Nationwide ref withdrawal would 'focus minds' - Barry Kelly

Former inter-county referee Barry Kelly believes a nationwide withdrawal of services by refs could help to 'focus the minds' in relation to discipline and respect for officials in the GAA.

The issue is a hot topic following an alleged assault on a referee at a minor match in Roscommon last week and the subsequent boycotting of all weekend fixtures by the county's refs, in protest.

"I did like [Examiner journalist] Kieran's Shannon's suggestion recently, after the Roscommon referees withdrew their services," the Westmeath man told the RTÉ GAA podcast.

"He was saying that if there was a national withdrawal by referees, over some weekend in the next three or four weeks, when every single county has a plethora of big games.

"If you had people on a Friday evening, and Saturday and night, with no match to go to, that would really focus the minds.

"Now it might not work and I'm not advocating it as such... but I would be lost myself if there was no match to go to whether I'm refereeing or not.

"If you had that across the country, it might make people think 'Hmm. I don't think much of these lads but this does show they are intrinsic to the whole operation'."

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Kelly spoke earlier this summer about how the GAA's perceived unwillingness to enforce suspension weakened the authority of referees and he reiterated this stance.

"It will be interesting now over the next few weeks, how many players who get a straight red card in a championship semi-final will actually miss the county final?" he said.

"I would