Those of you who know me are well used to my rants and raves regarding the standard of refereeing in rugby union. What I’ve noticed is that I’m not alone – and neither is rugby. I have many friends enamored with rugby league and the NRL in particular. They have TWO referees on the field, TWO on the sidelines, and a video ref and still manage to bugger it up. Union has one less but still are as inaccurate as a blind, polio ridden monkey trying archery for the first time. My anger was heightened today during a Ranfurly Shield game between my beloved Magpies and the tough and well coached Counties side who have held the shield for 51 weeks!! (For my Northern Hemisphere friends the Ranfurly Shield is a rugby union shield that epitomises the passion of New Zealand Provincial rugby played for in addition to the competition)
What I’m seeing world wide in sports is a trend of athletes and sports people getting better and stronger and the competition is greater. What I’m not seeing is the standard of the officiating getting any better. The thing is, I’m not sure it’s their fault.
Let me explain.
One assumes that in all professional sports, the referees are coached. Let’s take an example from rugby union (because I like it). Glenn Jackson, a former professional player on the verge of an All Black jersey, is now an international ref. Good luck to him. When he came on to the scene he was a little inaccurate but had a feel for the game and players and the games were good as a result. As his career has progressed his grip on the game has left him and is quite clearly being coached what to do. Much to my mother’s chagrin, rugby is more than a game to my father and I and hate to see it ruined by these poor men in pink coached out of a feel for the game they love. Incidentally, mum thinks the demise of refereeing has come with the advent of the pink uniforms!!! She may have a point.
I wonder if many of you that live other sports, like football, basketball etc have similar views?
Another thing I’m a little fuzzy on is why it’s so taboo to talk about/criticize the officials after a game. They are professionals like the players and coaches who get routinely hammered for bad performances. Should the governing bodies think slightly outside the confines of their collective paddocks and get players and coaches to help coach the refs? Perhaps for the betterment of the game/s their should be some better thinking involved. Perhaps, too, if the refereeing standard rose the respect would too. This would make it more likely for younger men and women to get involved without fear of getting berated by over-zealous fans – like me (I say somewhat red-faced).
The future of our games depend on participation in all capacities. The future of the professional sports depends on accuracy from players, coaches and referees. I hope for a great future!!
May I say, despite making rugby seem like a life and death scenario, I have a friend dealing with cancer in his family. I wish him and his dad the strength to get through it, no matter what the result. Sort of puts sport into perspective.
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