News and Updates

20/5/2020

A letter from our Chairman Dave Fitzsimmons RE UEFA Clips and FAI Educational materials.

Hi All,

Refererence our recent initiative to publish on the branch website the weekly education clips regarding the laws of the game.

Unfortunately we have been advised to either remove or password protect these clips on our website as these clips are UEFA materials we apparently are in breach of their protocols. Although I personally find this disappointing to say the least we are bound to obey their protocol Rules.

If you have not already done so or know one of our members that have not received these weekly education clips, please provide robert.hennessy@fai.ie with an e mail address and you will receive the weekly updates.In the meantime I hope all our members & families are remain safe & well.

Dave Fitzsimons

Chairman

20/5/2020

Announcement from the AUL for our members who officiate in their league.

18/5/2020

Update from the DDSL for our members who officiate in their league. 

18/5/2020

A letter from Chairman Dave Fitzsimons to our members

Hi All,

• I hope this email finds you & your families in good health during this current climate.
• Including myself I am sure there are other members amongst use that have been effected in one way or another by this Corona Virus, whether it been the loss of a relative , friend, colleague or even the loss of ones employment.
• In these current times it really puts things into perspective.
• May I take this opportunity to thank all our members & their families  who are front line workers, Hospital employees, Care Home workers, Fire & Ambulance services, members of An Garda Siochana & the Defence Forces, Postal services &  Essential services workers (Including those who provide our transport, Supermarket and shopkeepers and those wonderful people who give up their free time to care for our elderly.)
• Hopefully we will all come out of this safe & well and a vaccination is found soon, until then we will have to get use to the new normal (Social distancing, wearing masks, social interaction, hand hygiene etc).
• I am unsure if football as we know it will ever return to where we were prior to this virus.
• I would really like to think that we are all remaining in some sort of contact with our colleagues and friends from the referring and football family, please bear in mind some of our elderly members past or present from your league and give them a call when possible and don’t assume some one else has done it.
• Today I have requested our Branch P.R.O Seán O Connor to post up on our website the weekly education programme that Rob Hennessey from the F.A.I has been forwarding to members via email and asked Danny Lambe to do likewise on our Facebbook page for people who don’t have an email address. It is a very interesting programme of education put together by Rob. These can be found HERE under our education section
• I hope we are all still keeping active by either, running, walking or cycling. Not only is it good for our physical fitness but our mental health also.
• Council have suspended all Branch and council meeting for the foreseeable further, although they are in contact with us and we have meeting via Zoom on the 6^th of June.
• We hope to be joined by at least 2 members of the F.A.I on this date and will post any information arising from this meeting on our site.
• I know some leagues are talking about resumption of football mid to late August, but for our members there are a lot of issues to be sorted out first and I can assure you the health and safety of our members and their families come first and foremost, so please do not listen to any idle gossip from any other quarter.
• Finally take care and God Bless you and your families.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Fitzsimons

Chairman

Dublin Branch

9/4/2020

Urgent Volunteers required by Irish Blood Transfusion Services

Since 2015 Giveblood.ie has been a sponsor of FAI Referee’s appearing on all our National Panels kit. They are currently looking for volunteers to help in their clinics. Below is a letter from Paul Meaney who is the Risk & Resilience Manager of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service with information on the type of help they are looking for. Our colleagues in the ISRS in Cork have been doing this and we ask any of our members who may be able to volunteer to help to please do so. While you’re not required to donate blood yourself all volunteers need to be under 70, in good health and not be showing any symptoms of Covid – 19. There are centre’s in both Stillorgan and the City Centre in particular where volunteers are required. We’d ask any member who may be able to give even just a small bit of time to help this worthy cause to please do so.

7/4/2020

Important message from the Football Association of Ireland

12/3/2020

Notice from Rob Hennessey in the FAI Referees Department.

All Grassroots Referee Development Modules and Referee Beginner courses scheduled to take place in March have been postponed following directives from Government, the Department of Health and UEFA.

The decision has been taken in light of the growing threat posed by the COVID-19 outbreak and in the best interests of all concerned.

New dates will be arranged after March 29th and the FAI remains in communication with the Department of Health and UEFA on COVID-19 and will continue to follow all government guidelines

12/3/2020

Reminder out next Branch meeting is this coming Thursday (tomorrow) March 12th at 8pm in the Mission Hall, Abbey Street. Beginners Class will begin at 7pm

The committee would like to offer its deepest condolences to the family and friends of long term member Andy Wardick. Andy passed away peacefully on 8th March after a battle with illness. We offer our support and prayers to Andy’s wife Jacqueline and his sons Bryan and Carl. Andy has been a credit to his branch and league for a number of years and will be sorely missed. We ask all members to observe a minutes silence on games this weekend in respect of Andy.

Removal for Andy will be Friday 13th March from Fanagans Funeral Home in Rathfarnham to The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Firhouse) arriving at 5pm. Funeral mass Saturday March 14th at 10am followed by burial at Kilmashogue Cemerery. All members attending are asked to wear society shirt, tie and blazer where possible.

The committee of the branch must sadly inform it’s members of the death of ISRS Dublin member Mark Whelan.

Mark is a long standing member of the branch and a credit to refereeing in Ireland and around the world.

Mark had a passion for all type of football in particular for those who had disabilities and represented his country in refereeing a number of international tournaments. Mark will be missed by his wife and two sons and we’ll as all his colleagues in both the Dublin branch and Nationally

Funeral Details

Mark will be reposing at his home on Monday March 2nd from 5pm-8pm. Removal to the Church of the Resurrection, Bayside on Tuesday March 3rd arriving at 9:50am for 10am Mass. Society members are asked to wear their shirt/tie/blazer where possible when attending the service.

In memory of Mark we’d ask all members to hold a minutes silence prior to their games from Monday 2nd March up to and including Sunday 8th March in respect of Mark’s memory.

Chairman – Dave Fitzsimons
Vice Chairman – Paul Tuite
Treasurer – Eddie Reilly
Assistant Treasurer – Paddy Hughes
Secretary – Seán Slattery
Committee Members
Frank Bartley
Matt Burke
Alex Byrne
Derek Carey
Pat Conway
Fred Hosford
Danny Lambe
Terry Murphy

Below are the dates for the Dublin seminars of 2020. All seminars will take place at the ALSAA complex

AGM will take place at 7pm sharp on Thursday 27th February. Registration will begin at 6:15pm and it is suggested you arrive early to ensure you receive your voting slips. There will be no beginners class on the night.

Currently we have recieved 2 x nominations for Chairman, 1 for Secretary, 2 for Treasurer and 2 for Vice Chairman as well as a number of ordinary committee members.

All candiates will be published on the website and Facebook page prior to the AGM Vote.

Anyone interested in running for any of the remaining officer positions (Assistant Secretary, Assistant Treasurer, Equipment Officer) or ordinary committee members please send your nomination, who you’re proposed by and who you’re seconded by to Hon. Secretary, Seán Slattery via info@isrssecretary.ie no later than 7pm on 13th February

Change of Training Venue

Training has moved temporarily away from the VEC on Tuesdays to Inchicore Athletic all weather pitch WEDNESDAYs at 6pm.

For further information please contact Anto Carey on 0872553443

Additional training venues include Ballymun United, 8pm Wednesday and Balbriggan Beach 730pm.

Full details are found on our training page

Footwear on All Weather Pitches

Members are reminded that no club or facility can stop a referee from wearing a certain type of footwear in any sanctioned game.

If in the event you are refused entry to a pitch due to your choice of footwear (ie flats on an astro) get the card filled out, collect your fee and report this to the competition organisers.

Assaults

Any member who is a victim of an assault should immediately follow the below Abandon the game

Contact the Gardaí

Report the incident to both the competition organiser and to the branch secretary

Never speak to any media or third party in relation to the incident without getting advice from the branch

Seek guidance from a member of the committee or senior referee in your league if you are struggling with anything in regards the report

Make sure all facts are correct, accurate and truthful

Disciplinary

If a member of the branch is contacted by the FAI or DRRC in relation to any matter please don’t hesitate to contact the branch secretary in confidence for guidance on the matter.

The FAI are unable to contact the branch directly about your matter however once you make contact with us we will give you our full support in any way we can on the matter. Our number 1 role as your committee is to serve and support you as our members. We can’t stress enough how much we will help and support we’ll give you once you ask us

Attendance

The 6 from 9 rule is in existence for the benefit of all members. In addition to this it was brought in by the members and not by the committee. Any member of the branch is required to attend 6 from 9 meetings. Those unable to attend can request to be excused via email or post (Text message, phone call or comment on Facebook/Website will not suffice) to the Hon. Secretary Seán Slattery 7 days before or after the meeting.

22/11/19

Final call for all our members looking for tickets for the 60th anniversary dinner tomorrow in the Red Cow Moan Hotel. for ticket queries please contact Tony Redmond ASAP. For those attending doors are 7:15 with seating commencing at 7:45

22/11/19

The Dublin Branch would like to wish Paul Norton (LSL), Aaron Pisarnik (LSL), Brian Lawless (AUL), Fintan Butler (DDSL), Lee Duffy (LSL), Mark Gallagher (AFL), Mark Houlihan (AUL), Mark Patchell (LSL), Orla Devaney (NDSL), Paul Mooney (LSL), Seán O’Connor (LSL) and Seán Stephens (LSL) all the best in their final module and graduation from the FAI School of Excellence.

We would like to thank Dublin Branch Life Memebers Ian Stokes and Declan Hanney, former branch member Conor Fitzgerald and Martin Maloney of the Kildare branch for their help and dedication given to the  school and support to our members throughout the process.

21/11/19

Congratulations to Mark Houlihan (centre) for winning AUL Referee of the year

The branch would also like to wish Leinster Senior League Referee Joe Boylan a speedy recovery from his recent operation and hope to see Joe back in the middle of a pitch as soon as possible.

20/11/19

The Committee would like to thank Eamon Scott of the Striker Online and Daniel Kelly of the FAI Communications department for their help and contribution to our website supplying our new images.