Sports After Dark

Over this round of Super 14 there have been a few instances of foul play, some of which have gone unpunished, others have not been punished enough. Given the mine field of inconsistency from the officials, it’s about time rugby administrators gave the referees firm guidelines to deal with foul play.

I try not to write when frustrated, but after witnessing the most pathetically weak willed decision in the Chiefs vs Cheetahs game,  I think it is time someone points out that the referees are not getting it right with regards to foul play. Referees are trained to go with their gut instinct when awarding penalty tries or dishing out red cards, and when I saw Eddie Fredericks’ tackle on Chiefs’ winger Leila Masaga, my 10 years of experience as a referee told me it was a red card and penalty try. Clearly referee Paul Marks saw it differently, awarding a penalty and showing Fredericks a yellow card.

Fredericks’ tackle was as high as they come, initially making contact above Masaga’s ear then moving down to his neck. However the height of the tackle was not the reason it should have been a red card, it was the intent as Fredericks went in with no intention other than taking Masaga’s head off.

Chiefs’ captain Mils Muliaina asked referee Marks about a penalty try, as had Masaga got past Fredericks he would have scored in the corner, but Muliaina was rebuffed with no explaination. At the time the Chiefs were down by a point with seven minutes to go, and to offer a captain no reason for such a crucial decision leaves many wondering what exactly Marks was thinking.

Referees seem extremely reluctant to issue red cards, in the 25 games that have been played so far in the 2008 Super 14 just one red card has been issued. The recipient was Bulls fullback Zane Kirchner, for a dreadful spear tackle, and few would argue it was undeserved.

In Friday night’s game, two Hurricanes’ player were cited for foul play, Jerry Collins for punching David Hall on the ground, and Ma’a Nonu for a high tackle on Clint Newlands. Collins escaped on field punishment, but Nonu received a yellow card for his tackle.

Nonu’s citing, and possible suspension, leads to some rather totured logic, how can a tackle be worth a suspension after the match but only a yellow card during the match? Perhaps the replays did Nonu few favours, but if both the referee and assistant referee felt it was only a sin bin offense, why is he facing the judiciary?

Football has some hard and fast rules when it comes to foul play: Studs up tackle, red card. Two footed tackle, red card. Sliding tackle from behind, red card. Rugby, on the other hand, leaves each incident in the hands of the referee.

The referees have shown that they are unable to deal with foul play in any consistent manner and perhaps now is the time to give them a set of guidelines, agreed upon by SANZAR and stick to them rigidly. Perhaps then some of these incidents will no longer occur.

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The Time for some guidelines for referees to deal with foul play by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.