Top referee hits back - January 23, 2001
Eircom League referees are as good as they come and fitter than they have ever been - according to UEFA assessor Paddy Daly.
Daly was responding to comments by Shamrock Rovers boss Damien Richardson, who launched a swingeing attack on refereeing standards following his side's defeat by Derry City on Sunday.
Instead of casting the useful doubts on referees' eyesight and parentage, Richardson called into question their professionalism and fitness levels - referring to referees with 'arses as big as county Cork' and 'waistlines that beggar belief'.
But Daly pointed out that Eircom League referees are tested for fitness three times a season - and that they must prove themselves capable of running at least 2,700 metres (a mile and threequarters) in 12 minutes, followed by a series of sprints.
Any official failing the test gets a second chance within a short space of time - and he fails again he is removed from the panel.
"There is an assessor at every match and he has to make a report on the officials under various headings," Paddy Daly said. "One of them is control, second is physical fitness and the third is knowledge and interpretation of the laws of the game.
"Another one is personality and, of course, how you use your personality."