Anyway, during a quite exciting match against Gore High School, I was forced to share the touch line with some quite vocal Gore High supporters. It is fair to say that I am not one to say or shout much from the sideline, but these guys seem to have no problem telling the Ref what to do in quite loud voices. I have several friends who regularly referee rugby games, and they tell me that for the most part they do not hear most of the 'stuff' from the sideline. But as can be seen in the above photo, referees sometimes do hear what is said. I am not sure what the rules are, but I am sure this ref did. He blew his whistle and walked off the field of play, and 'consulted' this supporter in no uncertain terms. I did not hear what was being said, but what ever was said, worked, and the stream of quite foul language stopped.
I know that in the Auckland area there has been a concerted effort to 'educate' the spectators on the side lines of school boy rugby games. I hope we do not have to do the same thing here.
By the way, Gore High School won the game, so it was hard to see the point of all the abuse.
I hear ya. A few weeks ago when Dunstan played King's in Dunedin, the same supporter as shown in the photo was the touch judge. Gore was up 25-20 with 2 minutes remaining, when Kings made a break down the sideline, scoring in the process and the touchie was quick to raise his flag saying that the King's player was out but he legitimatly scored. King's scored in the same corner right on full time to give King's the rightful scoreline of 25 all as they could have been cheated out of the game.
ReplyDeleteI think you mean when Gore High played Kings, but I get the gist. I wonder if there is some place we can send this page so as to have something done about this person. I will make some inquiries. Many thanks for the comment, and if I find out more will put it here.
ReplyDeleteDonald.