Commercials to appeal fine for final no-show
Clonmel Commericals are to appeal a €2,500 fine imposed on them for failing to field a team in the South Tipperary final earlier this month.
Commericals were due to play Ardfinnan in the divisional decider in Monroe on December 2 but did not turn up on the day of the match.
Ardfinnan were present and warmed up on the pitch for about 20 minutes before the game was officially abandoned by match officials.
Commercials said that they informed the South Board a week earlier that they would be unable to field a team on the date in question.
However the Board insisted that the game would go ahead on December 2. Ardfinnan were subsequently awarded the trophy.
Meanwhile, a leading Tipperary GAA official has warned of a crisis looming because of the lack of referees. Jonathan Cullen, chairman of the Mid Tipperary divisional board and himself a prominent referee, told the board’s annual convention in Clonmore that the lack of referees is reaching crisis point, with only nine active referees at adult level in the division.
As things stand, it will be just a matter of time before games will not be played due to a lack of referees”, said the Loughmore-Castleiney man.
He appealed to clubs to put forward the names of potential refs, but warned that if criticism and disrespect towards refs continues, it will be almost impossible to get new recruits.
