RUMOURS OF A REFEREEING “CRISIS” ARE  WAY OFF THE MARK

Doubts cast on our not so popular Rugby Press.

Four Premiership club coaches let fly at the referees who have recently disappointed them and out come the headlines “Let us help get the refs up to speed, say top clubs.” It would be easy to excuse these ‘expert’ reporters by conceding that there is not a lot to write about three weeks into the second half of the season but there’s more to it.

To put the supreme knowledge of some of our Rugby Union Correspondents into context and at the same time get an issue off my chest which has proved very irritating, consider this. Think back to the England  v South Africa match in November and the only try scored; you will remember it because it decided the game (ignore the Robshaw ‘kick for goal or not ‘ distraction) and came in freakish circumstances. So extraordinary in fact that only a replay could have confirmed the initial doubt, but at International level the IRB still restrict the referee’s communication with the TMO to reviewing just the actual touchdown.

Nigel Owens did in fact receive confirmation that there was no problem with the grounding but it was the only element that was acceptable. Without a diagram it is difficult to describe; suffice to say that after a ricochet following an England fly kick the South African scorer was yards offside.  I refrained from going public about this until I learned from the highest official source that the RFU were incensed, and that had a similar ‘score’ decided the contest in England’s favour all hell might have been let loose. As for the Press, not a mention, except to get off the hook with all the usual descriptions, “bizarre” etc.

So, perhaps we ought not to be too shocked to discover from them that a refereeing “crisis” is looming. Even more intriguing is the prospect of the Premiership clubs helping to put everything right. Those same coaches who cannot for the life of them be objective about the performance of a referee, notoriously so after defeat, will have the solutions! To be fair there are a few directors of rugby who can offer an equitable assessment, but you won’t find many of them in the Premiership. Nor can we expect many of them to talk sense in the hour after full time is called.

Several years ago, but not long into the professional era, a former international referee declared that once a game was over it was a case of get changed, bid farewell and swiftly clear off. Not unlike most of the top teams in fact, whose adherence to Rugby Union’s traditional culture is far removed from what goes on at lower levels. I suspect that there has been no improvement and that the professional role has become exactly what most of us expected. Mercifully, there is hope and although you might have to go down the leagues to discover why, you will find coaches with whom referees can intelligently converse and teams who stay on afterwards, even if it isn’t for anywhere near as long as it used to be. The chances of the national press bringing us this cheerful news are very slim.  

David Matthews