At most levels of rugby, nobody goes out onto the paddock to be a thug. The sorts of offences that warrant a red card are more often to do with a brain snap or bad timing. Rarely, if ever, is it willful and the offending player is immediately contrite and apologetic.
So what is the red card for? Whatever it is, its real, practical effect is to punish the whole team. Now that’s okay if the team deserves it, say in the case of repeated warnings. But it is grossly unfair in the majority of cases that a team deserves to win or lose by a large margin just because of inequality of numbers.
Naturally, if it is near finals time you take your wins and your points wherever you can get them. But did the Waratahs really deserve to absolutely flog the Sunwolves by that margin? Yes, they played well and used the circumstances and the laws to their advantage, but rugby is a game that depends on fine balances, one of the most important being that 15 men should play 15, except in the most exceptional of circumstances.
Soccer recognises it, as do other sports. Imagine sending off a player in doubles tennis. The game would be over. Ridiculous proposition? Maybe but so is 15 on 14, in my view.
Right now we apply two mantras – get rid of dangerous play and ‘zero tolerance’. Happy with that.
I would like to posit a third – ’15 on 15, wherever possible.’
The laws of the game are centred around the referee being the sole judge of law and fact. That has obviously now been ameliorated by the introduction of the assistant referees and more recently the TMO.
While we have to have zero tolerance for blatant foul or dangerous play (and nobody argues with that) we have to take a sensible approach so that the the game is not ruined as an enjoyable experience for players or as a spectacle for its followers.
There’s no fun in having the TMO pull the game up after the ref has let play go on.
All of us can propose solutions, but my view is that the law makers must sit down and do some lateral thinking, but eliminating an uneven contest has to be the centre of their thinking.
There are many situations where a player is not injured and knows he can play on. If the referee blows it up and awards a penalty, no harm done and the offending player can still be cited after the event. That would cause most players to think twice for the rest of the game. If the incident causes an injury naturally it should be reviewed straight away.
If the player knows that his captain has some rights it can be earmarked for later review.
(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)
Some possible solutions
A. Introduce another colour, say blue, which amounts to a player warning. Three consecutive blue cards equals an automatic suspension the next week, following the third card, even if those cards are earned over a number of matches. That is logical because it means that you are a serial offender.
B. Red card – player sent off, then after five or ten minutes, a replacement is allowed on (if it was up to me I would allow a replacement on straight away).
C. Yellow – five minutes in the bin. No automatic citing, but TMO can still cite for any offence. Any incident occasioning an injury to be reviewed.
D. Each captain to have the automatic right to ask for a referral to the TMO twice per game.
E. If video is available, both sides are allowed to ask for a post-match review of any incident and be entitled to request a citing.
F. Opposing team to have a right of appeal to the judiciary if it considers a penalty too light.
The object of the exercise would be to penalise a team by losing a player for at least one, if not more matches, but always keeping 15 men on the field. Let the judiciary decide who can or can’t play and let the referees officiate the game with a level playing field in terms of numbers.
We always want our team to win, but not by unfair means. It’s more satisfying to win fair and square than by beating a team that is at a disadvantage.
Imagine being a spectator at a World Cup match where you have paid big bucks to go half way around the world only to see your team eliminated because of lack of numbers when it might otherwise have been close.
Historical note
Let us remember that in the earliest days of rugby, there was no referee. The captains sorted out disputes and if they couldn’t they “referred” the question to someone on the sideline, such as the local vicar or magistrate. Hence the reason that the rugby codes have referees while most other sports have umpires.
Stanthefootballfan
Roar Rookie
I couldn't agree more. Give a red-card to send offending players off and then send on a replacement after a ten-minute penalty-period. If anything a ref would probably be more likely to give a red-cards which would actually make the game safer by forcing players to toe the line more carefully. Stricter after game action would also help to deter foul play.
gatesy
Roar Guru
Yes, but we do expect games to go for 80 minutes!
Melburnian
Roar Pro
All this stuff about a RC ruining the spectacle is getting tiresome. Consider how much some people are willing to pay to watch a boxing prize fight ... what happens if there is a first round KO? No-one gets a refund do they? I admit that recent flurry of RCs has ruined the spectacle of those matches, in some cases where they are closely contested up to that point, but blame the players' poor technique or change the game management guidelines. But lets not lose sight that people can have life changing injuries in this sport and the contact / contest needs to be controlled, players need to be discouraged from reckless challenges that can leave an opponent in a wheelchair.
Jacko
Guest
yeah an Aussie brings it up tho......As they do all the time then say us kiwi's hold grudges...weird
Geoff
Roar Rookie
Yeah i would, whats he going to do belt me? then unlike a rugby field he will be up before the courts and face a civil damages action from me, because lets face it i will be damaged!
gatesy
Roar Guru
Hang in there, D - not only will the Force come back but the Wallabies will win the Bledisloe!
gatesy
Roar Guru
It was Paul Carozza,Qld winger, and what the ..F was he doing, not only being run down but also eye-gouged by a slow prop, out on his wing? Queenslanders, mate! Soft as .... I was actually at that game and sitting in the (then) brand new Ballymore grandstand, just above where the incident occurred. No question that Loe was a thug. Yet another good Rugby day out.
StuM
Guest
"Scum"?! I'm all for free speech, but would you honestly say that to his face?
piru
Roar Rookie
Deal I only ever bring up 'the worst thing to ever happen on a cricket pitch' (Richie Benaud's words) to rile you lot up anyway.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Well to be fair Piru, a certain bowling action is better remembered on the eastern islands than Sir Colin’s spontaneous yoga lesson, or Richard’s sensitive facial massage. I will let ours go, if you let yours go?.
Dubaikiwi
Guest
143 yellows last year, no wonder i switched to AFL with the demise of the Force, how many ellows in AFL, none, and it works.
Tauranga boy
Guest
I dislike the giving of yellow cards for knocking on to prevent a try. Why was this brought in? Half the time it's a desperate attempt at an intercept. If the attacking team can't get the ball out, tough luck, - take the scrum.
Harry Jones
Expert
Thanks for the article. Was wondering about the rise of carding... Super Rugby (yellow cards): 14-team era: 2006: 36 2007: 60 2008: 75 2009: 63 2010: 53 15-team era: 2011: 64 2012: 61 2013: 67 18-team era: 2016: 94 2017: 143 This year so far: 2018: 87 yellows The RED Card rise: 2014: 2 2015: 10 2016: 6 2017: 14 2018: 5 so far
Geoff
Roar Rookie
So modern day head hunter Kepu in the 2015 world cup final, imagine the instructions he might have received if you don't lose a player for thuggery, as it was 3 head highs and only 1 penalty, what scum he is.
gatesy
Roar Guru
You could still give a red in that situation. If nothing else it can alter the dynamic of the game, and to be honest, and referees being human, if they think that there is cynical play by one team, who will they watch more closely and how will they referee it from there?
gatesy
Roar Guru
Thanks, Ralph - what I love about the Roar is that we can all have ideas, and most do - but what we should be doing is trying to have influence. We have a great collective voice, so we should align that with great collective indignity it the powers that be don't try hard enough to get it right.
gatesy
Roar Guru
Don't agree with everything you said, but I do agree that you have come up with ideas. As I said in the article, it has to be up to the World body to get around the table and work it out.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Well, to be fair Richard never let anything go haha.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
If there was any change I think this might work, that is a 20min red card. I would flesh it out like this too... 20min Red card in the last quarter is effectively early shower time. 20mins should be enough for a team to exploit the numbers advantage enough to put the game out of reach. A good team might be able to absorb 20mins and still recover a win. A Black card could still be there for truely exceptional fouls. None I can think of this season that have reached that threshold. I’m thinking blatant eye gouge kinda stuff. I’m not sure if you bring on a replacement or let the offender come back. I’m of the mind to let the offender come back. Additional game bans not withstanding. A tighter control of the clock to avoid time wasting. Like constant team meetings, people sitting down ‘injured, the slow meander back to a kick off or a line out, Scrum resets etc. penalise for repeated time wasting so the game doesn’t go for 2.5hrs. Personal foul system similar to basketball. Say 5 penalties for the same player is a yellow card. Monitored by the TMO. Do away with the team YC warning for repeat infringements. If a team is doing that the individuals will clock up a decent amount of fouls in a game, imagine how clean a game it is if half the team are on 4 fouls in the last 20mins? Challenge flag for the coaches, not captains. 2 per game. Buzzed to the TMO who alerts the ref straight away but does the check himself (or herself). This would allow play to continue while it was checked. This avoids abuse of the challenge in stopping momentum, or a break away, or otherwise used purely as a disruptive devise. If something is found, refs blows the game and decides on appropriate sanction. Bring in TMO protocols as PeterK listed in another thread. Essentially more use in scoring plays and foul play but less use in general play. Need a tweak in what is foul play too while we are at it.
piru
Roar Rookie
Cannot Must bring up Loe at every opportunity Because kiwis can't let things go