Pat Kelly - Referee with the ability to reach players. By Finbar Buckley

Pat Kelly began in football when he played with Wembley minors in 1967. Paddy Shortt and Robbie Staunton were members of that team, and while they went on to play in the League of Ireland, Pat followed in the footsteps of his father, Tim and turned to refereeing.

He started in the Cork Schoolboys League in 1970 and soon began to make an impact, winning the Junior Referee of the Year Award for season 1972/73. He progressed to the Munster Senior League in 1973 and was promoted to the League of Ireland panel as an assistant referee in 1974. He refereed his first League Cup game in 1975, when St. Patrick's Athletic met Limerick. In 1978 he was appointed assistant referee in the UEFA Cup Semi Final between Zurich (Switzerland) and Bastia (France). As his European career took off, so too did his reputation at local and national level. In 1986, he was appointed fourth official in the F.A.I. Cup Final, when Shamrock Rovers defeated Waterford 2-0. The following year he was back at Dalymount Park, on this occassion as referee, when goals by Kenny, Larkin and Byrne enabled Shamrock Rovers to repeat their League Cup success over Dundalk. Incidentally, he was also in charge of the latter final.

His friend and colleague throughout many a stirring cause in the eighties was Kevin O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan must have been proud of the progress made by the young official, as they had known each other sincethey were toddlers, kicking footballs. The best possible impression of Pat is gained from his growing environment which was saturated in soccer. Pat hailed from 98th St., a den of football and iniquity surrounded by a myriad of famous junior clubs.

However, Pat's rise to prominence was not always a smooth ride, as he received a broken nose, had a knife stuck in his dresssingroom door and was struck in the forehead in a Bass League of Ireland game as far back as october 22nd 1978. The last incident ocurred in a league match between Bohemians and Finn Harps and was described at the time by watching referee inspector Charlie O'Leary as never in seventeen years of League of Ireland refereeing have I experienced such an incident. Pat had sent off Peter Hutton of Finn Harps, and before the player departed, he struck the referee on the forehead with his head leaving a bruise.

On the other hand, the Kelly wit was always present whenever the moment arose. A classic example ocurred at Richmond Park in 1995, at a league game involving St. Pat's and Monaghan Utd. Monaghan manager Billy Bagster ran onto the pitch after fifteen minutes to have a go at Kelly. "Now Billy, into the stand please" said Pat and like a razor came the retort from Billy- "Any particular seat Pat?"

In 1979, he was dropped from the League of Ireland panel, a legacy of being headbutted by Peter Hutton Snr (who was suspended for five years) and the loss of confidence that ensued. I suffered two broken noses before that, thats the problem with being small.

The Cork official bounced back in local, national and international football and by 1990 refereed his first friendly international,when Switzerland entertained the then world champions, Argentina, complete with Diego Maradonna. The highlight of his career must surely have been his appointment to handle the 1993 UEFA U16 Final in Turkey between Italy and Portugal. He became the first Irish official to handle a UEFA Final. His performance here and in the subsequent Cup Winners Cup tie involving Hadjuk Split and Ajax Amsterdam on September 29th earmarked Pat for a possible place on the referees panel to be selected for the World Cup Finals in America in 1994.

His performance in Ajax's six-nil win over Split was assessed by the well known English assessor Bert Millichip, who assessed his performance as an outstanding performance and in my view a model of how a game should be controlled. Even the players appreciated and benefitted from it. He received the optimum mark, which duly placed him among the top sixteen referees in Europe, an outstanding feat for an official from such a small footballing nation.

Pat bowed out of refereeing in 1996 by handling his second senior F.A.I. Cup Final between Shelbourne and St. Pat's, and was assisted by long time colleague and fellow Corkonian, Willie Long, John Feighrey and Wilfred Wallace as fourth official. The match needed all his experience as he had the unveniable task of sending off Shels goalkeeper Alan Gough in the 19th minute for handling outside his area. This was the hardest decision I ever had to make in my career. I was aware of the importance of the occassion and it is in my nature to try and let common sense prevail. But the rules are laid down by FIFA and I am bound to apply them.

Pat has represented the Cork Branch at Council, and has made a major contribution to the development of the Irish Soccer Referees Society. Former president Willie Bradley, regarded him as being the outstanding delegate of his time in office. He frequently speaks of the time when Pat returned from a European tie, travelled staight to Donegal for a Council meeting, and due to a hic-up in transport arrangements, had to hitch a lift to Dublin for a League of Ireland appointment.

He has also travelled to other branches to speak at meetings and beginners courses. He was honoured by his own branch at a function at Moore's Hotel on Friday, May 24th 1996. In 1997, he became the Senior F.A.I. Referee Assessor for Munster and in turn he was made a UEFA Assessor in 1998. Pat has been the official UEFA match delegate/observer at a number of prestigious ties including to name just a few; Real Madrid v. Inter Milan (Champions League) 1998, Lens v. Spartak Moscow (UEFA Cup) 1999, Sporting Lisbon v. Stavanger (UEFA Cup) 1999, Lens v. Celta Vigo (UEFA Cup Q/Final) 2000, Azerbaijan v. Portugal (Euro 2000 Qualifier), Manchester United v. Olympiakos (Champions League) 2001, Legia Warsaw v. Valencia CF (UEFA Cup) 2001.

Pats eldest son Alan has followed in his father's footsteps and has maintained the tradition of three generations of Kellys taking up refereeing. Alan has progressed from the Cork Schoolboys League in 1996 to the Munster Senior League to the National League and now, to the FIFA panel as a FIFA Referee and up to Grade 2 which is just outside the Elite Referee.. Alan's brother Graham has also taken up the whistle and is currently operating Nationally on the Eircom League, having sucessfully refereed an Intermediate Cup Final 2 years ago.

On the 8th of January 2002, Pat took up the new appointment of National Development Officer for Elite Referees. He takes up this position as part of the F.A.I.'s development programme.

Pat's main tasks will be to implement an agreed programme of action to achieve interim and final recruitment as well as retention levels for referees in the domestic game.

He will also organise and run courses for beginner referees throughout the country. And one of Pat's main aims will be to develop a strong working relationship with the F.A.I. Referees School of Excellence.

I am highly honoured to be appointed to this new role. Hopefully, more referees can be attracted into the game at all levels with the requisite standard."

The future looks promising for the development of refereeing throughout the country with a personality of the determination, good nature, and love of soccer and refereeing as Pat Kelly posseses in abundance.

Finbarr Buckley