ON THE BALL: The ref is human. He isn’t a god. Please take away their godlike powers. Grab those little coloured cards out of their pockets and burn them, writes Lucky Maree.
Finally a rule introduced in soccer produces a soccer type of reaction, and people are angry with the player. It was bound to happen (and, in fact it has happened before) but it is the rule that is the problem, not the player.
That is not to say that Nic White doesn’t deserve the bad press he is getting.
“A disgrace to the game of rugby,” said Butch James in the Super Sport studio after Australia’s White’s move to milk a penalty in the match against South Africa.
John Smit said on social media that White’s action “killed a piece of rugby’s soul”.
A Twitter user, speaking about both Faf de Klerk and White, summed it up beautifully. “The one is stupid, the other is disgraceful,” he said.
Imagine a situation without yellow cards. It is very unlikely that White would have resorted to a clumsy attempt to emphasise that his handlebar-moustache was being brushed in an unbecoming way, even if it meant getting a penalty.
Referee Paul Williams, of course, was criticised around the world. Rugby reporter James Richardson ranted that Williams’s performance was either “criminally incompetent” or showed evidence of bias. He called for Williams to be banned from officiating a test match again.
If the referee (Williams in this case) did not have the right to whip out his card would he have made such an idiotic fool of himself?
There is nothing easy about being a referee, as referees themselves proudly remind you. And nothing places more pressure on the ref than the card system.
With 50,000 spectators jeering and millions of viewers all over the world watching the replays, the man has to make a decision there and then – and often, as in this case, makes a bad decision.
Yet the cards give the referee enormous power, to the extent that he is the most powerful man on the field and he potentially has much more influence on the field than any of the players.
What if the card system got dumped? What if the referee’s power was reduced? What if the pressure on him was reduced? What if the ref had the right to sight a player or players?
Imagine exactly the same situation as happened between Faf de Klerk and Nic White on Saturday.
Without cards, the ref would stop the match and indicate that both players are being sighted with the match continuing with both players remaining on the field.
The tackle by Mariko Koreimbete which many believe cost South Africa the match would also result in a sighting, with the ref having to decide on the field whether it is a penalty try or not because that has a direct impact on the match.
After the match, a sighting panel from around the world gathers to evaluate all the sightings of the weekend’s matches and hand down appropriate, well-considered decisions and penalties.
A minor penalty may involve a fine, a bigger penalty could include a ban for a number of matches, a major penalty may include a banning and a fine, and so on. But the decisions will not affect the game while it is being played.
Imagine Faf facing a single match ban. Will he not reconsider his senseless and illegal slapping of the ball? Bear in mind that he was carded for foul play, which the ref actually agreed on the field was a bad outcome. Will Nic White perform a clumsy and theatrical performance if he knew a card wasn’t the potential outcome and knowing that he might get a review decision going against him?
And one last thing. Bad rules are not fixed by inventing other bad rules to place on top of them. The ref is human. He isn’t a god. Please take away their godlike powers. Grab those little coloured cards from their pockets!
Image source: @TheCanberraTimes
