Whistles, referees and acceptable behaviour
View(s):Grandmother or tails, sir?, asked an anonymous referee from Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips, Gordonstoun School’s rugby captain, for his pre-match coin-toss preference in 1995 – Daily Telegraph.
Imagine the plight of a referee in Sri Lanka if he decided to break ice with a similar pun. There would have been hundreds of comments and labels stuck on the referee. Often misquoted when he talks and answers questions. Common with most schools is to accuse a referee of a using abusive language. Most do not realise that during the 2014 and in 2015 the match is on video and a voice recorder is carried. These are monitored to correct; if the language seems harsh.
Club Rugby games have been highly competitive, that match officials became victims of verbal and physical assualts in the past couple of weeks - File pic
Everybody likes to call a referee as being biased while some say it is cheating and it is your right to pummel the referee. Most who like to shout never have or never will dare to take a whistle and be on the field. The life of a referee is becoming tough and we may lead to situation like in Bristol where matches are not played due to a lack of a referee. Realising the quagmire the interim committee for referees head Chula Dharmadasa is insisting on implementing the World Rugby code of conduct and have got acknowledgement from clubs and schools. The heads will be held responsible for action of the stakeholders. This code is a must read for all that are involved and for some who think that they have to qualify as thugs to get a place in history. The misguided old boys who sit in committees and other councils for sports think the way forward is to muscle referees. The interim committee for referees having understood the issues and finds it difficult to give assurance to the few while being unable to attract new faces.
In the last few months we had four international referee experts coming over to help improve the referees in Sri Lanka. They asked is why anybody should referee given the hostile environment and why anybody should risk his life and dignity. The pressure that is exerted on a referee before during and after matches has a huge effect on field performance. Is it time to step off and ask the knowledgeable to take the whistle? When the advertisement was published for a Referee Manager, many applications were expected. But sadly the news is that there has been only one received. The interim has decided that referees will not be appointed for junior games. The hope is that those who know the laws will referee and some will then reach the next level and join the referee’s society.
Hardly had the ink dried three referee abuse and attack on players of the visiting club and a stoppage of a final in school rugby sevens has been reported during the weekend. Good Governance – popularly known as ‘Yaha Palanaya’ must take note of what is happening in a game or else more trouble will be on hand. Especially in schools the undesirables have to be hounded out.
Indiscipline took a new turn with officials and supporters attempted a physical assault on the referee after the CR-Kandy match which ended in a 
draw. It was not only the referee but also a council member who is also in the interim committee for referees was abused and threatened to delete the pictures from his camera. That is abuse of inquiry one.
The second was at Welisara where a virtual mob attempted to get close and physically abuse the referee but ended manhandling the third match official and another referee member who came to the rescue of the referee. Into this midst come hangers on who are trying to get the involved and get referees to soft peddle the issue. Probably thinking that that it does not matter what happens; they ‘suck’.
The third incident was at the schools sevens. This is where the next generation is schooled in doing what is good and right. Regrettably the final between Isipathana and St. Peter’s had to be stopped as bottles were thrown at the assistant referee. Those who did look neither Isipathana nor St. Peter’s which makes me wonder which sow produced these blue shirted adult hooligans.
The referee started the match that was stopped and blew the game after time expired. The issue then turned to be a subject of argument with the match organisers that the referee blew fulltime while the recorders table did not ring the bell. The bell is an indicator but the referee is the judge of time. With a cacophony of noises as the difference was a mere two points there is always a possibility that the bell may not be heard. Going back to basics the responsibility was with the referee and he looks at his watch and blows full time. The Pathana Rugby Committee sprang into action and explained to the spectators and pushed them away from the match organisers.
The next issue was a knock on; the referee had not seen in the quarter-final match between St. Joseph’s and Isipathana. The match was over but the grumblers kept hurling insults at the referee during the day with some parents taking among themselves to keep taunting the referee for well over three hours after lunch. The referee did ignore this for a long time but there was a point at the end where the referee too lost his cool and talked back. Bad was the thinking of those heading councils which are to give guidance? They should at all times ensure that there is acceptable behavioural patterns and not allow drunken rowdies to display vulgarism at school events. Sadly for those who appear to be sitting on their ‘brain’, it was to claim that referee is a cheat. Probably they judge things from what is familiar to them.
The famous forward pass missed by Wayne Barnes that led to an exit of New Zealand referee from the World Cup has been reviewed a number of time by the IRB. The conclusion of the referee manager was that there was 612 decisions in that match and Barnes called four wrong. The answer was there and what do you then call the referee.
Importantly the behavior and discipline is important as there are thoughts floating that there has been a serious deviant culture arising from rugby. A result of the thinking is that the nose up attitude has no place in promoting a better society as much us spent on this sport while the national sport volleyball and popular soccer is being ignored.
Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB