Why referees are quitting Gaelic games

Analysis: 94% of match officials have experienced verbal abuse during their career and 23% have experienced some form of physical abuse

By Noel Brick, Gavin Breslin, Mark Shevlin and Stephen Shannon, Ulster University

Taking part in sport has many benefits for our physical and mental health. Despite this, recent high profile examples, such as that of Simone Biles during the Tokyo Olympics, show that athletes can experience mental health difficulties as a result of the performance demands that competitive sport can bring. As a result, recent years have seen a welcome upsurge in awareness research andinterventions developed to support the mental health and wellbeing needs of athletes.

But one group of individuals have received little attention in comparison: match officials. Like athletes, the referees, umpires and judges tasked with the vital role of applying the rules of our sports fairly can experience distress from non-sport and sport-specific sources. This can range from constrained social lives and family demands, to media scrutiny and making mistakes during games when applying the rules of the game.

One of the main sources of distress for match officials are experiences of abuse from spectators, coaches, and players, something that leads many referees to quit their role entirely. This abuse often results from decisions made by match officials, decisions that may not be considered the 'right decision' by spectators, coaches or players and that can lead to confrontation.

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