By Lucky Vince Pienaar
Yet another referee has resigned from international rugby, saying the massive pressure of refereeing first-class matches was the reason for his decision.
Brendon Pickerill, 34, is young to be retiring, but he must have aged a lot at the 2023 World Cup where he was a television match official for seven games, including the semi-final between England and South Africa.
According to New Zealand Rugby, Pickerill, after 151 first-class matches, including 10 test matches and 60 Super Rugby matches, has decided “to hang up his whistle”.
Hang up his whistle? From the sound of it, it’s probably more accurate to say that he threw it down and stomped on it until it blew out its last squeak.
Pickerill follows the likes of Wayne Barnes, Jaco Peyper, Tom Foley and Joy Neville in announcing their early retirement from the game.
It’s all good and well to say that if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen — but there’s more to it than that.
World Rugby must be held responsible for this state of affairs. With their clumsy attempts to make life a little more bearable for the referees, the body has made some dreadful moves.
The pressure can be traced back to the most evil of inventions taken from soccer — red and yellow cards.
Then World Rugby compounded their stupidity by introducing the so-called “bunker” for review.
The cards, as more and more top-level coaches and players are saying, have such a dreadful effect on the game that it makes it unbearable for referees to deal with.
They stand out in the middle of the field and make decisions that can, and often do, change the course of an entire match.
We will never know, for instance, if Same Cane’s red card changed the outcome of the entire 2023 World Cup!
The cards were originally intended as a punishment for dirty play, such as a player punching another, but today it gets applied as a weapon and used for just about any transgression.
Players even get carded for disrespecting the ref! How is that part of the game?
Tom Foley, one of the referees who has given up the international game, was the television match official at the World Cup final.
“The pressure and scrutiny I came under after the Rugby World Cup final, along with a torrent of criticism and abuse online, has helped to reaffirm that this is the right decision for me,” Foley said, as reported by Planet Rugby.
The problem lies in players getting sent off during a match — a decision a referee makes with millions of people watching, hissing and booing if “their guy” gets chopped.
The simple solution would be to simply cite a player with a review after the match and a suitable sanction.
Please make life easier, not harder, for the whistleblowers (as they are called on television).
We could soon be running out of refs if we’re not careful.
Pictured above: Brendon Pickerill.
Image source: X
