Limerick Desmond League 2018/19

Seriously, the refs must cop themselves on?? I have been reading posts regarding this issue for weeks now, and people are still missing the most important point. A referee, a person was assaulted, punched and spat on and you expect the referees to send their members back out again when the proper punishment hasn't been sanctioned by the league for the incident, all because its Abbeyfeale. The leagues interpretation of the referees report was that both the spit and punch were carried out by the same person, and so the player got a year for each, a total of 2 yrs suspension. From what I hear the refs clarified that there were 2 separate individuals involved. This was put back to Abbey who insist that they had a players meeting and no one else was involved. So the league have taken the clubs word over that of the ref. If this was another club they would be told to hand over the other culprit or else face suspension from the league. Abbey are holding the league to ransom to protect an individual capable of doing this, and yet we still blame the referees??

As regards the suspended player who received a two year ban, he has since gone to the Garda station and put it on the record that he did nothing to the referee. So the league have punished an innocent player. So as this is New evidence the case should be reopened and those who are actually guilty are punished accordingly.

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Originally Posted by Gazza29

The refs are shambolic at this stage, they had a lot of support at the start and rightly so after what happened, however their actions have now interfered with a lot of clubs and players from outside of Abbeyfeale, and anyone that I have talked to in the past number of weeks feels that the season should now be halted, and the referees given their own marching orders for the disruption and inconvenience that they have caused. An individual admitted to both offences, are the referees that stupid that they believe that people admit to criminal offences for the sake of it. It’s ironic that they can be so sure that there is a 2nd player but never actually got a look at the individual. They are the only ones paid, if you get paid for something then you have a job to do, the job is not been done so get rid

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If you get rid of all the refs you don't have any games at all, ever. 🙄
I agree with DesmondLad, it's the club in question that are causing the hold up. Thuggery and cowardice can never be excepted.

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Originally Posted by DesmondLad

Seriously, the refs must cop themselves on?? I have been reading posts regarding this issue for weeks now, and people are still missing the most important point. A referee, a person was assaulted, punched and spat on and you expect the referees to send their members back out again when the proper punishment hasn't been sanctioned by the league for the incident, all because its Abbeyfeale. The leagues interpretation of the referees report was that both the spit and punch were carried out by the same person, and so the player got a year for each, a total of 2 yrs suspension. From what I hear the refs clarified that there were 2 separate individuals involved. This was put back to Abbey who insist that they had a players meeting and no one else was involved. So the league have taken the clubs word over that of the ref. If this was another club they would be told to hand over the other culprit or else face suspension from the league. Abbey are holding the league to ransom to protect an individual capable of doing this, and yet we still blame the referees??

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Apologies, I didn’t realise there was another person. Why is it taking the refs so long to go ahead and name him, so the league go ahead and suspend and we can all get on with our lives

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Originally Posted by Johnnie C

If you get rid of all the refs you don't have any games at all, ever. 
I agree with DesmondLad, it's the club in question that are causing the hold up. Thuggery and cowardice can never be excepted.

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How are Abbey holding it up Johnny, Why don’t you give the name up

I figure the ref doesn't know the name of the player or stopped to take their numbers down when the incident occurred. Besides surely it is the responsibility of the club to bring the two players responsible forward.

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Originally Posted by DesmondLad

I figure the ref doesn't know the name of the player or stopped to take their numbers down when the incident occurred. Besides surely it is the responsibility of the club to bring the two players responsible forward.

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Ok, so the closest man to the incident didn’t see the 2nd player, but the expect an Abbeyfeale committee to name him even though they weren’t there. Last question, if the ref didn’t see him, how does he know there was even a second one, bearing in mind an individual has admitted and been suspended for both incidents. Let’s call it as it is here, the refs are so wrong and have been so disruptive any of them that refuse to ref an Abbey game should be told that there services are no longer required

No where did I say he didn't see the player, I said I figure he didn't know the players name. If you saw my earlier post, you would have seen that the fella who took the blame for both incidents has since gone to the guards and put it on record that he didn't touch the referee. So whats the real story??

Then we end up with no refs and no league. FAI need to do an independent enquiry get both sides of the story and pass a judgement that all parties need to accept and we move on.

Any result from last night, can't help wondering if it was a small team with little or no clout they would have been banned ages ago.

I heard late last night that the referees are going on strike with the abbeyfeale games and the league are on about pulling the league this season and abbeyfeale are on about joining the Kerry league. That surely cant happen.

Again I heard this so dont come arguing with me haha

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Originally Posted by dutchie

Any result from last night, can't help wondering if it was a small team with little or no clout they would have been banned ages ago.

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Lads ye keep on about this “if a small club” thing. The fact of the matter is, Abbey can’t give up a 2nd name because one doesn’t exist. The person in the best position to see this imaginary 2nd person was the ref and even he didn’t see him. The Referees Association and the FAI have both told the refs they are wrong and need to go back, yet 7 weeks on they are still holding everyone to ransom.

I can't wait to look back on this thread in five years time.

This is gonna get worse before it’s better I feel. I honestly can’t see a solution to this.
I suppose it’s worth nothing. Referees will referee abbey games with linesmen. Why don’t they go with that solution. Particularly for abbey a in the premier. I presume it’s because clubs wouldn’t be willing to pay the extra fees?
Only other way out of it would be to approach qualified referees who aren’t part of a branch. They could technically ref abbey games as they wouldn’t be breaking ranks so to speak. Not sure if there’s any ex refs around but there’s a good few in the city

The referees report is a little vague, you could reasonably say based upon the report that there was only one person, or, you could reasonably say there was several assailants, depends on how you interpret the wording.

The league have gone through correct process, getting the FAI, Referees society involved. Both found that the league have acted correctly and dealt with it fairly.

Referees still say they won't go along with the outcome, despite having the facility to appeal the leagues decision through proper process they didn't do so.

The league can't do much more really...

Albeit they should have informed the clubs of what was happening weeks ago, they said that nothing was said to clubs because it was being dealt with at FAI level and were assured it would be sorted.

My issue is why not send an email a month ago telling the clubs the full facts and that they were following procedure and had kicked it upstairs to the relevant bodies to sort it. Not to let it up in the air dragging and dragging allowing speculation of which we all engaged in myself included.

The league don't want to go down the road of the 3 referee thing because there is a feeling that it would set a precedent for future reference. If for some reason another incident arose in future the referees could use the current situation as a reference point.

Clubs in the majority are for standing up to the referees and refusing to play games to try to hit the referees in the pocket.

I got the feeling part of the purpose of last night's meeting was to drum up exactly that sentiment because the league are sick of dealing with the referees and want the clubs to row in behind them and stand up to the referees.

Referees very well may go on strike tonight.

In my opinion it's up to the FAI now to sort this, but I'm still of the opinion that it should not under any circumstances be down to the clubs to decide.

I don't think it's a good idea to go against the referees to such a degree, let the FAI or the referees society reprimand them if they see fit but it shouldn't be left to the clubs to do their dirty work for them.

It was an Abbeyfeale/Referees/Desmond League issue and it's nothing to do with anyone else in my opinion.

It is now in my opinion an FAI/referees issue, and nothing to do with anyone else, including the league and it's clubs.

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Originally Posted by DesmondLad

Seriously, the refs must cop themselves on?? I have been reading posts regarding this issue for weeks now, and people are still missing the most important point. A referee, a person was assaulted, punched and spat on and you expect the referees to send their members back out again when the proper punishment hasn't been sanctioned by the league for the incident, all because its Abbeyfeale. The leagues interpretation of the referees report was that both the spit and punch were carried out by the same person, and so the player got a year for each, a total of 2 yrs suspension. From what I hear the refs clarified that there were 2 separate individuals involved. This was put back to Abbey who insist that they had a players meeting and no one else was involved. So the league have taken the clubs word over that of the ref. If this was another club they would be told to hand over the other culprit or else face suspension from the league. Abbey are holding the league to ransom to protect an individual capable of doing this, and yet we still blame the referees??

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This hits the nail on the head. And all the comments saying if there was a second person why can’t the ref identify him. If someone comes up amongst a crowd of players and spits or punches. It’s not that easy that you’ll be able to pick that person out of a crowd. Abbeyfeales pull in the league clearly helping them here.

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Originally Posted by Red_Devil

This hits the nail on the head. And all the comments saying if there was a second person why can’t the ref identify him. If someone comes up amongst a crowd of players and spits or punches. It’s not that easy that you’ll be able to pick that person out of a crowd. Abbeyfeales pull in the league clearly helping them here.

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And how do you explain the fact that an individual has admitted to the league that he was responsible for both offences and he has been rightly punished for them

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Originally Posted by Cruyff

The referees report is a little vague, you could reasonably say based upon the report that there was only one person, or, you could reasonably say there was several assailants, depends on how you interpret the wording.

The league have gone through correct process, getting the FAI, Referees society involved. Both found that the league have acted correctly and dealt with it fairly.

Referees still say they won't go along with the outcome, despite having the facility to appeal the leagues decision through proper process they didn't do so.

The league can't do much more really...

Albeit they should have informed the clubs of what was happening weeks ago, they said that nothing was said to clubs because it was being dealt with at FAI level and were assured it would be sorted.

My issue is why not send an email a month ago telling the clubs the full facts and that they were following procedure and had kicked it upstairs to the relevant bodies to sort it. Not to let it up in the air dragging and dragging allowing speculation of which we all engaged in myself included.

The league don't want to go down the road of the 3 referee thing because there is a feeling that it would set a precedent for future reference. If for some reason another incident arose in future the referees could use the current situation as a reference point.

Clubs in the majority are for standing up to the referees and refusing to play games to try to hit the referees in the pocket.

I got the feeling part of the purpose of last night's meeting was to drum up exactly that sentiment because the league are sick of dealing with the referees and want the clubs to row in behind them and stand up to the referees.

Referees very well may go on strike tonight.

In my opinion it's up to the FAI now to sort this, but I'm still of the opinion that it should not under any circumstances be down to the clubs to decide.

I don't think it's a good idea to go against the referees to such a degree, let the FAI or the referees society reprimand them if they see fit but it shouldn't be left to the clubs to do their dirty work for them.

It was an Abbeyfeale/Referees/Desmond League issue and it's nothing to do with anyone else in my opinion.

It is now in my opinion an FAI/referees issue, and nothing to do with anyone else, including the league and it's clubs.

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Good post and accurate

Word is that the player who got banned has since denied his involvement once the guards got involved.
Refs are meeting tomorrow night. Is a strike on the cards? I can’t see it happening myself. But the way this whole saga has gone you can’t
Rule anything in or out

Lads, the full story is (not just the leagues side) is that the ISRS (Ref society) have given their full backing to the referees as have the neighbouring referee societies in the surrounding counties. Under no circumstances have they said their members are wrong in there actions. Again misinformation from the league. The individuals the league met with are FAI men and are obviously going to back their own wrong or right.