| Written by Neville Huxham, on 21-11-2007 21:29 | ||
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Come on IRB – sort out the referees.
With the RWC 2007 now behind us, and RWC 2011 ahead, all we rugby fans around the world have to look forward to is - more of the same.
You will all have read that hapless All Blacks’ coach Graham Henry showed the New Zealand rugby review panel a video of the game against France, and pointed out 17 refereeing mistakes that cost his team (and his country) the game. And the title! And the glory!
As another famous hooker once remarked, “well, he would say that wouldn’t he!”
Alas poor Henry, we knew him well. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!
Henry was defending his team’s dismal performance by laying the blame on Wayne Barnes. And truth be told, given that suspect forward pass, there is justification in his allegation.
Mark Keohane, writing in The Star (21 November), comments: “How hard would it have been for Barnes to follow play as he saw it, to award the French try and then make one enquiry to his TMO. Something along the lines of: a pass in the build-up to this try may have gone forward … please check for me. If not, the try stands.
“That would have taken less than 30 seconds and there would have been no controversy,” says Keohane.
No fair-minded rugby fan can possibly argue with Keohane’s logic.
He goes on to pose the question: “How would South African supporters have reacted if Marc Cueto’s try had been awarded, instead of being referred to the TMO?” Again, a valid and telling point.
rugbyredcard.com was established specifically to ensure that referees handling international matches do not influence the outcome - either through their mistakes (like Barnes) or deliberately through prejudice (like Honiss or Walsh). Without pointing fingers at anyone in particular, there could be other more egregious motives, including greed and financial gain.
In the interests of everyone connected with the games, it is imperative for refs to be scrupulously neutral, and to be seen to be neutral.
The IRB must take note of the sentiments of the paying spectators, and use the technology that exists.
But above all, the integrity and neutrality of the referees must be guaranteed. It is our contention that the IRB has no greater task than to clean up the cozy ‘old boys’ club’ of referees that currently operates. The IRB has the duty to ensure that quality individuals are chosen, and held to the highest standards of excellence in their refereeing decisions.
Let me close with Keohane’s comments, which very aptly sum up the situation. He says: “Professional codes should not allow human error to influence the outcome of the games. When are global investors and team sponsors going to say enough is enough? When are referees going to be held accountable beyond the meaningless (IRB) assessors’ reports?
“Who can say for certain that referees are clean and that bookies haven’t gotten to them? You won’t get answers to any of these questions from the arrogant, ignorant IRB.”
Absolutely spot on target! Mark Keohane, we could not have said it better!
And as for Graham Henry and his All Blacks team, our advice is: “Get over it!”
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