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Why are we so quick to blame the referees?

Craig Joubert was not to blame, it was a lack of the basics. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Roar Rookie
26th February, 2014
40

It seems that barely a weekend goes by without one player committing a fundamental error of skill or judgement in a game, which negatively influences the way the game of rugby is played and decided.

All too often, a player will drop the ball, pass it in the wrong direction or make an error that is so basic and obvious that it defies belief as to why the player thought he could get away with it in the first place.

And I tell you now that us referees are absolutely sick of it. Especially from the so-called professional sports players who are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per annum to have the honour of competing in the greatest sport on earth.

There is nothing worse for a referee than having to blow the whistle to stop the game, especially if it is a cold day, just to tell off some overgrown lump who, quite frankly, should have known better.

It is even worse when you are condescended and abused for actually knowing, interpreting and applying the law.

For instance, see Nigel Owens on YouTube.

For the better ways to deal with players, and in turn demonstrating why he is the world’s best referee.

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But how to fix it?

Well, it’s simple for the professionals.

We scout the country for players who appear to have the capability for higher honours, we train them with the highest quality coaching staff available, put them into specially tailored programs and pathways and eventually let them audition for a coveted Super Rugby contract when the time is right.

Oh, wait…we already do that. We are improving the operation system with a long overdue ‘third tier’ later in 2014.

Astoundingly, these mistakes still occur, even though we have the best possible players, with the best possible training, with the best available resources.

Maybe it is time that we used modern technology, for example, in the clothing so players get more aerodynamic when running, or placing gripping fibres into the ‘cloth’, or with better rugby balls that can be kicked further and caught easier…

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Wait…we do that too!

Well, we have given these players opportunity, financial incentive, motivation and workplace-based training.

Yet the closest thing to I have seen to no dropped ball in a Test was in last year’s Wales v Australia Test match with almost 45 minutes elapsing until the first scrum, and that was due to the excellent advantage played by the referee, Wayne Barnes.

Maybe it’s time to look more in depth at a team’s performance, make the players truly accountable (instead of the referee or the coaching staff) as at the end of the day, it’s the players who have taken the field to do the job they are paid for.

Perhaps it is time to stop blaming the referee for ‘losing the game’ when he makes one bad call.

I’m not denying that the referee is human and will make mistakes, but as a referee myself, I’d be abso-bloody-lutely cheering if I only made one error in an 80 minute match!

There is a human element that is still, thankfully, in sport. As said in cricket circles, your luck will always balance out in the end.

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Unfortunately, for rugby union in particular, a lot of the refereeing (and coaching etc) happens on a voluntary basis.

Some codes have found ways to pay referees, or at east subsidise some of the costs to entice referees to their sports.

This I completely agree with and it cannot come fast enough.

I was a rugby referee in the ACT. In the 2013 season, I was involved in over 40 games as a referee, assistant referee and Super Rugby match official.

For this, I was paid $0 (some travel costs were reimbursed for games outside of the ACT, and I’ll admit that the experience of working at the Super Rugby games was well and truly worth it).

But that still leaves over 30 games that I have done out of the love of the game.

Even the best referees have off days, or make one or two errors, but I believe that it is part and parcel of the nature of rugby.

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Much like life in general, you take the good with the bad.

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