NATIONAL REFEREES Association chairman Mick Curley has condemned the assault on former intercounty official Willie Barrett during a Tipperary club game last Saturday night.

Barrett was struck twice with a hurley by a Carrick Davin “supporter” and abandoned the South SHC match against Ballingarry 10 minutes in to the second half at Kilsheelan last Saturday evening.

South Board chairman Dick Egan has confirmed the receipt of Barrett’s match report and the divisional board met last night to discuss the incident which was the talk of the airwaves on Tipperary local radio yesterday.

Curley said: “It’s not something we hear about too often and it’s not something we want to start hearing about. I wish Willie a speedy recovery and hope that he’s back refereeing shortly.

“What happened is just crazy and this kind of thing wasn’t prevalent at all up to the last year or so.

“Since then, there have been a number of incidents in that period of time and while compared to the number of games that are played, these are isolated events but one of them is one too many. If this continues, many people will become discouraged from doing the job of refereeing.

“You just don’t do that kind of thing and if it continues, we’ll have to take a serious look at the overall situation.”

Gardaí are also investigating the assault on the highly-respected Barrett, who reported soreness yesterday almost two days after the attack.