Kevin Williamson relishing referee role

By Cian O'Connell

Sport has always been a central part of Kevin Williamson's life.

An Offaly SFC title with Tullamore is cherished, while Williamson previously operated as a League of Ireland soccer player with Galway United and Athlone Town.

So, Williamson achieved plenty on the field of play. Now, Williamson is an emerging referee, enjoying Gaelic Football from a different lens.

For the past three years, Williamson has been on the inter-county national support panel, underlining the progress made in a short space of time. "I started refereeing in 2020, at that stage it was after my last year playing senior football with Tullamore," Williamson explains.

"I was sort of struggling with my back, I knew my playing days were coming to an end. I couldn't keep going at the standard I needed for the senior football."

With a keen interest in Offaly GAA, Williamson attended matches and became an official. "I used to go to watch a lot of games," he adds.

"I ended up doing umpire at a couple of games for lads and got into it that way. I thought it would be an easy way for me to stay involved with the GAA when I retired from playing. Also, it was a good excuse for me to keep my fitness up. I'd have always been fairly fit from my playing days.

"When I retired from playing, it was motivation for me to keep doing my own running. I still do a good bit of running and training on my own, at the minute to keep the fitness high.

"They were the two main reasons. Number one, I could stay involved with the GAA, and number two was to keep my fitness up."

Not long after taking charge of matches, Williamston was keen to develop further. "Once I was at it, I said I'd try to go full bull at it, to give it as best I can, to see how high a level I can go," he explains.

"I started off doing minor games. Then I moved up to adult games. After every game I did, I must've been impressing who was in charge of the refereeing because I moved up through the grades fairly quickly to start reffing senior games within the county. I've been progressing year on year since that."

Staying in the game matters deeply to Williamson. "I moved on to the Leinster panel," he says. "I've reffed Leinster U20 and minor games, I did O'Byrne Cup games up until last year when the O'Byrne Cup was on. I moved on to the national support panel, I can do line and sideline official at senior inter-county games. My progression has gone fairly well.

"I've reffed two Senior B finals in Offaly, an Intermediate Final, the Leinster Club Intermediate Final. At the minute, Tullamore are in a purple spell, contesting the last five senior finals.

"With them in the final, any chance I'd have been in the running for it, that rules me out straightaway. There is nothing I can do about that, I just have to be patient, to wait for a final that Tullamore aren't going to be in, and hopefully I'll be considered for one then."

For Williamson, there is joy in the journey. "I find it very enjoyable," Williamson replies. "I know lots of people say they'd be turned off because of the level of abuse they'd get from players, mentors or supporters.

"I don't seem to get too much abuse, I would get a small bit, but it doesn't overly affect me. I get enjoyment from being involved in the game, being out there in the middle of it, watching the game, talking to players and talking to coaches, mixing in with different people.

"I find great enjoyment bringing my umpires to games. We'd have great craic going to games, at the games, and coming home from games. You still have that enjoyment. The social aspect you'd miss from your playing days, you get that out of it with your umpires."

Does the fact that Williamson played sport at a high level help as a referee? "I try to ref the game by letting it flow, as best I can," Williamson replies.

"I try to understand what players are doing and you might pick up a couple of things. A lot of the older players in the county would know me from my playing days and a lot of the lads that have gone into coaching and the mentors would know me from when I was playing.

"You might get that bit of respect off them, they'd know me from playing. I've progressed every year. There is a certain level of respect from when you were playing, I suppose."

As a teenager Williamson impressed with Galway United and Athlone Town. "When I was playing soccer in the League of Ireland, that was always my first option," Williamson recalls.

"I'd try to play GAA alongside it. Now, it didn't always work out that well on training nights. If it was soccer and GAA on the same night, I'd have to play the soccer. I tried to play as much as I could in both codes.

"When I stopped playing in the League of Ireland, I'd be playing the Gaelic, and it maybe freed me up a small bit to play more."

More than a decade in the Tullamore jersey proved to be time well spent. I played with Tullamore seniors for the guts of 15 years," Williamson says.

"We won a Championship in 2013. We were in an unlucky period because we came up against a dominant Rhode team that won a lot of Championships in the period I played.

"We were lucky enough to win one in 2013. Tullamore have sort of taken over from Rhode at the minute as the dominant force. Tullamore have contested the last five senior finals."

Work continues to be carried out by Tullamore, who're enjoying a productive spell in Offaly. One of their own, Williamson, is encouraged about the core enhancements brought in for the 2025 campaign. "I think the new rules are fairly positive refereeing," Williamson says.

"Even from talking to people at games and looking at games, I think the new rules were badly needed. They've been very positive. Most reactions I'm getting from players, mentors, and supporters, and even when I'm out looking at games myself, just from talking to people, the majority is positive feedback.

"The new rules were badly needed and you can see from the inter-county, the games this year were high scoring, there is more free flowing football. I think the new rules have been very good and very positive for the game."

Williamson is relishing the role.