Kelly gets Emirates call

Put your prejudices or equivlaents aside for a moment - this is extremely good news for the Association and the profile of the League in General.

We would never have been in a position to have this happen 5 years ago:

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Republic of Ireland FIFA referee Alan Kelly will take charge of one of the Emirates Cup matches which will be held in London next month.

The four team international club tournament will involved Arsenal, Inter Milan, Hamburg and Paris St Germain and takes place on the weekend of July 28 and 29 at the Emirates Stadium.

It is the latest recognition for Irish referees as their reputation continues to grow in Europe.

Earlier this month a team of Irish officials, headed by referee Ian Stokes and also including Martin Moloney, Ciaran Delaney and David Mc Keon, took charge of the Euro 2008 qualifier between Andorra and Israel.

Another team, headed by Anthony Buttimer and also including Damien McGrath, Paul Deering, Declan Hanney, was in charge of the Euro U21 qualifier between Malta and Romania.

Rhona Daly and her assistants Aisling Looney and Celine McGowan officiated at the Women’s European Championship qualifier between Greece and Iceland and the two assistants then joined up with Hilda McDermott to take charge of the qualifier between Russia and Poland.

The Football Association of Ireland will be running a Referee Beginners Course at Mounthawk Park, Tralee from 29 June to 1 July. This is part of the Festival of Football being run in conjunction with the forthcoming FAI AGM being held in Kerry for the first time.

This is a pilot project with a redesigned course in line with new UEFA criteria, and the FAI Referee Development Plan, and is the first of its type to be run in the country. It is open to men and women over the age of 16, and will involve practical and interactive class modules. All that is required is enthusiasm, commitment and a whistle, pen and notebook.

Players can now also get involved in refereeing, although obviously not in games affecting their own side. Support after the course is available from James McCarthy (FAI Referee Observer) and the local Branch of the Irish Soccer Referees Society under the Chairmanship of Jim O’Connor.

To book a place on the course, or to get further information, please email james.finnegan@fai.ie or contact James Finnegan at 086 8588922 or John O’Regan at 086 2656605.

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Managed to catch the Andorra - Israel game through the net (Andorran TV is streamed legally on their website) - Stokes and his crew had an excellent game in very very wet conditions.

Fair play to Kelly. He's a good ref.
I'm very disappointed if Stokes is on the UEFA panel.

Honestly the refs in LOI are poor but are still improving every year. Kelly is better than most in LOI and fair played to him. Sure English premiership refs make a laugfhing stock of england (Graham Poll any1)

Has Kelly managed any City league games in the past few years?
I remember him reffing against Drogs when Bradley got sent off but other than thatI can't remember him reffing City matches.

He did the replay of your Cup game against Galway last season iirc

He has been appointed to referee Valencia v Inter Milan at the Emirates Cup tournament.

Kelly is the best ref the EL has - and whilst he's not brilliant, and undoubtedly has and will continue to make errors, in my overall opinion he isn't that bad.

People never rate refs....

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Originally Posted by Rocketfingers

You should not notice good refs, Kelly is a disaster. Either you have no idea about Football, your a looney or your totally drunk.

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Well that's me told....! :rolleyes:

The whole idea of 'not noticing a good ref' is just a cliche. The commentators who trot it out on TV are the same ones who will 4 or 5 times a game comment on a ref doing the right thing. So much for not noticing good refereeing then....

I didn't say Kelly was great or anything. He's the best we've got, and whilst he does make mistakes he generally seems to do a good job in my opinion. If you don't like that opinion, then bite me.....! :D

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Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

I didn't say Kelly was great or anything. He's the best we've got, and whilst he does make mistakes he generally seems to do a good job in my opinion.

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But the mistakes he makes tend to be real howlers - missing a spectacularly offiside goal in a cup final, failing to spot the ball going into the net, that sort of thing. Was he officially suspended for 1 month last season for missing that Bohs goal vs. Bray or did he just agree to sit out a few games voluntarily. It doesn't seem to have hurt his rating within the league anyway. I know his father is heavily involved as a referee's assesor but fair play to him if he does well in UEFA/FIFA games.

Whatever about the merits of the "never notice the good refs" argument, referees who draw attention to themselves seem to do well, which is why the hairdo/wristbands/etc. will do Kelly no harm at all on the bigger stage.

Ah - this place NEVER fails to surprise me...