FAI FIFA Referees Panel for 2007

[Réiteoir]

Just seen these on the FIFA Website:

No change in numbers - we still have 4 referees and 8 assistants on the list.

Referees remain as last year, but two Assistants come off the list due to reaching the Age Limit of 44 - Eddie Foley and Tony Ryan.

They are replaced by 33 year old Terence Moyne and 26 year old Damian McGrath.

On the Women's List - no change here - Rhona Daly and Hilda McDermott retain their FIFA Badges.


Full lists

* Denotes New Appointment:

Referees
BUTTIMER Anthony
KELLY Alan
MC KEON David
STOKES Ian

Assistant Referees
CASSIDY Joe
DELANEY Ciaran
DOUGLAS Marc
MC DONNELL Barry
MC GRATH Damien *
MOLONEY Martin
MOYNE Terence *
WOGAN David


Women Referees
DALY Rhona
MCDERMOTT Hilda

[dublin15bohs]

How the **** can that stupid blind git Kelly make the Panel and Stokes is not much better

[passerrby]

if you were excluded from the panal because you were a "stupid blind git "we would not have a panal

[Réiteoir]

Alan Kelly has been getting some decent games last year (France - Denmark just before the World Cup, and some Champions League games in the earlier stages). Ian Stokes did Wales - Slovenia in the World Cup Qualifiers last year (first International to be played at the new Swansea stadium) - and Dave McKeon handled the England - Belarus "B" International last year superbly.

There are 5 Groupings for Referees within UEFA who have FIFA Badges (this determines what games they can do)

Elite
Premier
Category 2
Category 3
Standard

Alan Kelly is currently a Category 2 - and may be upgraded to Premier if his European performances are maintained, Ian Stokes (and I think Dave McKeon as well) are Category 3's - and Buttimer is a Standard Category official (having only become a FIFA Referee in the past couple of years)



We can see Alan Kelly doing the more high profile internationals - eg. the ones like Italy - Austria, France - Denmark, Spain - Belgium.
Stokes and McKeon would handle the next standard down - eg. Iceland - Switzerland, Armenia - Sweden, etc. - and Buttimer would get the lowest standard - eg. San Marino vs. Latvia or Liechtenstein vs. Estonia

[Réiteoir]

And just to add - Alan Kelly is on the "Category 2" list of UEFA Referees.

Along with some of these guys (just to give you a feeling of what level that is):

Rob Styles and Mark Halsey (England), Douglas McDonald (Scotland), 3 referees on Serie A, 3 referees on La Liga and 5 referees from the Bundesliga

[Raheny Red]

In one of the morning papers it said that the FAI hope to recruit 1,000 refs over the next five years!

[Réiteoir]

Yeah - I've had a look at the newly launched Referees Development Plan

Some good stuff in there going forward over the next few years - gearing to the whole thing going more professional in it's administration

[Jerry The Saint]

Alan Kelly is currently a Category 2 - and may be upgraded to Premier if his European performances are maintained

Big-time Charlie - only turns up on the big occasions, treats the week-to-week games with contempt?

[sligoman]

They are replaced by 33 year old Terence Moyne and 26 year old Damian McGrath.

I ****ing hate that biased *****. How is he approved by FIFA ffs

[football fan]

Alan Kelly was appointed to a match in the group stages of the UEFA Cup this season.

With regard to the FAI wishing to recruit 1,000 new referees, it will never happen until managers, players and SUPPORTERS change their attitude to the men in black. Forget about the LOI, the level of abuse experienced by referees in schoolboy and junior football is out of control.

I attended a lot of LOI matches last season for the first time and people seem to think that because they pay at the gate they can abuse these people at will.

I have said it before and I will say it again, if you can do better, get out there and take up the whistle because WITHOUT referees all levels of football but especially schoolboys and junior football are in trouble.

[BohsFans]

i have to say i referee gaelic and no way on earth would i referee football.every other week in the meath and district theres a game abandoned for abuse or assault of a referee.now gaelic isnt exactly full of saints but its not that bad

It probably helps that GAA refs are given way more control than in 'soccer'.

[geezer]

he gets all the tv games as well. Heres a ref that actually goaded a steward to "bring it on" 2 seasons ago in the middle of a game. Professional my arse but daddy looks after him. i dont know who was the worse ref young kelly or old kelly