A Tipperary inter-county referee is asking for the public’s help as he joins colleagues in running this weekend for Pieta House.
With the popular Darkness into Light fundraiser cancelled this year, referees from across the country have decided to run 11.2 kilometres each – the average distance covered by a ref in an intercounty game.
Over 7,000 euro has been raised so far, and anybody who’d like to donate can search for ‘GAA Referee’s Championship Run’ on GoFundMe.
Ardfinnan’s Derek O’Mahoney is one of those getting involved on Saturday:
“Two years ago I was in New York refereeing. Last year I was in Wexford Park refereeing. And this year, of course we don’t have a championship at the minute.
“So, Chris Mooney, a Dublin referee, got together with a couple of referees and came up with the idea and put it to all us national referees basically to do 11.2km, which is the average distance a referee will run in a 70 minute game.
“The equivalent of 72 referees – if we run 11.2km, it’s the equivalent of 810km, which is the same distance if you travel by car from Wexford Park to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, up to Ballybofey and then finish in Croke Park.”
