Referees must apply the laws of the game

Hafiz MARIKAR

The SLRFU Referees Society encourages all interested in rugby to take the whistle, be an active match official or a volunteer, club administrator.

Referees have a pivotal role to play in making rugby a game for all. This is the advice the SLRFU Referees Society and the spectators give to every interested individual as rugby refereeing particularly in Sri Lanka needs to be very practical, undertaken with a lot of commitment, dedication and above all with the intention of doing their best in the field to ensure that rugby is controlled and played according to the laws of the game and strictly adhered too by both players and administrators.

This article is meant to reflect on the relationship between the referees, the laws of rugby and the game of rugby itself and suggest that it is one definite overall philosophy of refereeing that is more appropriate than any other to the betterment of the game, current players and officials.

The functions of a referee should, be to see that no individual or team will get an advantage over an opponent by using unfair tactics. What is unfair will depend on the level of the game and the skills of the players.

The laws of the game of rugby football have been written to cover every unfair eventuality on the field. A referee should know all the laws of the game.

Every time a referee runs into a field he must bear in mind the five requirements that form the first corner-stone of any referring philosophy.

He should be; 1- Up with play, 2- Correct in law, 3- Consistent, 4- Decisive and 5- Cool.

Every referee should be able to satisfy all these requirements and every player is entailed to except them from a referee. An efficient referee should control each match appropriately according to grade.

The referee should have a complete knowledge of the laws of the game of rugby. While not every law will be enforced at every match, the basic laws of knock-on, forward pass and off side must be observed always.

To control a match accurately the referee must position himself so as not to monitor all movement.

The referee must ensure that no unfair advantage results from a scrum, the grade of the match will determine the referees decision. The referee must also ensure that lineouts are played without unfair advantage.

Rucks and Mauls must also be carefully controlled by the referee.

No doubt nearly all referees - and certainly those who referee seriously - will claim to possess all these attributes but, over the last few years especially, it would appear that these qualities are just not enough considering the criticism of the standard of refereeing that has come from all corners of the rugby world.

This has been expressed in private, in public and through the media, concern as to difference in interpretation, differences in approach and inconsistencies between one referee and another.

As referees every one must ask themselves whether such criticism have an element truth. and if so, what mistakes are being made? Why they are being made? And what can be done to eliminate them?.

Referees must go back to the beginning and ask themselves the questions, Why are laws necessary?

Why are laws created? The answer is that the laws of rugby, just like the law of the land, exist so that human behavior can be organized in such a way so as to conform to civilized pattern, and in order to give both teams an equal chance of scoring points.

Before awarding a penalty a referee has to ask himself, why is the penalty to be given and why is it necessary. When ever a law is broken these questions crop up. It is not an easy thing to do. It requires the understanding of the game, a feeling for the game and an appreciation of the atmosphere of the match. It also requires confidence, coolness and a deaf-ear to the requests for penalties from the spectators.

Referees should remember that the object of the game as set out in the law book is not to score the most number of points and never break the laws, but to win through fair play according to the laws.

What referees should ensure is that a side does not win through unfair play. Today referees are blowing their whistles more often than they used to forgetting the spirit of the game of rugby. It has nothing to do with the violent play as it is much a part of rugby.

What the players want from a referee is not for him to behave like a whistle - happy traffic cop but what they want is the sort of sympathy that manifests itself in the quite word at the right time.

Today the society has more that 20 active Referees and Assessors serving 09 rugby clubs, 23 schools teams comprising more than 325 games, as well as rural and provincial Schools and mini rugby teams.

Each season there are over 350 appointments to games within Sri Lanka and many additional appointments to overseas tournaments and fixtures.The Referees society, fully supported by a full-time Development Officer, organizes Training and Development courses for Referees and Assessors at all levels of men's, women's, junior and mini games.