Referees and players must both play ball

RUGBY ANALYST:Yes, officials need to earn players' trust, but the same players can't expect perfection, writes LIAM TOLAND

HOMER SIMPSON, tiring of Marge’s complaints, was heard to say: “Well if we agree, then why are we arguing?” We all know it is unlikely Marge will ever agree with Homer but player-referee relationships don’t have to follow suit. When there are two parties involved there will inevitably be two interpretations but when a referee is involved countless interpretations abound.

I recently attended a hard-fought club match where local rivalries provided a very tetchy atmosphere. The coach of the visiting seconds team was sent off for over-verbalising his opinion regarding the referee’s interpretation of the laws. Up and down the country this scenario plays itself out where players and coaches become frustrated at apparent referee errors.

This particular seconds match had about 40 players involved, each making a minimum of three errors, totalling 120-plus errors. The referee in his stewardship will also make mistakes but generally the number will fall into single figures. So why do we accept player error as part of the game but insist on zero tolerance for the referee?

The banished coach was furious at the referee’s influence on the fixture. I hadn’t the heart to point out that after all it was a seconds club fixture where the standard was relatively poor but everybody in the ground expected an Alan Lewis style of refereeing. Is this expectation fair on the referee?

The core role of any referee is to create order on the match and crucially, not become the players’ buddy. He does this through accuracy and in partnership with the players. Where the partnership flourishes he can pass on responsibility to the players. This is best seen when a dominant prop is encouraged to take ownership of the scrum in order for it to function. Trust is implicit in this relationship and with it the referee creates “no doubt”.

Conversely, the role of the player or captain is to place doubt in the referee’s mind and hence influence him to the team’s advantage. Two former Shannon team-mates, Alan Quinlan and John Lacey, highlight the disadvantage the referee experiences.

Over 17 years at the top Quinlan has learnt his trade and excels in all aspects of playing rugby, including influencing referees. Meanwhile, Lacey a very highly-rated referee with a huge feel for the game has but four years’ experience. In that time he has reached exceptional levels but still remains on the learning curve; advantage Quinlan.

Academy players are drip fed into the system where they sink or swim and referees should be no different. The Irish refereeing system affords huge support from past referees where heavy assessments can be very harsh. Check out www.rugby365.com/laws_referees/595230.htm and see how Lewis became the top-class referee of today. Last weekend Peter Fitzgibbon was surrounded by Lions and internationals at the top of their game and they expect a similar quality referee.

Unfortunately the success of professional rugby has outgrown the quality of referees where there aren’t enough Alain Rollands, Alan Lewis and Nigel Owens to go around.

At the other end of the world is maverick Steve Walsh. He is well known in world rugby for “personalising” his refereeing. In RWC 2003 he ruffled England fitness coach Dave Reddin and received a suspension. Shane Horgan bumped into him on the 2005 Lions tour where Walsh gained a four-month suspension. I have always been wary of a chippy referee. One who smiles and gets involved in running conversation. Walsh is one of these. The quiet non-engaging efficient referee is the best.

Walsh was in classic form in Sydney three weeks ago where he got stuck into Brumbies captain Stephen Hoiles. Number eight Hoiles bounced into Waratahs secondrow Kane Douglas’s attempted tackle, hit the deck bounced up and kept going. Walsh awarded a penalty for playing the ball in the tackle. On protesting, Hoiles was marched 10 metres. The penalty put the Waratahs out to 6-0. Thirteen minutes later Walsh disallowed an Adam-Ashley Cooper try for a double movement.

Walsh made an immediate decision which is welcome but the video gives a strong argument. (YouTube – Steve Walsh vs Stephen Hoiles) The Brumbies lost the game by seven, with Walsh presiding over 10 points.

Players such as Martin Johnson developed the ability to alter the referee’s behaviour. Clearly it should be the other way around and the greatest flaw in a “poor” referee is their inability to control the situation. Walsh lost control and with it trust. This is where Brian O’Driscoll’s tough remarks centre. He has lost confidence in results being dictated by players.

Solutions to O’Driscoll’s frustration will be hard to find as there exist precious few referees in his class. In the meantime referees must embrace mid-season rule changes, language barriers, fatigue and the dreaded scorecard. But they must find an answer to why they are getting an aggressive response from players. In tandem the players must accept obvious flaws. As long as a human carries the whistle then interpretations will vary. Ultimately where the quality of referee doesn’t meet the needs what are the options? Cancel the fixture?

Another “old school” pro bites the dust at season’s end. For all Malcolm O’Kelly has achieved in world rugby he should have been the first Ireland player to reach 100 caps. He, too, should have been on the Grand Slam ticket but alas, neither was to happen. Over the years he has managed to contribute enormously; that last ditch defensive tackle off an English lineout in Twickenham preventing a certain winning try is but one. Like so many of our top-class players O’Kelly is a freak of nature; if the rowing machine found in any random gym was an Olympic sport O’Kelly would be a multiple medal winner.

He continued to combine world-class play with an extraordinarily laid-back approach, full of warmth. The ultimate professional, legend has it that 90 minutes prior to the Northampton Heineken Cup match in 2000, feeling a tad hungry, he was spotted eating hotdogs from a vendor in Donnybrook.

liamtoland@yahoo.com