Referee row continues

Meath & District League secretary Gerry Gorman says that he is hopeful that a resolution can be found to the simmering row between the MDL and Meath Branch (ISRS) over the appointment of referees. Gorman also said that he was surprised that members of the Meath Branch (ISRS) were unhappy that match officials from the Louth and Cavan/Monaghan branches continued to be allocated what they see as relatively high percentage of games. "We met the executive of the Meath Branch at least four times over the past few seasons and I always felt that everyone understood the problems that we were facing in relation to the referees and the allocation of matches," said the MDL secretary. "I didn't learn officially that the referees weren't happy with the current situation, I heard it on the grapevine. There was a meeting held by the Meath Branch but we weren't invited." Gorman added that he felt the MDL's position was "misrepresented" when it came to the allocation of match officials. The MDL have had a long association with the Louth Branch and in more recent times with the Cavan/Monaghan Branch and it is understood the league would be reluctant to break the connections that have been forged over the years. There has been considerable discontent among Meath Branch referees who feel that as their sole allegiance is to the MDL they should get first preference for those games. A meeting was called last week to discuss the issues involved however, it was called off when the MDL official appointed to take part in the discussions had to withdraw because of "unforseen circumstances." Meath Branch (ISRS) chairman Johnny Regan said that he was disappointed that the meeting was called off at short notice. "There's no plans to reconvene the meeting at the moment, we felt we should give the MDL time to prepare for their AGM and get that out of the way first," he added on Monday. The MDL had to find substitute referees and assistant referees for a number of recent games after the Meath Branch officials who had been originally assigned made themselves unavailable. Among the matches that were affected included the Drogheda Town v Oldcastle Reilly Cup semi-final, the Div 2 play-off between Kentstown and Kells/Blackwater and the relegation/promotion play-off between Torro and Cavan Town.