Dickie Murphy looking forward to sharing Croke Park memories

Click here to purchase tickets for Dickie Murphy's Bord Gáis Energy Legends Tour of Croke Park on Saturday.

By Cian O'Connell

There will be always something about Croke Park for Dickie Murphy.

During the 90s, the Wexford official refereed four All-Ireland SHC Finals at the Jones Road venue. Decades later, Murphy is still going strong.

On Saturday morning, the Bord Gáis Energy Legends Tour of Croke Park series continues with Murphy. In the evening, at the same venue, Murphy will be the HawkEye Official for the Leinster SHC decider between Dublin and Galway. "It's still great to be involved whether it's in Thurles or Croke Park doing Hawk Eye," Murphy says.

"It keeps me involved, I know all of the current referees. I was on the referees committee for a good few years after I retired. It's great to be involved. When you're going to Croke Park, you can probably take it for granted, really.

"I was on committees, we'd be at Croke Park every Monday for a meeting or whatever, you'd drive in. Now, when I'm not in it as often, it's great when you stand back and look at the place.

"I'm really looking forward to Saturday. Doing the Hawk Eye, it's just still great to have an involvement in it."

Reflecting back on those days, the stories, matches, and characters is something Murphy relishes. "People love talking, they love asking questions," Murphy says.

"I'm fortunate that I'm a postman, I'm out meeting people, chatting about things the whole time. Even when I was refereeing back in my day, I'd be delivering letters in the morning, and people would be asking questions about how the match went.

"It was great. As people, we always love asking questions, and people would love to talk, not only to me, but people who played in All-Ireland finals. I'm looking forward to it."

There was no grand plan to Murphy's journey into officialdom. "For a while, I was still playing hurling and refereeing," Murphy recalls.

"At the start, I just took the refereeing up because I was involved, I was district secretary, and had to put referees doing matches. That's how I really got into it. Nobody came to me asking would I become a referee? Today, there is a pathway.

"My pathway was that I'd to get somebody to referee underage matches. There was no mobile phones, I just refereed myself. I enjoyed it. I was still playing the game, I was hurling for my club, I played minor and U21 with Wexford when I took it up.

"I was still very involved as a player, I never thought down the line that I would get to referee a Wexford final let alone a Leinster or All-Ireland final.

"It was a great journey for me. I travelled the world, met great people, and was fortunate enough to referee All-Ireland finals, Munster finals, and Leinster finals."

During the mid 1980s Murphy flared to prominence as a referee in Wexford. "I refereed my first senior hurling final in Wexford when I was 23 in 1985," Murphy says.

"I'd refereed the Junior B Final in Wexford the year before, in which Liam Griffin was playing for Rosslare. I started refereeing when I was 16 or 17, I didn't pick it up for refereeing only.

"I was district secretary, we had to get referees, so that's how I started. There was no great plan. Today, there is a pathway. You start with your county, move into your province, and then national. That didn't happen with me. I went in at the bottom and swam and got my way to the top, I suppose."

Even while refereeing, Murphy continued to hurl with Rapparees. "I hurled away, I played with my club into my 30s," he says.

"I refereed the All-Ireland final in '92, I was 31. I was still playing and played for a few more years, but refereeing had taken over.

"You couldn't afford to be missing with inter-county games going on, but I battled away, I played a bit of intermediate and junior. I was always very keen on playing for the club."

Was that a significant help when refereeing matches "People knew I was playing for my club, and I'm not saying everyone respected your decisions, but I think a lot of people did," Murphy responds.

"I played, I was refereeing fellas that I'd hurled against two weeks previous, especially in the local championships at that time in the late 80s. I think it helped me along really that I was a player. They'd say 'he must surely know the rules, he's playing anyhow'. I think it helped me alright."

Friendships were formed. So, Murphy's respect for those who travelled with him as umpires runs deep. "When I got into the car on a Sunday morning, whether I was going to Belfast, back then you'd Casement Park or Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Croke Park - once you'd the four umpires in the car with you, everything is fine," Murphy says.

"We'd great craic. It was very enjoyable. I know they'd a job to do. They took it very seriously. I was very fortunate with my umpires that if I was in Croke Park on Sunday they were with me, and if I was doing a local match the following night or the Tuesday, they'd always be there. I was very fortunate, I'd very good umpires.

"We travelled the length and breadth of the country. It's not easy. All of them had their own families, they were gone from morning until night lots of times over the years. I know people are very critical of umpires sometimes, but they do a tremendous job.

"If things go well, the referee gets all of the credit, and if an umpire makes a mistake, the umpires are blamed. So, they don't get as much credit as they probably should.

"Some people just haven't the time to be an umpire, all the referees at inter-county level have their umpires. It's a sacrifice for them and they aren't as appreciated as they should be, really."

When things didn't go according to plan, Murphy tried to remain focused on the next assignment. "You have to move on quickly because there is a match the next night or the Tuesday night," Murphy says.

"You're refereeing in Croke Park on a Sunday, but on a Monday or a Tuesday night even if things haven't gone well for you, there is an underage game or a minor game or an adult game.

"They're not one bit worried about what went on in Sunday's game. They're worried about their own game. So, you've to focus in on that."

Murphy, though, highlights that the world has altered significantly, bringing increased scrutiny for players and officials. "In my time I was fortunate enough that there was no social media," Murphy says.

"Now, at half-time or after 20 minutes people are on social media criticising the ref or criticising this, that's just something in life.

"In my time, the only time they saw the match was if it was live on TV or on The Sunday Game that night. That was the time people saw the matches, so it was reporters covering games.

"Today, now, everything is social media with streaming and so many other things. I was fortunate, I refereed at a time when there wasn't as much social media. In that sense, I was fortunate.

"We'd great days, one or two days didn't go well for you, but you've to park it, and keep going. You've to make sure that you're better the next day."

Returning to GAA headquarters for the tour is something Murphy's embracing. "It's great, it's a bit of an honour to be going back as the guest for the tour," Murphy remarks. I'd great days there."