They Shoot Crowes Don’t They?
Talking Balls Comments
Subsequently Crowe was ‘invited’ by CCCC to review and revisit his decision with the option left open to him to upgrade to a red. Brian stuck to his original decision thereby freeing Noel O’Leary to play in the All Ireland Final. Maybe he thinks it is a manly game and Noel’s dig was within the bounds of decency; maybe he doesn’t like Graham Geraghty; maybe he decided he wasn’t going to be brow-beaten by the Big Brothers of the CCC. Whatever.
Now this isn’t a junior referee – this is a man who has taken charge of an All Ireland Final in 2006. Since the incident Brian Crowe has refereed two senior inter-county matches the league clash between Sligo and Leitrim, and the Connacht semi-final between Galway and Leitrim. He recently had a meeting with national refereeing chairman PJ McGrath and was reassured that he was not being punished in any way for his stance. National refereeing co-ordinator Pierce Freaney gave an utterly convincing and plausible explanation of the actual situation as he sees it:
“Brian sought and had a meeting with the chairman on the issue and he went away happy and in the knowledge that he hasn’t been sidelined deliberately. There are other younger referees coming through and doing very well. It can be like team selection sometimes, a team evolves, so too do refereeing appointments. There are other high-profile referees from the last few years who haven’t got many games this year.”
Talking Balls reckons referees get a bad press from time to time but obviously the boys that referee the referees are the biggest b*****ds of all.
