World Rugby’s fixation on micro-management is making referees enforce ridiculous laws which turn off loyalists and casual fans, writes CHARLES RICHARDSON.
Writing for The Telegraph in the UK, Richardson argues that the narrative from this weekend’s opening round of the World Cup in France was not around the wizardry or exceptional play from the likes of Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok or France No 8 Gregory Alldritt, but the influence of match officials Jaco Peyper, Matthew Carley and Mathieu Raynal.
While Richardson acknowledges referees have an impossible task navigating the “imperfect and chaotic” world that rugby has become, he suggests the whistleblowers are fixating and over-analysing every call under the directive of the sport’s governing body, ruining the match as a spectacle.
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“Getting bogged down in the minutiae of individual decisions almost undermines the broader point, however, which is that these instances are occurring in almost every match – and they have been for several years,” Richardson writes.
“They are a titanic turn-off to the casual fan, while even the experts struggle to rationalise them. Referees are not getting worse – these might be the most physically and even mentally developed crop ever – but the laws that they are supposed to apply certainly are.
“What is the solution? Strip it all back, reduce the powers of the TMO, and bin the bunker. Otherwise, in years to come, it might not be referees that dominate the World Cup’s agenda as there might not be a World Cup at all.”
Photo: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP
