- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The outstanding feature of the Brumbies’ loss on Friday night was the disrespectful way in which both teams, but especially the Brumbies, treated the decisions of the match officials.
During the course of the match, Brumbies captain Stephen Moore continually argued with the referee regarding his decisions.
He even went so far as to suggest that the first penalty against the Highlanders just inside Brumby territory should have been accompanied by a yellow card – a preposterous suggestion by anyone with a passing knowledge of the laws of the game.
Scott Fardy was seen pointing to a supposed infringement and remonstrating with a touch judge for a good 15 seconds. He complained that a penalty should have been awarded to the Brumbies for a collapsed scrum.
Within a metre of the touchline the Highlanders’ halfback, with arms outstretched and jumping from foot to foot, told the assistant referee, in no uncertain terms, that a penalty should be awarded to the Highlanders for a ruck infringement.
After the match David Pocock was seen to be remonstrating with the referee as the ref was leaving the field.
Finally, Stephen Larkham produced the worst “let’s blame the ref for our loss” after match speech I’ve heard for some time.
His view seems to be that a dominant scrum should be awarded a penalty despite the fact the opposition scrum has not infringed. Further, and even more alarmingly, he thinks the television match official should be awarding tries when there was no vision showing that the ball was actually grounded.
Officials awarding tries on suspicion is appropriate refereeing conduct in Larkham’s Laws of Rugby.
There are a number of things to be said about this. The first is that a referee must rule on what he sees and according to the laws of the game. Any views which a player or coach has as to those things are completely and utterly irrelevant during the game. There are procedures in place for coaches to report to a union on referee performance after the Match. Then their views are more than relevant.
Secondly, by convention, not by law, a captain is entitled to ask a referee to explain a decision to him.
He is not entitled to be argumentative, dismissive, contradictory and disrespectful in the manner in which he talks to the ref nor to cross-examine him. Unfortunately, Stephen Moore did all of those things throughout the match.
Thirdly, the law requires that all players must respect the authority of the match officials and not dispute their decisions. Every one of the players I have mentioned infringed that law.
None of that applies to Stephen Larkham, of course. He was not playing.
But what is abundantly clear is that the argumentative and disrespectful manner in which the players have been treating the referee comes from him, as the coach. A coach is given the responsibility to prepare players in a manner which ensures compliance.
If he can’t discipline himself not to be argumentative with the referees he has no chance of teaching his players to discipline themselves.
I do not lie all the blame at the feet of the coach and players.
The referee, Angus Gardney, put up with this appalling conduct. He had powers under the law to stop it.
Not once did he penalise Stephen Moore for his rudeness. Not once did he march a player ten metres for backchat.
Not once did he support his touch judges by penalising Fardy and the New Zealand halfback for arguing with the assistant referees. Having said that, not once did the touch judges assist the referee by reporting those acts of foul play.
If he had taken those steps in the first ten minutes of the game I’ll wager he would have had no troubles for the rest of the game and, what’s better, he would not have that trouble again the next time he refereed those two teams, and the wider competition goes on notice.
What I find more disturbing about this than anything else is that the criticisms I have just made of these referee and touch judges are criticisms I have consistently made of all match officials for the last few years.
They are clearly being coached to put up with this type of behaviour from players. It should not be tolerated and there are means, under the laws, by which it can be stopped.
Rugby is built on the ethos of respect, fair play and sporting spirit. Other sports see referees and umpires spoken to with disdain. English football, after years of encroaching by players, has decreed that players will receive red cards if they swear at a referee. That this is needed says one thing, but it shows where things can go if they are not acted upon properly.
I direct this plea to all referee coaches and assessors around the country. Please do not continue to allow your referees and assistant referees to be treated in the manner the match officials were last night. It will ruin rugby.
If the players themselves do not show respect towards the match officials require your match officials to apply the appropriate sanction and show respect to the Game.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.