As a rugby supporter, the first catch phrase I learnt was “rugby union is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen”.
The second was that “the referee is a valuable commodity as without them, we don’t have a game”.
Since I last played rugby until I took up the whistle in 2008, I don’t quite know how that attitude has changed.
Yes, there have been plenty of slogans, including this video from New Zealand from those who truly understand what a difficult job volunteer referees have, and the sacrifices they make to do what they do week-in and week-out. It is pleasing to have junior players give three cheers for the ref at the end of the game (it doesn’t have to be done but it is respectful nonetheless).
What has me worried is the spate of incidents in recent history, including:
- Whetu Barber punching a referee in NZ
- Daniel Mailate in Sydney punching an assistant referee
- A South African coach banned for ref assault:
Then, this weekend, a player has allegedly headbutted a referee, used the referee’s shirt to wipe the blood from his face, then king-hit an opposition player as he head from the field after being duly red carded.
At the end of the day, the referees are out there to enjoy the game from the best position available. We don’t go out there to ‘ruin’ anyone’s game, in fact, it is just the opposite. We want to see a good game of rugby. We want to see players enjoying the game we love too.
95 per cent of us probably make a loss financially when we referee. Yes we make mistakes (we are human after all!), but it often affects us as much as you if we do affect the outcome of the game. We do the best we can with the resources we have. We referee because we love our hooligan game played by gentlemen.
If you would like to referee (or if you think you can do a better job than the bloke or lass running around every weekend), by all means, sign up! It isn’t as easy as it looks!
