Coldrick made the grade as top GAA whistler

When Liverpool and Manchester United locked horns last week in what was billed as a crunch – aren’t they all – Premier League tie at Anfield and again in the FA Cup on Sunday there was no doubt who David Coldrick wanted to win.

The well-known GAA referee - who has taken charge of four All-Ireland SFC finals and three Meath SFC finals - was backing the “real Reds,” the Red Devils.

He has supported Man U for many years and he’s not going to stop now. The Premier League game ended scoreless and the FA Cup game went United’s way in a five-goal thriller, but he would love to see Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s troops wrestle the title from Jurgen Klopp's men at season's end - and the FA Cup would be a nice addition also.

While Coldrick follows United specifically and soccer in general, he’s not so sure if he would want to be a referee in the so called beautiful game.

He sees the hassle referees get, the lack of respect shown to them by some players. Yet he still can't help wondering.

“No matter what sport you are looking at you tend to hone in on the referee, not just his performance, but how players respond, that whole respect thing, and in soccer there’s not that much respect shown. That makes it all much, much tougher from a referee's point of view.”

Rugby is different. Now that’s a sport, he looks at and thinks, ‘Yeah, I’d like to give that a try.’

At least in rugby, he says, they show respect, with players referring to the match official as "Sir" anytime they have a query or a complaint.

Whatever the issue is, the question to the man in charge (and invariably it is a man in the men’s game) is prefaced with that form of address that signifies respect – and that’s something Coldrick admires.

“Yeah rugby is one game I wouldn’t have minded refereeing,” he adds down the phone when he spoke to the Meath Chronicle.

It would have been preferable to meet this top-ranking 44-year-old Royal County official, but the pesky, unrelenting pandemic ruled the possibility of that out.

“Rugby is probably the game that shows most respect to officials and to experience that first-hand would be one of the things that attracts me to the game, but there’s also the rules in rugby. They would appear to be more black and white than some of the rules in our own game."

He points specificially to the tackle rule in Gaelic games and how it is "very open to a referee's interpretation."

He talks of the lack of clarity around the rule "essentially leaving it up to referees to make up their own mind."

An actuary by profession, Coldrick, works for Irish Life heading up "the group reporting function" which involves, from an actuarial perspective, "calculating and reporting on the earnings and management of capital for Irish Life."

That's his professional life.

His time away from the job is very much caught up with the science of adopting the rules of Gaelic football.

Not only is he a top-ranking referee, his long-term partner, Mairead O'Carroll, who works in Irish Life too, is also deputy chief steward in Croke Park.

Many times while David has been fully engaged in ensuring everything runs smoothly on the pitch, Mairead has been busy making sure it all goes well off it.

BATTERSTOWN

From very early on in his life David Coldrick immersed himself in the world of the GAA. One of six children born to Maura and Benny Coldrick, young David turned out for Kilcloon/Moynalvey at under-age level.

One of his more treasured memories is winning a Junior B FC with Batterstown before that identity joined with Kilcloon to create Blackhall Gaels in 1995.

As a youngster Coldrick dreamed of representing Meath in an All-Ireland SFC final, but life has a cruel tendency to crush a youngster’s dream.

In time he came to realise a harsh truth; he would simply never be good enough.

He became intrigued by refereeing and he set about learning as much about the trade as he could.

"I felt the rules of Gaelic football are not that difficult, but as regards the implementation of the rules I felt they weren't being implemented correctly.

"I said this can't be that difficult and I would chance my arm, I wasn't a 100 per cent sure of where it was going to lead, but I developed a gra for it."

He quickly rose through the ranks in his own county, then provincial level, then national. He has refereed three Meath SFC finals and provincial finals in Ulster, Munster and Connacht.

From very early on in his career he had a big objective in mind; something that drove him on. A destination he wanted toarrive at.

"My goal was to be a Meath footballer playing in Croke Park on the third Sunday in September, but I knew that wasn't going to happen.

"However, I felt, there was a decent chance, if I worked at it, to do that as a referee so from my mid-20s on I focused on refereeing."

Finally, in 2007 he reached that destination when he was appointed to take charge of the historic All-Ireland SFC showdown between Kerry and Cork.

He was only 30, surely one of the youngest match officials ever to take charge of an All-Ireland final. He had well and truly arrived.

"To referee an All-Ireland final was a brilliant feeling for me and it meant a huge amount for my family, the club, the county to get there, I knew that."

He went on to take charge of subsequent All-Ireland SFC finals in 2010, 2015 and 2020. He also took charge of games in the Compromise Rules series, a further accolade for the Meath man, but that 2007 final was special and an occason he will never forget.

PRESSURE

He has truly travelled far, but there have been a few speed bumps along the way too; days when the cheering has turned to jeering and the ugly sound of derision has cascaded down from the stands and terraces.

When asked at what stage was the pressure, the criticism, at its most intense he refers back to the summer of 2014 and a Down v Tyrone Ulster SFC clash.

He took a lot of flak for not showing a black card to Down's Conor Maginn for deliberately pulling down an opponent. The black card rule was not long in place.

Referees, he adds, make mistakes and will continue to do so, but when reflecting on that incident he reveals too the kind of thought-process a match official goes through during a game when so much can happen in literally a split second.

"Referees, no matter what people think about us, we are only human. We do go out to do our best at all times.

"I do remember when the black card was rolled out and I was used by the GAA to help with that roll out.

"I think everyone expected that if you are the face of the roll out then you should have no excuse for getting a call wrong.

"It was very clearly made known to me afterwards that the incident was a very clear black card.

"You look back and analyse how did I not recognise it as such. At that moment you're thinking did that (foul) happen inside or outside the large square, you're thinking is it a penalty or is not a penalty?

"Then you're thinking who was it that committed the offence and I didn't bring it all together and pinpoint exactly what the offence was.

"There was a huge amount of criticism directed at me in one way, but in another it was directed at the GAA in general because there were a lot of people against the black card in the first place.

"I suppose this incident gave them an opportunity to voice that opposition very clearly."

Coldrick feels that no matter how unpalatable it might be, it's important for him to analyse games, take criticism on board so that he can avoid making errors that attract the flak in the first place.

He does a "peer review" of clips from games with other referees in Croke Park every few weeks during the league and championship.

It can be a humbling experience at times, but if he makes a mistake and others can learn from it he's fine with that.

A high level of physical fitness is essential.

Tiredness simply cannot be an issue, he insists, going into the final 10 minutes of a contest like an All-Ireland final when "key game decisions" are more often than not required. Fatigue cannot be allowed to undermine judgement.

It's vital for a match official to be mentally resolute and focused, right to the final whistle; not to be swayed one way or another by what players, managers or spectators are shouting in his ear.

Remaining strong and resolute when the pressure is at it's fiercest, that's vital for a referee - whether that contest is an All-Ireland final or an over-hyped Liverpool v Man Utd showdown.