MAR Course In Mallow Next Month

The next Munster Association of Referees (MAR) course will be held in Mallow GAA club on Sunday, January 8, with anyone interested in becoming a referee encouraged to attend.

The MAR run two courses every season for people interested in becoming match officials. The courses are co-ordinated by IRFU Referee Development manager Peter Fitzgibbon.

Explaining how the course is laid out, Peter explains: “It's a full one day course and we go through all the various different aspects of the game – specifically looking at it from a referee's perspective.

“It's classroom based and we go through all aspects of refereeing. We deal with communication, tackle, ruck, maul, line-out, advantage. We have a piece then on how to deal with injuries and a specific piece on how to deal with suspected concussions if they happen in your match.

“In going to the course you are making a commitment that you want to go refereeing. In joining the MAR, that would then indicate that they are making themselves available for selection to referee in the north or south depending on where they are based.

“Some of them can be out refereeing and touch judging the following weekend. On top of what they get on the day-long course, they can also attend weekly meetings in both Limerick and Cork and they will get further follow-up workshops.”

Commenting on the number of high level referees that the province has produced over the years, IRFU Referee Performance Manager Dave McHugh said: “Every one of them would have gone through this course. For example Johnny Lacey would have gone through this course and he would have gone through various different workshops and gone the same pathway system to get into the All-Ireland League by virtue of refereeing outside the province in a system called IPAS.

“IPAS basically means guys from Munster will go and referee two games in each of the other provinces at J1 standard and, based on those matches, they are then considered for selection into the national panel.”

Andy Brace, who will officiate in next season’s 6 Nations, former Munster player Frank Murphy, and ex-Munster women's player Joy Neville are three examples of referees who are rapidly progressing through the system as the MAR continue to produce high calibre officials.

“We're also very conscious of the fact that we need to make sure that the Domestic Game is properly facilitated within the province and the country,” said McHugh.

“We're doing our very best to make sure that's happening and we're also doing our very best to make sure referees are involved in refereeing underage rugby because that's where people start playing. We'd like to see more people refereeing and the more we have the more can cover those matches as well.”

For course details, or more information on how to become a referee, please contact Peter Fitzgibbon on 086-832 2987 or peter.fitzgibbon@irfu.ie.