GARDAÍ ARE INVESTIGATING an alleged attack on a referee at a sports event in Clare during a match between two teenage teams. 

The incident happened on Monday night at 8.40pm during an under 15s boys sports event.

Video circulating of the incident online showed an injured referee being helped to his feet out of the centre of a melee of players and members of the public. 

It is understood a teenager was also injured in an incident at the same event. 

A garda spokesperson said they are investigating the incident. 

“Gardaí received a report of incidents of assault that occurred in Kilrush, Co. Clare on Monday at approximately 8:40 pm.

“A male in his 50s sustained injuries. A male youth sustained injuries. Investigations are ongoing,” the spokesman said. 

The chairman of Clare GAA expressed “profound shock and disappointment” at the incident today.

“It was with profound shock and disappointment that we learned of the altercation that occurred at the conclusion of the above underage fixture last evening,” Clare chairman Kieran Keating said in a statement released to The 42.

“We have a great cohort of referees in both codes in our county and over the past number of years we have driven the message of ‘Respect for the Referee’, with the aim of retaining and recruiting the increasing number of referees we need for our growing schedule of games,” Keating said.

Keating said the reports of this incident represented “a bitter step backwards”.

He added: “We have had many years without any such incident and it is very disheartening to all of us who love our games that this would happen at an underage game, or any game, in Clare in 2026.”

With reporting from Ronan Early