Roscommon GAA has confirmed an investigation is under way into an incident involving a referee during a minor championship match yesterday evening.
The referee, who was officiating at the underage game in Ballyforan, required medical attention after he was allegedly assaulted during the second half of the game.
An ambulance was called and the match was subsequently abandoned.
In a statement this morning, Roscommon GAA said it was aware of the incident at an underage match yesterday evening and would like to wish the referee involved a speedy recovery.
Roscommon GAA said it strongly condemns "any behaviour that puts any of our match officials at risk".
It said the county's competitions control committee would begin a full investigation into the incident.
Gardaí said they are aware of a video circulating on social media of an alleged incident at a sports ground in Co Roscommon and are conducting inquiries into the matter.
The incident has been condemned by Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers, who called for a swift investigation.
He said anyone who is found responsible for deliberately harming a match official needs to be held to account.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Mr Chambers wished the referee a speedy recovery and said a "very strong message must go out that abuse of match officials is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated by anyone in our game".
The club whose venue the game was played at issued a statement to offer their full co-operation with the Roscommon CCC investigation.
The statement read: "St Aidan's GAA club is currently investigating an incident that occurred during a U-17 championship game on our club grounds on Wednesday evening.
"First and foremost, our thoughts are with the referee, and we wish him a speedy recovery. We would also like to thank the medical personnel who assisted him following the incident.
"The club will co-operate fully with the Roscommon CCC and Roscommon GAA in their investigation in the matter.
"We will not be making any further comment at this time."
All-Ireland final Gaelic football referee David Gough said the incident was "extremely unfortunate" and said there is a need for a "massive cultural change" that must come from the top level of the GAA.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he said the existing 'Give Respect, Get Respect' initiative does not include "any real sanctions" and "then we end up going back to the GAA rulebook, which I know from experience has a huge amount of loopholes in it".
He said that he has never experienced physical abuse, but has experienced some level of verbal abuse.
"The abuse is unwelcome, it's unwarranted, it has been homophobic on occasion and it does distress people and cause a certain level of anxiety and affect people's mental health and well-being," he said.
Mr Gough said he believes that the issue is more prevalent at club level.
"At a club game and underage games where there might not be the same volume of support there, or football in a club ground, it's definitely more audible and it is something to be worried about," he said.
