Launceston Rugby Club

The referee, scapegoat or villain?

On Sunday I went to Wellington to watch Tom Rawlings young Cornwall u20s play Somerset. Prior to the game I had been discussing the recent performances of Dave Pearson, the top flight referee, with Southwest rugby journalist Nigel Waldron. Unknown to us at the time, but someone from Somerset had forgotten to organise match officials for the game. Up stepped a spectator who was a referee, & ensured the game took place & did a valiant job.

I later thought over how it has become the norm to criticize match officials publically & in private discussion, yet the day highlighted how much we need someone to step forward & take the responsibility to referee the game we love.

Earlier in the day I had read Nigel’s comments about Pearson’s performance in charge of Wasps v Exeter in the Sunday Independent & of course had witnessed via TV, Pearson’s interpretation & decision of that horrendous tackle in the Ireland/Wales game. I had also read the excellent Neale Harvey article in the same paper, where Neale had a dig at the ‘match official knockers’ who are laying the foundations of rugby to become on par with football. He writes, “As someone who follows football quite closely, I absolutely abhor the constant criticism of round-ball refs and all the nonsense that gets spouted along with it. Does rugby really want a situation where every mildly controversial decision is pored over for days on end, with the men in the middle constantly lambasted?”

In my opinion, it is not good for the game, that referees are publically criticized. OK, media criticism does promote discussion, but it also can legitimise & encourage others to sound off at match officials. The criticism can be greater from a supporter or team official, when their team is losing. Match officials are human, & we all know that it is human to make mistakes. How many times do our professional & semi-professional players make mistakes? More times than match officials I’d guess.

Referees & their interpretation/implementation of the laws is like all the other parameters of the game (ie wind, state of pitch, fitness, strengths of own team & opposition etc etc), players have to adapt & accept each referee’s decision as fact.

So there you are, we do need the referee, he/she is human, please don’t scapegoat the ………. I for one do not want rugby to become a game full of aggressive, wingeing prima donnas, be they players or spectators.