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Referee David Gough discusses life as a gay man in the GAA
David Gough (born 1983) is a Gaelic football referee from County Meath. He comes from the Slane club and is a primary school teacher in Templeogue. His four umpires are father Eugene, brother Stephen, uncle Terry and cousin Dean, who have assisted him with every game since he started.
Gough has played football in his county since the age of 7. He has a Hogan Cup medal with St Pat's of Navan from 2001, a county U21 C title with his club, a Trench Cup medal and a Division 2 League title with St Patrick's College in Drumcondra. Gough was introduced to refereeing by Tom Fitzpatrick, the games promotion officer at Drumcondra. After leaving college Gough began a refereeing course in Meath. He began refereeing in late 2007.
Gough and Fitzpatrick volunteer with outdoor advertising company CBS, who project images onto the big screens at Croke Park, tasked with preventing any contentious incidents being shown at the stadium. He was on hand at the 2010 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final to block RTÉ showing the scenes from that match's notorious ending.
Gough's first competitive inter-county fixture was a 2011 O'Byrne Cup match between Offaly and UCD on a wet Wednesday night in Rhode. He received a high 95 per cent from referee assessor, Joe Moynagh in Louth.
He plays tennis and is a member of Ashbrook tennis club in Dublin. As well as hoping to referee an All-Ireland final, Gough wants to referee and International Rules Series.
Gough refereed the 2016 All-Ireland Senior semi final between Dublin and Kerry, the 2013 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship final between Galway and Cork, the 2014 National Football League Division 2 final between Donegal and Monaghan, the final of the 2015 O'Byrne Cup between Dublin and Kildare and the 2015 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Final. At local level, Gough refereed the 2010 Meath IFC final between Nobber and Carnaross and the 2011 SFC final replay between Summerhill and Dunshaughlin. He also refereed the 2011 Leinster intermediate club final and the 2012 Leinster Senior club final between Ballymun Kickhams and Portlaoise.
He is the sport's first openly gay top-level match official. In 2015, the sport's governing body refused to allow him wear a rainbow wristband during a league match between Dublin and Tyrone at Croke Park, prompting media coverage, discussion, criticism and disappointment.