Paddy Russell is a
Gaelic football
Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...
referee from
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
. He refereed two
All-Ireland SFC finals.
Career
Russell began refereeing in 1976, motivated by fellow Tipperary native
John Moloney. He made his inter-county debut in 1981.
The
1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
The 1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was a Gaelic football match played at Croke Park on 16 September 1990 to determine the winners of the 1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the 104th season of the All-Ireland Seni ...
was when he sent off
Colm O'Neill, though O'Neill's team Cork won
The Double.
Russell also refereed the
1995 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
The 1995 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 108th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1995 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.
It was ...
between
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
and
Tyrone. He had a
moustache. He memorably sent off
Charlie Redmond
Charles Redmond is a Dublin-born former Gaelic footballer who played at senior level for the Dublin county team and current manager of Trinity Gaels seniors.
His notoriety within the game was secured during the 1995 All-Ireland Senior Footba ...
. But Redmond refused to leave the field. Russell got him by the collar and dragged him off. The GAA had to bring in
red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
and
yellow cards because of this.
Russell was also a linesman for the
1996 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
The 1996 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 109th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1996 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. It we ...
.
A
2006 National League game, also between Dublin and Tyrone and overseen by Russell, was dubbed the "
Battle of Omagh". Russell sent off four players and gave away 14 yellow cards. Russell was lead away at the end. Russell was frightened and might have quit refereeing because of the antics.
In a 2008
Munster SFC semi-final, Russell was at the centre of the action yet again because Kerry player
Paul Galvin knocked the notebook out of Russell's hand when the man was trying to send Galvin off. Galvin later wrote in his book: "Paddy Russell struck me as a decent man. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. It was an impulsive thing to do. At least Paddy handled himself with some dignity afterwards. He issued a report which was fair and then kept his counsel".
As well as the two All-Ireland SFC finals, Russell oversaw a National League final and club finals.
He bowed out of the inter-county scene after 26 years of refereeing in 2008. By that time, he was the longest serving referee on the inter-county circuit.
He said he wanted to go and see his son (he is the father of two sons) playing for Tipperary instead of missing him play while he was off refereeing.
The career of Russell is covered in the book ''Final Whistle: The Paddy Russell Story'', co-written with Jackie Cahill and published in 2008.
Further reading
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Paddy
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final referees
Gaelic football referees