Yes, this column is about the whole #refsfault thing, but I’m going to start with my new merch company actually being robbed.
On Sunday, while selling international league paraphernalia outside a pub across the road from the Challenge Cup semi-final, we heard a rather intoxicated young lady boast to her friends – and what appeared to be her father – “I reckon I can get one of those shirts”.
Despite us keeping our eyes on the situation, we finished the day one Ireland singlet down after finding a coat hanger unadorned.
“It’s not a good feeling being robbed,” my business partner, Phill Browne, said as we packed up after a long day and prepared for the four-hour drive back to London.
At this point, for some reason, I started thinking about referees. Earlier, in the same pub, I had overheard a St Helens fan say to another after the unexpected loss to Catalans “It’s not like there were a few decisions by the ref that cost us. They were actually the better team!”
The implication was that the Saints fan would have felt a lot better if he could have blamed the match officials. It would have given him a way out instead of simply crying into his beer over not going to Wembley.
And, after five minutes of pondering all this, I said to Phill: “You know what, I don’t feel that bad about being robbed.
“We sell rugby league gear outside a pub over the road from a rugby league stadium and it’s late afternoon and everyone around us is starting to stumble and slur their words.
“We have a rack with a few hundred pounds worth of gear on it that blokes are leaning against as they drink their pints.
“It would be unusual if we didn’t get the odd thing knocked off. It’s part of the business! We just learn next time. Put the rack away, for a start, when things start to get a bit unpredictable.”
That’s the thing about refereeing and changing the culture of rugby league so that the criticism stops going over the top and dominating discourse.
Unlike thieves, referees act on good faith. Their “misdeeds” – in the eyes of a supporter – aren’t intentional.
The refs don’t make mistakes on purpose. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
But in order to humanise them, we sort of need to dehumanise them. A refereeing error, or even a bad refereeing performance, is merely an environmental factor to be overcome, like a stiff breeze or a boggy pitch.
If you sell stuff to drunk people, you’re going to get the odd item stolen. If you play a rugby league match, you’re going to get a dud call.
When you become a sports fan, it’s what you sign up for. It’s the very nature of sport. The problem comes when you lose sight of the fact that you are there to be entertained, and the referees are just part of the cast entertaining you.
The problem is when your pleasant weekend distraction becomes an obsession.
Rugby league is so omnipresent in Australia that it is like the local council. People whine about refereeing inconsistency the way they complain about a burst water main.
No-one ever says “how great are councils?”. Similarly, Australians struggle to think of a time when there’s no rugby league or rugby league is not all over the TV, radio and newspapers. It’s like a co-habitant you say things to you’d never say to a stranger.
Here’s another hashtag for everyone: #lookbeyondtheresult.
On Saturday, I was alarmed to see an England women’s international, Andrea Dobson, Tweet (since deleted) after the ladies Challenge Cup final: “Great show of women’s rugby league today. the [sic] winners were chosen before the game though, best team lost.”
The great thing about women’s rugby league is it’s starting from scratch: it can be everything the men’s game isn’t.
Accusing referees of bias is one thing it doesn’t need – particularly from top players – before it even gets off the ground.
If you want to be treated like the men’s game and seek the same rewards and profile, then you have to expect the same scrutiny. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
If he wanted to, the referee on Saturday could sue Andrea for defamation. A men’s England player would be severely sanctioned for saying what she did and would no doubt have had the good sense to delete the Tweet within minutes.
Of course, the old guard will now complain that their freedom of speech is being impinged upon, as happens every time we make progress in the areas of treating people better.
When they start to complain, you know change has already begun to happen.
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