Jake White: Ref bashing must stop! (Sport24)

 Published in Sport24

2013-09-19 13:00  

Cape Town - Former Springbok coach Jake White has expressed concern with the amount of pressure referees are under and the torrent of abuse they receive for bad decisions.

This follows the wave of criticism directed at France's Romain Poite after his incorrect decision to award Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis his first yellow card during the Boks’ clash against the All Blacks in Auckland last Saturday, including a Facebook petition calling for the referee's axing which has garnered 63 000 likes to date.

Speaking to BallzRadio’s website, White, currently in South Africa on a break from his duties as Brumbies coach, said that if people continued to direct abuse and vitriol towards referees, the game could suffer as a result.

“We have to be so careful. There are not many (top quality) referees in the game and if we are going to chase every ref from the game for a bad decision, we’re not going to have a game.”

“Anyone who has reffed knows that in the early stages of a game it is important to assert control over the players.“

“After the fracas (following Du Plessis’ tackle on Dan Carter) the referee was probably worried the match would turn into a free-for-all, and (not having seen the arm in the tackle) he probably gave the yellow to Bismarck to calm things down, believing that it wouldn’t influence the result of the game.“

“Then, his worst nightmare happened... when Bismarck lifted his elbow against Liam Messam in the second half, the ref was forced to give him a second yellow,” White said.

White said that hindsight was a perfect science, and that referees were under a great deal of pressure to make split-second decisions on the spot.

White sympathised with fans who felt let down by the end of the contest, but suggested that the IRB could in future prevent a match situation of 14 players facing 15 players by allowing a binned player to be substituted.

Following the Springboks’ loss to the All Blacks the stakes could not be higher, but Springbok fans can still look forward to their do-or-die clash at Ellis Park.

White said the Springboks still had the perfect opportunity to win the Rugby Championship at Ellis Park to erase all doubt as to how the result at Eden Park could have turned out. 

 White supports the idea of ensuring 15 players are on the field. Specifically he says:

"(He) sympathised with fans who felt let down by the end of the contest, but suggested that the IRB could in future prevent a match situation of 14 players facing 15 players by allowing a binned player to be substituted."

But he does not say how we avoid some of the problems we were discussing, e.g. an below average player acting as an enforcer to injure a key player and then being substituted by the teams quality player.

 While I agree with Jake, the context is a little more damning. Firstly Poite awarded the most cards in any Six Nations test last winter. Secondly, the best way to settle the tackle was to have the TMO look at it with all the tools at his disposal. And while the TMO wasn't asked to look at the tackle, often when a poor decision is about to be made, I have heard TMOs ask the ref if they wanted another look by the TMO.

 

Its a fine balance between being too critical and condoning poor whistle. But I doubt too many refs would have felt too much sympathy for Poite or that they were l concerned they would make similar blunders.

 I have the highest regard for White ,who should have been offered the wallies coaching job  I reckon ..He is on the money about the vitriol tossed at refs ,and it will extend all the way down to junior levels [ have you seen the hate directed at some poor amatuer refs in junior grade games ? disgusting ! }  

I reckon that Poite was told to look out for any signs of the game going all pear shaped and devovling into a bar fight and clamping down on it asap .

I know referees are monitored by the IRB and other authorities. They are bound to be found out if they make mistakes. They have the TV monitor n their side to back them up. Why not use all possible aids to make sure they do not land themselves in trouble? They actually should do that and they should - * before dishing out cards ask for a review of the play that could result in same; and * make sure that they ask the correct question to make sure they get a proper response. Incidents are in fact not as numerous as they would appear to be. Especially in dubious cases such requests should be obligatory to protect themselves more than anything else..