Mr. Tom Ryan:

A difficulty which might even be greater than that of abuse is lack of respect. That can manifest itself in isolated cases in more extreme behaviour but in its own right lack of respect for officials is a problem. The Senator mentioned underage games. I am at plenty of underage and intercounty games and there is a culture that pervades where it is okay to pass commentary on referees or to second-guess them. The referee will be a topic of conversation at the end of every game, irrespective of who has or has not won. All of that contributes to an environment where the referee and his performance is fair game, and it should not be.