Stuart Byrne column: Nothing wrong with criticising refs if they get big calls wrong
League of Ireland legend and Mirror Sport columnist Stuart Byrne has the final word every Friday
The referees’ body is up in arms over Stephen Bradley’s comments in Derry last week, but you have to laugh.
Bradley was livid after Derry scored a late equaliser from the penalty spot when Patrick McEleney dived in the box. He branded ref Damien MacGraith “the worst in the league” and said “he’s so poor and he has shown it again, a terrible decision.”
Now, the Irish Soccer Referees Society have hit out, claiming Bradley’s comments have “no place in sport” and should “not be tolerated”. I’ve never had a problem with a manager calling out a ref, because too many people get on their high horse and say 'you can’t do that'.
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I was watching Manchester United’s European game during the week and Lisandro Martinez got booked for what I’d call a standing block challenge. He wasn’t off his feet, he wasn’t diving in. Yes, it was a free kick but the yellow card was disgraceful.
Robbie Savage was on co-comms. He was on his high horse slating Martinez, conveniently forgetting how he himself played back in the day. It’s the way the game is going. There’s a microphone shoved in your face and you quickly surrender all that you stand for.
Bradley called out a ref, and I’d have done it myself to be honest. And I have done it because it's nonsense to think that you can’t speak your mind.
Bradley is human and humans are emotional. Referee decisions have implications. We’re all big boys and it’s time some people pulled their trousers up. Too many have their head in the cancel culture cloud and are only dying to have a go because they know social media will lap up that PC tripe.
Instead, you should be looking at the context of the situation. McEleney went down way too easily and, if spotted, he’d have been shown a yellow card. MacGraith’s linesman was 20 yards away. The implications of awarding the penalty were huge, so why didn’t he have a chat with him?
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Refs want to be the big men and make the big calls. But if you make a big mistake, you need to own it and take it on the chin. If you’re going to put yourself on a League of Ireland pitch and ref a game, you need to realise you’ll get it if you make a mistake. And if you don’t like the responsibility or the limelight, then go to the Leinster Senior League where you won’t get the same flak.
But I don’t agree with Bradley’s call for VAR in the League of Ireland. We can barely afford decent toilets in the grounds. The Government grants were announced this week and League of Ireland clubs received an initial pot of €4m. It looked like the FAI were clapping themselves on the back but in an over-inflated world where a glass of wine is €10 and a cappuccino is nearly €5, that’s peanuts.
Where’s the ambition? In terms of scale, we should be thinking of building a rocket and sending it to Mars, not cycling a bike to the shops.
The one thing I love about League of Ireland people is their passion and willingness to defend themselves. But what I hate is the small-minded bulls***. When something small happens, we’re all patting ourselves on the back. We’re too small minded and almost afraid to demand what we want. Like Bradley, we should call it as we see it.
BOOK OF KEELS
Only Dermot Keely could get away with it. On the Shelbourne leg of his book launch, he addressed the crowd wearing a Shels jersey - while holding his book, which has him in a Rovers shirt on the cover. That takes balls!
Dermot is a walking soap opera with so many great stories to tell so, if you want to laugh or cry, treat yourself to this book. He was my manager at Home Farm Everton and we had so many run-ins. But I learned to understand where he was coming from. I love his madness and it’s only now - when you listen to all the vanilla opinions out there - that you realise how unique he was.
As a player and a manager, Dermot talked the talk but he also walked the walk and has earned the right to put his story down on paper.
At Home Farm, he dished out his own player awards at the end of every season, over a few drinks, and just took the piss. The lad who loved his hair got a hairbrush from Dermot, the lad who loved his teeth got a toothbrush. Me? I got a baby’s bottle and soother. Why? Because Dermot said I was the biggest whinger on the team, so I probably deserved it.
But I’m not sure Dermot ever got the credit he deserved for his man-management skills. We had shouting matches where I honestly thought he would never speak to me again. But once it was over, it was over, and Dermot held no grudges. I loved that about him and there’s not enough of that in the game.
Dermot taught me that there’s nothing wrong with being direct in your approach. If you want something done, go get it done. I’m not a huge reader but this is one book I’m really looking forward to, and I wish him well with it.
TIGHT AT THE TOP
It’s tightening up at the top and a lot’s being made of Shels. Are they wobbling? Well, I can’t get away from the fact that the team with the most points is the one in the driving seat.
Regardless of how you’re playing, I’d rather the points in the bag at this stage of the season. You can’t get drawn into this stuff of ‘if we win this, and they lose that’. Football isn’t linear, it doesn’t work that way. Shels aren’t pulling up trees at the moment, but they still have the points on the board and that’ll do me.
FIX WHAT WE HAVE BEFORE GROWING
I’m rolling my eyes at this third tier talk. The FAI would be better off getting the two divisions we already have up to scratch.
There’s something seriously wrong with our game when the team that finishes fifth in the First Division is rewarded with a chance to reach the Premier Division.
That’s right- not just first or second, or even third or fourth, but fifth and you could get into the top flight. I’d like people to read that sentence again and tell me it’s not the most stupid thing you’ve ever heard.
Just bin it and have one up and one down until such a time as more First Division clubs are of a suitable standard for the Premier. This isn’t England, where the playoffs are huge and bring great drama. That’s only the cause but they're proper football clubs
When something’s not working, just admit it and change it. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen any more as people would rather tweak with formats. But that’s just creating work and it's people keeping themselves relevant by coming up with new concepts, like the League of Ireland third tier. What nonsense.
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