Once upon a time, in a near-forgotten land, now home to our national concerts, the good professor told me that inflation was defined as too much money chasing too few goods.
There’s probably more to inflation than that, but those words came back to me recently in relation to rugby and its referees. The game has its own problematic inflation, it can be defined as too many matches chasing too few referees.
The professional game has grown significantly, but the supply of elite match officials has not kept pace with demand. Those who make the appointments do not have a wide choice, too often there are no quality options. It’s just about okay at Tier 1 international Test level, but going down through the food chain, there are too many performances which are below the acceptable standard in European matches and, particularly, in the United Rugby Championship.
The various competitions, and World Rugby, need to apply pressure on nations which are failing to produce elite officials. France have recognised the problem and are investing significant funds and personnel in an effort to solve their problems. Other unions need to follow suit.
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Scotland, Wales, and South Africa are really problematic, and surely must do a root and branch examination of their recruitment and coaching policies – every country could usefully do the same.
South Africa, as well as winning four World Cups, have also supplied the referee for three finals. Why on earth has it all gone so wrong? Ireland, not in the same boat as the three mentioned above, are still overreliant on the same single referee at the top table.
The recently announced match officials for the fast-approaching Six Nations demonstrates where the problem starts. The 15 matches will be handled by 13 referees – two Australians, three New Zealanders and four English, that’s nine. Only three come from the combined forces of all the other Tier 1 Unions, including South Africa who have precisely none, while Tier 2 Georgia have one referee.
It’s bad news that there are not enough officials performing well enough to appoint 15, and it is right that World Rugby resisted any temptation to add two refs just to make up the numbers. The ideal would be to have a panel of about 18 who are capable of doing the business, but that is just plain old pie in the sky right now.
Ulster referee Chris Busby might have had a fighting chance but failed to make the cut. I hope he can take it on the chin, although it is a real disappointment for him and for the IRFU. Also, for the first time in a long time, there will be no Irish TMO.
Meanwhile, Brian Stirling, nowadays renowned for being the father of ace cricketer Paul, will remain the last man from north of the Border to referee in the Six Nations, a title I know he’d prefer to lose. It was as far back as 1996 with Wales pipping France in Cardiff, by a point, 16-15, despite Romain Ntamack’s dad, Emile, crossing for a try.
Leinster v Connacht saw Busby in action and there are many questions swirling around about his performance and that of his fellow officials. It was not a good outing by the referee team, including a failure to formally check out Jordie Barrett’s hit on Bundee Aki. I saw that as yellow, not as red.
However, this is not about the officials whose performance, as always, will be reviewed within the existing robust system which allows Connacht have their full say. This is, though, about Mack Hansen. I watched his post-match interview with growing concern. The chat had started well with coach Pete Wilkins talking about utilising the usual feedback system with the URC referee boss.
Then Hansen gave his opinion on the state of play. Wilkins, surprisingly for me, stayed quiet rather than closing down Hansen’s contribution. Nobody is more frustrated than I am at poor match official performance, but what came next is unacceptable.
Hansen, first of all, absolutely pilloried match officials in general – he seems to think that every referee has it in for Connacht. He also rubbished the officials in this particular match, using unnecessary foul language. He also threw out his opinion that Connacht don’t get the referee calls they deserve, whereas the official penalty count was only marginally in Leinster’s favour. His comment about playing against 16 men has a very serious implication.
International status does not confer any right whatsoever to any player to talk in this vein – it’s actually quite the opposite. Celebrity status comes with the Irish jersey, but hand in hand with that comes responsibility. Bringing the game into disrepute does not align with the essential ethos. I imagine that Ireland’s coaching team will be very far from amused at Hansen’s ill-advised comments.
This, simply, cannot be allowed. Imagine the chaos if standard practice allowed players to vent in this manner. There has to be a meaningful sanction, an unequivocal message delivered that this will not be tolerated. Any carefully crafted apology which may come along should be noted, and placed in the “too little, too late” column.
Wilkins has since tried to exculpate his player. But the coach’s words do not change the narrative of what happened.
The URC, and the IRFU, must take appropriate action. There is no option, inaction condones. Rassie Erasmus and Johnny Sexton both found out that there are strong regulations in place. Hansen must learn the same lesson, that there is a price to be paid, and he must pay it. Irrespective of his perceived value to the international squad.
