The back-to-back wins of the Meath All-Ireland Ladies team have led to a huge surge in numbers of girls playing GAA, which has almost doubled in the county in the last three years.
The success of players such as Vikki Wall, Emma Duggan and Orlagh Lally has inspired girls of all ages to join local clubs, which has seen numbers of players bolstered from about 4,500 to about 8,500.
The influx of new players means the Meath LGFA is now hunting for new referees to cope with all the extra matches now being played. Last year alone, there were about 1800 games played, up from 1200 in 2019.
The LGFA has a stock of 50 referees to choose from but some of these have 'dropped off' in the last while, according to PRO Fearghal Harney.
"There has been an incredible increase across the county of girls joining from nursery up," he said.
"The number of girls playing Ladies Gaelic now is about 8,500, almost double what it was three years ago and that includes Covid when sport didn't happen for much of the year
"A massive part of this increase is the success of the Meath Ladies team who have won back-to-back titles the last two years.
"They are now idols for many young girls in the county who want to be the next Vikki Wall or Emma Duggan or indeed, any of the players.
"The team really has proved to be role models for girls in the sport and clubs who may only have had one of each U12/U14/U16 team now have three or four or moure teams in each grade at underage level.
"We have always had about 50 referees on the panel but we need more to be able to hold all the extra matches and tournaments.
"We are still working on roughly the same panel of referees, despite the fact that there are now 600 games more every year so we also have to rely heavily on referees from the surrounding counties of Dublin, Louth, Kildare and Cavan to help us out.
"We have all the relevant training and programmes in place and anyone over 16 or over 17 for competitive games can become a referee."
Part-time jobs can make it hard to source referees for underage matches at weekends," explained Meath LGFA's referee coordinator and assistant PRO Padraig McDermott
"I've had to get a number of established senior referees to oversee U12s girls finals last year because the younger referees couldn't get time off from their weekend jobs," he said
"Each year referees retire from the panel for various reasons but abuse is still a problem, from male and female spectators.
"I've had female referees phoning me up crying after games and quitting there and then because of the abuse hurled at them. I've also had young men upset because of verbal slurs.
"Last September we had to refer 13 instances of referees being abused onto CODA with is the LGFA disciplinary process
"However, there are also a lot of great stories from referees who get so much out of games and interactions with players. The plusses still outweigh the negatives, thank God.
"It's a great game and referees can get so much out of it, but for spectators who often don't have a clue of the rules of ladies GAA. How many times have you heard people shouting from the sidelines to a referee that a girl has picked up the ball off the ground , which is allowed in LGFA"
Padraig also thinks that the rules in LGFA should be changed slightly to allow more contact between players.
"The game has developed in the last number of years and rules should change to compliment the development of the game.
"Ladies are stronger and fitter than ever before because of strength and conditioning and training. Players like Vikki Wall are naturally strong and their style of play often gets misinterpreted and punished by referees. This wouldn't happen if more physicality was allowed.
"Definitely, the fairytale story here is how many girls are taking up GAA because of the Meath Ladies. Now you go to games, even club games and you see young girls and boys queuing outside dressing rooms for their autographs.
"That was unheard of a few years ago. Also, you used to only see parents and relatives at ladies games but now more and more fans are turning up to watch them play. Ladies football in the county has definitely taken a popular turn.
"In a national league game early last year in Navan's Pairc Tailteann against Dublin, there were approximately 5000 spectators. A few years ago, you might have seen no more than a few hundred or less
There's no doubt the ladies are role models to the next generation and we are hoping to find more referees to accommodate them.
Anyone interested in more information on referee training can contact Referee Coordinator Padraig McDermott on 086 4410435
