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The Roar

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The good, the bad and the ugly at junior rugby league

Andrew Fifita has never shied away from confrontation. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Grant Trouville)
Roar Rookie
29th July, 2015
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In my time as a rugby league referee in the Penrith Junior Rugby League it was common for top-level players to head out to a local ground and support the game.

I vividly remember being at Ched Towns Reserve, Glenmore Park, in the early 2000s when then local Preston Campbell turned up to the ground with his skateboard.

Presto was more than happy to spend time talking to the kids, the future of our game. He acted professionally even though he wasn’t representing his Penrith Panthers club.

Last weekend saw the other end of the spectrum. Three National Rugby League players were involved in a match, where it has been alleged a referee was abused; their professional conduct being put into question.

Matt Lodge, Andrew and David Fifita have all been dealt suspensions by Penrith Junior League. We also found out the Fifita brothers were suspended a few years back by the same junior league – this incident being David’s third suspension.

Were Lodge and the Fifita brothers not aware of the work Penrith Panthers General Manager Phil Gould was doing to ensure better safety at junior league games? Were they aware as of mid-July that if you abused a referee in the Penrith District Junior Rugby League that teams would lose six points or face removal from the finals series? These were measures taken after police were called out to two incidents on the same weekend.

The debate about the actions of the Fifita brothers has raged on social media early this week, Sharks fans being the most vocal with the catch-cry that there is no evidence to suggest any wrongdoing.

The reality is that junior league matches, whether they are in the Penrith or Cronulla Sutherland Shire, aren’t professionally videotaped and often rely on written evidence when incidents are presented to a committee. Unlike the NRL hierarchy they don’t ‘ah’ or ‘um’ over decisions. They are decisive, no matter the type of person brought forward to the judicial hearing.

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For referee Tim Hannon it took a lot of guts to proceed with reporting this incident. Over the years I have been, and seen others, subjected to verbal and physical abuse and kept silent about the issue. Rest assured referee Hannon will be getting the support he needs from his ref colleagues as he deals with this traumatic experience.

To hear that a couple of referees are considering quitting after this incident is sad. We as a rugby league community should be doing more to protect referees to ensure good referees like Tim Hannon stay in the system.

Now the pressure is on David Smith and Todd Greenberg to show some leadership on this issue and take the appropriate action.

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