerance to abuse on match officials.
"But knowing the GAA they will go into survival mode and they will have the communications department out trying to I suppose lessen the damage in the media in the coming days.
"And the story will move on to an inter-county manager being appointed to a new position by the end of the week. And the story is often forgotten."
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