Westmeath GAA buck national trend on referee recruitment

Westmeath GAA have bucked a national trend by recruiting 58 new match officials who will begin their careers at under-age level this season.

To assist this unprecedented wave of new referees coming on board, the county will provide nine advisors to help them and add an extra layer of assistance for the new recruits.

Westmeath recently held a training course in Athlone where 19 new referees attended for football. In addition, there were three courses staged in Mullingar, one for hurling and two more football sessions with 18 referees attending each module.

The new referees will be unveiled at a presentation this Friday night and will wear different jerseys in the coming weeks and months to indicate they are part of a development panel.

They will officiate at Under-12 and Under-14 level across both codes with the ultimate aim of bringing them to Under-16 level and beyond.

Attracting nearly 60 new referees is no mean feat, especially in the current climate where there is a chronic shortage of officials in many counties.

Recently, Tipperary GAA launched their own recruitment drive, stating the urgent need to find new blood.

"With the growth in popularity of Gaelic games, the demand for match officials is increasing," a statement said.

"With over 4,000 games being played in our county on an annual basis, the role of the referee is a particularly important cog of the wheel to ensure all games take place. However, we are seeing a drop in our current crop of officials, due to injury, work life balance and age-related factors."

The statement added that in 2023, a number of club games had to be cancelled due to no referee available. It also reported that, out of the 71 clubs in Tipperary, there were 13 clubs without referees.

"This