Archive Whistleblower

REFEREES INFLUENCED? SURELY NOT

David Matthews defends those who carry the whistle or flag, but offers the view that they are all human, some more than others!


“There were lots of things going on out there……and when you’re the away side…. you don’t get much in your favour.” So a grim faced Conor O’Shea summed up his Harlequins team’s defeat at Northampton. It was one of those televised interviews when you could forecast what was coming next, well before he delivered the final verdict on why Quins lost; it was also one of those encounters in which there was any number of marginal calls, many of which did indeed seem to go Northampton’s way.


Is the away team up against it even before the first whistle is blown? There are very few club coaches (of losing teams) capable of rational thinking within an hour of a game finishing, so any kind of analysis of the veracity of O’Shea’s supposition has to be set against this background. But crowds do exert pressure on referees and the intimidating surrounds of Northampton, Leicester and Gloucester would be three ideal venues to start the debate. No referee in his right mind would ever concede at the time that his decision making was affected, but I wonder how many, on review weeks later, might question whether they got it right. And, if they didn’t, ponder whether or not the opportune word of advice from an established international player combined with the already electric atmosphere had a part to play.


I think that we are largely talking about the higher echelons of the game when examining the vexed subject of whether referees are vulnerable to ‘outside influences’ but there must be numerous clubs out there who might offer evidence to prove otherwise. You would have to say that the size of the crowd is a crucial factor, though a vociferous, smaller number on one of those intimate, little grounds (eg Lydney!) might be equally effective.


Interestingly, there is history to this topic and it can be found in the development of touch judges, or assistant referees as they are known when RFU appointed. At National League level the club touch judge has been replaced by these ‘official’ gentlemen but his legacy remains and is no doubt being honoured up and down the country every week. It is best described in a tale from the legendary Welsh referee Clive Norling: he reckoned that whenever he was refereeing at somewhere like Neath, in their heyday, playing say, Swansea, he would wait until the visiting touch judge raised his flag for touch in front of a frenzied main stand before ostentatiously moving him back several yards. To the accompaniment of “About time ref, the cheating b……” that was one job out of the way. In other words club touch judges – and every top club was obliged to provide one – could not be trusted. One once openly confessed “I’ve got to travel back on a coach for three hours with this lot, do you think I’m going to rule against them?”


If you venture below the rarified setting of first team rugby on a first team pitch, enclosed by a fence, a la “Art of Coarse Rugby,” there is plenty of ammunition for all those who firmly believe that referees who bow to pressure are alive, well and out there tormenting some poor souls every Saturday. At Newton-le-Willows one achieved cult status to become known as “The Equaliser.” There must be hundreds like him, with no dreams of a visit to Franklin’s Gardens, Welford Road or Kingsholm.