With Denis Irwin and Roy Keane being familiar Leeside faces on the Champions’ League circuit, not many people are aware that another Corkonian, Pat Kelly also plays an important role in UEFA’s premier competition. In an earlier life he was a League of Ireland referee, as was his father before him, and now his son is following in the family footsteps. Between them Tim, Pat and Alan Kelly have given five decades of service to Irish football. Gerry Desmond recently met up with Pat and found about the unique role the Kelly whistlers have played since the 1950s…

Pat Kelly always looks the same: dapper, chipper but quietly in control. Just like when he was on the pitch… It’s now over five years since he last refereed at National League level, but since his retirement from front line action he has continued to play a major part in Irish refereeing. It’s a family thing for Pat, coming from a household that has carved an unusual niche in domestic soccer.

“I’d say it is unique, yeah. I don’t know of anybody else that has been in that position,” he states. “I know my father was refereeing in the League of Ireland up to the time he was killed [in a road accident] in 1965. I took up the reins after that and my time has come now as well so we’ve moved on to another generation, and Alan is doing well at the moment. But he has to keep his feet on the ground and work hard: he has a lot of hard work ahead of him if he’s going to continue the tradition!”

He takes as much satisfaction from those years in the middle as others have done from collecting cup medals or scoring goals. But was it his father’s involvement that attracted him to refereeing, or did he always have that type of ambition? Most young lads want to play – what’s different for a referee? What’s the attraction there?

“I was a bad player – I retired young!” he jests. “I actually didn’t start playing football until I was 16. I played for about five years then. I had a bit of success playing-wise simply because I was playing with good players. I was involved with a junior club, South Gate, and I’d go to their matches as a supporter – even when I was playing with another club – and I would always do the line for the club on the day. I genuinely got interested in it after that and I suppose it must be in the blood, really.”

Pat finally took up the whistle in 1970, running matches in the Cork Schoolboys’ League, and progressing through the AUL and Munster Senior League before reaching the national scene a few years later.

“I hit the League of Ireland in 1974 as a linesman – now they’re called assistant referees – and I was on the line for about two years, I’d say. I got a break at the end of my second season because one of our referees here, Kevin O’Sullivan, was injured and I was given a break. The first game I ever refereed was a Shield game in St Pat’s ground in Inchicore, St Pat’s and Limerick.”

There were plenty of hard men knocking about the league at the time, numerous characters providing plenty of challenges for novice referees…

“Well, at the time Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne were two of the best sides around and without singling out players, a lot of players were difficult. It was a problem for me because I was young - I was only 27 – and I was refereeing my first games at that level. I found it difficult because I was probably refereeing games using yellow and red cards, and that antagonises players. Looking back on it now, it was probably the worst thing that ever came into the game in my opinion, the yellow and red cards. The days for having a quiet word with the players seem to be taken away from the referee and the use of common sense seems to be taken away from the referee at times with some of these new law changes.”

Still, the raw recruit managed to cope, and established himself on the senior circuit before a dramatic encounter at a game in Dublin sent his career into reverse and asked serious questions of his commitment to the family passion.

Pat recalls, “I started off well and I held my position for a couple of years, and then I was actually head-butted one day in Dalymount Park at a League of Ireland match. The player in question was Peter Hutton who is the father of young Peter who is playing with Shelbourne now. He was suspended for five years, but I think I served a sentence too because they felt I was a bit controversial to say the least.”

Pat, however, used the experience as a spur to continue on the road less travelled, and battled his way back to the top flight as a wiser and keener referee.

“I was out of the game at League of Ireland level, I was dropped down, but I got my appetite back in the Munster Senior League again and decided I was going to fight my way back up, which I did in 1985. And I went on from there and didn’t look back from that until the end of my career really.”

If the incident at Dalymount was a low point of his career, Kelly considers the 1996 FAI Cup final at Lansdowne Road as the highlight of his refereeing memories, though it too was marred by a call he had to make.

“Yeah, well particularly as it was my last game. I had refereed a Cup final in 1987, when things were going very well for me; it was Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk. I also refereed them in the League Cup final the same year, the same two teams. The pinnacle of your career as far as I’m concerned, and as far as every Irish referee is concerned, should be to referee your own Cup final. I’ve had a few other outstanding memories. I refereed Argentina when they were World Champions. I also did the final of the European U16 Championship in Turkey in 1993. But the highlight of your career has to be your cup final at home.”

The suggestion that the final in question is best recalled for Pat sending off the Shelbourne goalkeeper is quickly corrected…

“…For the goalkeeper getting himself sent off!” he immediately interjects, setting the record straight. “Well, the thing about it is I had refereed Shelbourne and Pats earlier in the season in the league and Gareth Byrne, the St Pat’s goalkeeper was sent off for a similar incident. So, I mean, all right it was a Cup final but the rules are the same unfortunately, and we don’t make the rules – we only have to apply them! That decision spoiled my game, spoiled my last game, and it spoiled Alan Gough’s game as well, I know, on the day. But, unfortunately, you have to make unpopular decisions at times. But it was out of my hands, really; the decision was made for me, I just had to apply it.”

Did producing that red card cost Pat the replay? In 99 John McDermott took the final and both replays…

“At the time, myself and Wilfred Wallace from Donegal were retiring. It was decided well before the Cup finals that I was going to do one, and if there was going to be a replay that Wilfred was going to do that and I was going to be the fourth official. So that’s the way it worked out, a bit unfortunate really because I would much preferred to have refereed the replay. It was one of those things, but again that was a decision that was taken out of my hands but I don’t have any problem with it.”

From the bread and butter of the domestic game Pat stepped up to international level when he earned his first FIFA badge in 1988. It was here that he really blossomed, being a regular performer in European ties and becoming the first Irish official to whistle in an international decider.

“I know John Carpenter did one leg of an Inter-Cities Cup final [now the UEFA Cup] back in the early 70s, but to be the first Irish referee to do an international final – the U16s in Istanbul in 1993 – that was a big honour.”

After retiring in 1996, there were decisions to make. He could return to his roots, or he could take the next logical step on the refereeing ladder. Never one to shy a challenge, there was really only one choice for Pat Kelly…

“Well, what happens is people who finish at 47 in the eircom League can go back to refereeing local football or whatever, but I felt I’d have more to contribute by becoming an assessor and passing my experience on to the younger people who were coming into the game. So I was asked to know would I become an assessor, and I was also asked would I continue for another year at league level but I felt that the decision was there. The rules shouldn’t be changed just for one, and I decided to opt out. I had my time, it was now time to move on and leave younger people come through who were going to further their careers. I was asked to become an assessor at local level, which I did, and I just moved on then again into the eircom League. I was helping Paddy Daly who was the Allocations Officer at the time. I was his second in command. I took over the reins then last season and I have two other people involved with me.”

But he’s not going to simply carry the torch that has been given to him. He has a vision for referees and for their role in the game. When he talks about these ideas, his speech is littered with references to ‘standards’ and improved ‘systems’. His enthusiasm for change is obvious, but controlled…

“We have a two-year contract with a five-year plan, if you like, because I’m planning over the next five years. I’ve told the eircom League that it would take five years to turn the whole panel around. We have an ageing panel and we need to get some younger people in, and we’re doing that at the moment. They’ve progressed from the line to First Division referees and from there to the Premier Division.”

So what makes a good referee, in the eyes of an expert?

“Well, control is the most important thing. If a referee has control of the game, he’s doing very well. We mark on a scale of one to ten. If a fellah has full control of a match he’s automatically on an eight. Now if he does something extra that we would be looking for, there would be a bonus of another one or two marks. Also, he might be able to control a game through experience but his fitness levels might not be up to what’s expected. We’ve set very high standards. They’re doing physical tests four times a year now, where in my time you did it once a year and that was it. The level of fitness has gone up through European football and everything else. We want our people to be in the higher bracket of UEFA refereeing circles, rather than in the third and fourth categories where we are at the moment.”

Pat is well into the administration side of things now; he combines the eircom League roster with assessing referees on match day, but reasserts that this was not a normal progression.

“It’s not natural, it’s just that Paddy Daly was the Allocations Officer for eight to ten years and I was giving Paddy a hand. I was appointed Allocations Officer then because Paddy Daly is now the Liaison Officer for international referees coming into the country, and he didn’t have that much time. So I’ve progressed to allocations now which makes it a little bit difficult at times because when your own son is involved you have to be careful, you have to be fair to everyone. I mean I can give him matches but I can’t go out and referee them. People think that because he’s my son he’s getting this match or that match; he’s getting matches on merit. If he has a bad performance, no more than any other referee…no I wouldn’t say one bad performance – that was the criteria going back to before I took over – if a fellah had a bad match and got a bad mark, a mark below six, he was automatically gone for a month. But I don’t agree with that. It’s just like a player; if a player has a bad match, he’s not automatically gone for a month from his club. We have a meeting once a month and performances are looked at. I get all the assessors’ reports and I go through them individually. We decide then – well, it’s basically my decision, but I consult with my two counterparts – and we make an honest decision on whether a fellah should be rested, or put down into the First Division maybe for a few matches. It’s a good system as far as I’m concerned because everyone is entitled to one bad game.”

One of the big concerns for provincial teams is playing a Dublin team with a Dublin referee. Over 40% of eircom League referees are actually from Dublin so it’s hard to avoid that situation, but it is something Pat Kelly acknowledges and is targeting.

“We’ve tried to change that as well. Finance comes into it, of course. I’ve got the permission of the league over the past month or so to make appointments wherever I need to make them. If you look at Derry for the past ten years or as long as Derry are in the league, they’ve had Dublin referees for most of their matches with Dublin clubs and that’s something I need to change as well. I went all the way to Derry to referee a Cup quarterfinal and a Cup semi final, but that was because the home gates paid for the travel expenses and things like that. But the league has now become a little bit more professional as well, and they’ve allowed me to send referees to any part of the country I like. And that’s going to change over the next couple of weeks. Referees don’t want to keep going to the same grounds either. They’d prefer to be travelling all over the country. I know I refereed in every ground in the country, so I think every referee should get the opportunity to do the same. Even with assessors – you’d normally see me in Turners Cross every week – that’s going to change as well. I need to move around the country and other assessors need to come in here. You probably get too familiar with the place, so that’s all going to change over the next couple of months.”

Rule changes have affected referees, naturally enough, but Kelly sees new laws as a reason for increased co-operation rather than causing friction between players, managers and the men in the middle.

“We’re trying to set up a committee that would comprise of a representative of the players, the referees, the managers and we would represent the league in that case. I think it should be an ongoing thing. It’s a good idea, it’s good to have dialogue between everyone and we’re all setting out for the same aim, really, and co-operation is what it’s all about. But I think the biggest problem in refereeing is that a lot of them, the supporters, don’t know the laws of the game, neither do the players and that is why we need to set up these meetings. We need to explain to players rather than sending them out a copy of the changes in the laws. We need to go to them before the start of the season and explain exactly what the changes are. Rule changes also need to be put in match programmes, for instance, so people will read them.”

League fans regularly debate the quality of refereeing. Does the man himself think standards have improved since his whistling days?

“No, I was the best referee around! There was no one ever going to be better than me!” On a more serious note, he adds, “No, the whole game has changed. As far as I’m concerned some of the people who make the changes in the laws may have never refereed and are making it a little bit more difficult for referees with some of the decisions they have to make. A referee has to be neutral, that’s the important thing. Referees will make mistakes. We saw that in the Premiership this year: certain people thought there were going to be no mistakes because the referees are now professional. Human error is always going to be there but a home supporter, or even a visiting supporter, is always going to see a game through the colours of their own club. That’s the unfortunate thing, but you’re always going to have that no matter what game you’re involved in. That’s something we’re going to have to live with.”

Next month will see a new Irish referee added to the FIFA list. Pat explains how things used to be and how changes are afoot here also.

“The decision is made on performances throughout the season. In our time you got on to the FIFA panel and you were there until you retired. That is all going to change because I didn’t think it was a good system. I never agreed with it because if you are going through a bad spell in the eircom League, in my opinion you shouldn’t be put forward for a FIFA badge the following season. So we’ve brought in the system now that any referee who gets his FIFA badge from this year on has it for one year. Then it’s up to them: we’ve set the standards. If they don’t receive an average mark of eight out of ten for the whole season then they won’t be put forward for the badge the next season. I think that’s a good system because it keeps referees on their toes. They know they have a FIFA badge for twelve months and the ball is in their court if they want it after that.”

Is there a limit to the number of badges per country, are they allocated like UEFA places for instance?

“We had six badges the year I retired. We’re now down to four. We have one referee retiring this year from the FIFA panel, John McDermott and there are two people after being nominated for his badge, Dave McKeon and Alan Kelly. FIFA decide which of them will get the badge. Now Alan is 26, Dave McKeon is 29. They may go for the 29 year-old, but Alan has been out on two invitation tournaments this year where there were UEFA assessors. Maybe that would sway it in his favour, I don’t know. Actually, we won’t know until the first week in December.”

A topic that has to be mentioned is the amount of abuse that a referee gets over the course of a year. Obviously, most of it comes from supporters but this season has seen a lot of it coming from managers…

“We actually chaired a meeting with managers recently, and we didn’t have referees at it deliberately because the last time that meeting was held it developed into a slagging match, which we didn’t want. We’ve taken the managers views on board and I’ll be bringing it back to the referees, and that’s the reason we’re trying to set up this four-man committee where we can speak about these things. I’m in favour of referees, managers and players meeting at any time. I think it’s only good for the game. I know there are certain referees who would prefer not to speak to players or speak to managers, but I’m trying to change that around because I’m a believer in dialogue at all times. It is a reason that we can’t attract young people into the game to referee, because they’re not willing to put up with this abuse. But once a game starts, it’s like the players…I mean, the visiting supporters slag the home players and vice versa, and once the referees go out there and start the match they just don’t hear these things, they just get on with the game. I was deaf, so it didn’t matter to me…!”

Still operating on the international scene, Pat works for UEFA in tandem with his domestic duties for the eircom League. Thus he’s as likely to be found at Old Trafford as Turners Cross, or in Azerbaijan as in Tolka Park.

“UEFA decided that they would look for former international referees to become referees assessors at UEFA level and at international level. The late Dr Tony O’Neill was on the UEFA committee at the time and I know that he did a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure that our people were involved. I started there and they’ve used me as a referee’s assessor and they’ve also used me as a delegate. The delegate would oversee all the activities on the matchday – the security, the whole organisation. The organisational committee meets on the day of the match and he’s even over the referee’s assessor. He’s in total control; he runs the game for UEFA. I did that at the Champions’ League match between Manchester United and Olympiakos a few weeks ago. I’m going to Parma this month as well as delegate and I will have a referee’s observer working under me in that situation. But I can do both of the jobs. I’ve often done the whole lot: I’ve been the delegate and the referee’s observer all in one in certain matches. They would be category B matches.”

Now moving into his fourth decade as a footballing decision-maker Pat Kelly has seen the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the sport.

“One of the worst memories, I suppose, happened on St Patrick’s Day of all days. It was Shelbourne and Derry in Tolka Park [in 1992], where I actually sent the goalkeeper [Jody Byrne] off after 27 seconds. That game was a nightmare for me. It was one of these famous decisions again, a professional foul by the goalkeeper on a player just from the kick-off, and I had to send him off. Eventually, I had to send a second player off – Anto Whelan, who played with City here for a while – and it was just a total nightmare. It was a top-of-the-table clash, in front of a full house. It was a decision that if I wasn’t close enough to the play that I wouldn’t have seen it. But there again, I just made an honest decision and that was it, but it was 89-and-a-half minutes of torture as far as I was concerned and one of the ones I’d like to forget! The other incident, I suppose, in Dalymount Park where I was head-butted…people made a big issue of it at the time. When Paul Alcock in England was pushed last year, I had phone calls from various media people who wanted to resurrect this again and I just wouldn’t hear of it. It was something that happened and, looking back, it probably helped my career if you like because I was determined to get back up to where I was. These things happen in the heat of the moment, and while it’s not nice at the time, you just get on with life. Some of the highlights: the European final and people that I’ve met around the world when I was refereeing. I’m actually going back to some of those places now as a delegate or an observer, which is great. The friends that you meet are what the game is all about as far as I’m concerned.” November 2001 - Gerry Desmond