Galway Ladies’ management lodge complaint over Connacht Final referee

Management of the Galway Senior Ladies’ Football team have made a formal complaint about the decision to appoint former Mayo ladies’ manager Gerry Carmody as match referee for this weekend’s Connacht Final clash with Mayo.

Team Manager Stephen Glennon issued the following statement this morning: “The Galway senior ladies football management expresses its dismay and disappointment and that the appointment by Connacht LGFA of former Mayo minor ladies football manager Gerry Carmody as referee for their Connacht senior final with Mayo at MacHale Park, Castlebar this Sunday stands as is.

“The decision by Connacht LGFA to dismiss Galway’s objection, we believe, calls not only the integrity of this year’s Connacht final into question but also that of an administration which has shown a blatant disregard for Galway ladies football with this appointment and, indeed, the spirit of the game of ladies’ football.

“We would consequently call on LGFA and Croke Park to investigate this matter thoroughly, determining as to how such an appointment could be made, and take swift and appropriate action.

“This is the fifth consecutive year Galway must travel to MacHale Park for the provincial decider and the appointment of Mr. Carmody, who has mentored a number of the current Mayo senior players as Mayo minor boss between 2012 – 2013, is a gross error of judgement by Connacht LGFA.

“We recognise Mr. Carmody, who changed his inter-county designation from Mayo to Roscommon, is not to blame for this current predicament but, by the same token, it would be remiss of Galway senior ladies management, on behalf of our set-up, not to object to the appointment of someone who has represented Mayo as both a ladies’ football inter-county manager and as one of their designated referees over a number of years.

“Galway Ladies Board has informed us this morning that the appointment stands on two grounds – both of which we would dispute. The first is that Mr. Carmody changed his designation two years ago – which is irrelevant given his close association to Mayo. However, it is also untrue as the LGFA national website featured Mr. Carmody in a profile as ‘Mayo Referee’ in September 2016, which is less than two years ago.

“Secondly, Connacht LGFA assert that Mr. Carmody is the most qualified referee in Connacht. This may be the case but, in light of his previous history with Mayo, this doesn’t align with the spirit of the game.

“Indeed, we, as a management, would question why a referee with no affiliation to either of the competing counties could not have been selected for Sunday’s game by Connacht LGFA.

“This is a regrettable situation. We had endeavoured to deal with this in a quieter manner by bringing our appeal to Connacht Council this week but the failure of this administration to satisfactorily address our concerns has forced us to take this issue into the public arena.

“We are disappointed that we have to do so and that we have to deal with this disruption in the week leading into the Connacht final. However, we would hope that by bringing this matter to light in the public domain that this decision would be reversed.”