In the literal sense – yes they are – and nobody will dispute that you may not lay a hand on or throw a glass of coke at the face of a referee! But may we criticize weak decision making and will they be punished for biased and poor decision making?
I have a few friends who are referees and are appreciative of the roles they play in our great game of rugby. Referees are an integral part of the game – they have always been and will always be…. But why is it that no rugby programme on television will be complete without criticism to decisions made by referees?
We will never be able to remove the human element of decision making from rugby – and humans do make mistakes. But why is it that some referees tend to make so many blatantly wrong decisions and why do we feel so aggrieved? Is it that we are poor losers? Someone once said that a good loser is a regular loser… and why do even those on the winning side so often complain about the refereeing?
In the professional area the referees are also “professional” and the top referees are paid good money for this occupation. There is much to play for and millions of rands are at stake. The rugby supporters are aware that there will be 50/50 decisions in the game – but we cannot and will not accept bad work / refereeing from these professionals!
Do we have the opportunity to challenge referees? I have come to believe that referees have created a strong “brotherhood” where no referee is willing to stick his neck out and strongly criticize the performance of another. The management of the Springbok Rugby side has learnt the hard way that it does not help to criticize the referee and challenge a referee after a match…
I would love to see a panel after a match where journalists may sit with a referee [with video footage of the game] and ask him specific questions which he then has to answer. Not only the referee but also the assistant referees would then be required to account for their decisions.
After the last test between the Springboks and Australia I would love to question the television referee on the following aspects:
-“Sir , you say that the ball was held up over the goal line – can you please show us where you see the ball being held up and by whom? Why don’t you say that it was lost forward when we can clearly see the ball falling to the ground?”
– “Why did you say that the ball was lost forward and not that the corner flag was touched first before the ball touches the ground?”
I would also like to ask the referee specific questions pertaining to the scums:
– “Why did you give the Australia prop 3 warnings and allow the scrum to be reset – but immediately give a penalty against the Springbok prop [Beast]?”
– “Why do you tell the Springbok captain to walk back without making an effort to answer his question about the penalty?”
A friend of mine, Phillip Burger was banned for 30 days from playing rugby after voicing his displeasure to a referee on his poor decision making. Why can’t we also create a public platform to analyze the performance of a referee – and have these referees banned for a few weeks every time that they make several crucial mistakes?
Are they untouchable- and should they remain untouchable?
[The photo attached is that of one of our best referees –Alan Rolland. I must compliment him on saying to a captain in a recent match, having awarded a penalty and asked about a similar infringement: “I have not seen that, and if I missed that –I do apologize!”]
[Photo taken by Gerhard Steenkamp from Superimage Media]
We would like to invite all our supporters to view the safety guide before they travel to the game:
• Spectator Survival Guide for Safety of the Road to the Sports Stadium