The fitness tests for inter-county referees are no longer fit for purpose, according to three-time All-Ireland hurling final referee Fergal Horgan.
This weekend sees the opening round of the Allianz Football League, with the GAA insisting this week that there would be no referee shortage after it was reported that 13 inter-county football referees failed to pass new pre-season fitness tests which were conducted at the Irish Sport Campus.
Only 19 of the 42 inter-county referees succeeded in passing the tests, with 10 more unable to perform the tests for various reasons. The remaining 21 will, however, be able to do stand-by and sideline officiating.
The association has said it "will reflect on the testing process" in the coming days.
Horgan, who oversaw the 2017, 2020 and 2021 All-Ireland hurling deciders but retired as an inter-county referee last year due to a "lack of appointments" in recent seasons says change is required regarding the tests themselves.
"It was disappointing to see so many failed," he said ."I think that the test they are using at the moment is not right for refereeing. It's only a 13-minute test, 13 to 15 minutes.
"A game is nearly 80 minutes now so I think we should be using a different test. But we have looked for that on several occasions and it has been turned down."
Technicalities of the testing system have already been discussed by inter-county referees, and those that failed last week will soon be entitled to retake the tests if they choose.
Maurice Deegan, also a three-time All-Ireland final referee, retired in 2022 but is in agreement that the current testing system is not best practice.
"We need to restructure the way we do our fitness tests," he said. "Whether it's over a period of time leading into Christmas, and then obviously have another test after Christmas, but doing a fitness test a week before the first round of the league is not the way to go."
Watch Kerry v Derry in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 5pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch highlights on Allianz League Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 9.30pm, follow a live blog every Sunday afternoon on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live updates on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
