GAA launches inquiry into assault on referee

THE Galway GAA authorities are investigating an incident in the aftermath of a senior football match last Sunday at Salthill in which a referee was knocked to the ground by an angry supporter.

Referee Muiris Mac Gearailt was making his way to the dressingrooms in the tunnel area of Pearse Stadium at the end of the Milltown v. Salthill/Knocknacarra county senior football semi-final when he was, according to eye witnesses, shouldered by a supporter into the chest.

The Connacht Tribune has learned that the referee – who is a native of Kerry and Chairman of the Micheál Breathnach club – was knocked to the ground in the incident, prompting the intervention of a number of stewards who were nearby.

One of the stewards is also understood to have been hit by the supporter from the Milltown area but neither the referee nor the steward suffered any injuries.

However, it is understood that the referee was badly shaken up in the incident that could have been far more serious given the concrete floor and surrounds of the tunnel area into the dressingrooms.

An eye-witness who contacted the Connacht Tribune on Tuesday said that the consequences of what happened on Sunday after the match could have been ‘catastrophic’ if the referee had hit his head off the concrete floor or walls of the tunnel area.

The eye-witness (whose name and phone number he gave to this newspaper) said that he didn’t want to be identified but added that the treatment of the referee after the match was not something that should be brushed under the carpet. “This could have been an awful lot worse,” he said.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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