NO HIDING PLACE BUT SPARE US THE PUBLIC FLOGGING

One hopes  Rugby referees do not have to suffer like their football colleagues

New Zealand referee Glenn Jackson, who took charge of the Scotland v Wales game at Murrayfield did not enjoy the sort of afternoon he might have anticipated to enhance his Rugby World Cup prospects, but it was by no means the atrocious performance some of the scribes would have us believe. The former Saracens’ fly-half, who began his refereeing education with the London Society, unfortunately, had three or four big decisions to make which he got wrong, all of which totally overshadowed the more positive contributions he might have provided. For instance the dilemma at the end over the timekeeping was not his sole responsibility and the suggestion that the final whistle prevented Scotland from receiving what should have been a restart and going for the winning score, from perhaps eighty metres out, could have been Scottish optimism getting out of control.

In terms of referees being accountable, and if they do not match expectations being ‘dropped’ or whatever the referee equivalent is of a player not being selected, I am not certain what the exact procedure is. In the Aviva Premiership, appointed to on a weekly basis, selection is definitely on current form so an absolute stinker one week can easily result in a ‘mysterious disappearance’ from the list next time out. It is safe to say there will be some comeback at International level; being made to watch endless videos in a darkened room or something like that; come to think of it, wasn’t that how the role of the Television Match Official (TMO) came into being?

Under the headline Refereeing in this country is teetering towards crisis the excellent ‘Daily Telegraph’ lead writer on football, Henry Winter sets out a lot of positive ideas to improve “the impossible job” of the modern era. He goes on to say, “The man in the middle has to keep pace with fitter, faster players, and dealing with certain professionals for who scruples is a nightclub. Managers bemoan decisions and campaigns. The media highlights mistakes, social media dissects them and former officials are frequently unforgiving in their verdicts. Referees need assistance, artificial and human.” After two Football Premiership referees were stood down to fourth official duties following failure to judge two incidents of foul play correctly, I was going to say that in Rugby Union we seem to be avoiding the ‘public flogging’ reserved for the football referees, but when you look closely at the above list of hurdles they have to overcome we are getting ever closer to many of the problems which haunt them.

There is sometimes a fine line between the ability to help create an attractive game (I chose the words carefully) and the chance of ruining one. The “ruining” usually hinges on one decision, is based on the opinion of one team, and you might not even be on the field. Imagine the scene: it is the first time Saracens have staged a game at Wembley, five years ago, against Northampton and with the last play of the afternoon beckoning Saracens lead by four points. Predictably, Northampton get over the line from a 5 metre scrum but are unable to ground the ball and the decision goes “upstairs.” Result, 5 metre scrum to Saracens, end of game. Your correspondent is the TMO, who the Northampton coach believes has made an “outrageous” decision. The Saracens viewpoint is that it was obviously correct and that he had already shouted to his players to prepare for the scrum. The game of Football plans for the belated introduction of technology, including a version of the TMO, as part of its master plan, so the critics will then be able to add another target to the list before even reaching the referee.

Now I don’t think Glenn Jackson was playing for Saracens in this encounter but I wonder if he knew what he was letting himself in for when he took up the whistle.