GAA Referee Recruitment hits targets

The Tipperary GAA Referees Committee provided an encouraging report of their activities at the June County Board meeting.

117 referees are currently available in the county with ten new whistlers trained up over the past year, while three, who had previously stepped away, have taken up the whistle once again. However, eight have either retired or have stepped away.

The report also revealed that a number of targets as part of its 5-year strategic plan have been achieved, including training up at least one new female referee per year, and training up to ten or increasing by 10% in the number of new referees per year to offset referees that retire or step away.

The 5-year plan also includes upskilling of referees on different aspects to support refereeing performance, including mental health, nutrition, fitness, conflict managing and mentoring.

All referees now have to comply with Garda vetting and safeguarding, which all referees in the county have undertaken.