THE RUGBY REFEREE

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 124, 29 May 1922, Page 5

THE RUGBY REFEREE

HIS PART IN THE GAME

ADMINISTRATOR OF ADVANTAGE RULE.

Advick to referees is given in a paper compiled by a well-known authority on the game. The paper was read at a .recent meeting of:the Wellington Rugby Referees' Association. "How often have we heard,' says the writer, "the saying : 'The referee can'make or mar a. game/ and reluctantly we are compelled to admit'that there is a lot of truth in the statement. I am not going to mention any names, but the fact that a player on one occasion was ordered off the field for throwing the ball forward will indicate the referee who can mar a game by reading the rules too literally. 'Here is an argument that I have heard : 'If a ball when: knocked on three inches is not a knock-on, and. when it is knocked on. three feet it is one, at what stage between the. two, does it become one?' There is a degree of reason in the question, but it is splitting straws. Even if a player gains an advantage from a slight knock-on it would be better, in my opinion, to let the play go on, for several reasons hardly necessary to detail. Again : 'Being on the ground does not immediately get up,' This is an instance where the rule does not mean what it^says, and a referee would make ..the game, farcical if he interpreted it literally. 'Nor may he' approach within ten yards of the player waiting to receiye the ball.' My conviction .of this is: that the penalty against this player should be given while the ball is in the air, but who would 'dream-of carrying this rule out in its literal entirety? What lam driving at here is that the. referee must be a man capable of using his common-sense. Although the rules definitely say certain' things he should so .interpret them that the play is hot stopped unless the player committing the breach gains a decided advantage from his action. "Another remark too often made is: 'We have heard a good whistling solo this afternoon.' How many times have 'we seen fellows with the whistle in their mouths all the time, waiting for the opportunity tri blow it? I think the reverse, ought to be the case, iviz., the referee should, be watching for opportunities of not interfering with the. play. In passing, my opinion is that a referee should tie his whistle to his wrist,> and not even carry it in his hand. By this method the fraction of time that would ■elapse before he could get his whistle to his, mouth might cause him to remember that there ia such a thing in the .rule book as 'the advantage rule.'

"Tile Rugby referee; who is he? He is-, the autocrat of the Rugby field. My hope is that he.will use his powers in no despotic manner. His first and primary objective is to j endeavour to get the players to givo a decent rendering of the game of games, iivith as little interference from him as itossible, either from the oratorical or thl whistling standpoint. He should not be a 'hail fellow well met' to the players, although he ought not at any time to be discourteous. Friendly, if you (like, but never at any time to place himself in the position of being considered partial to any team. By so doing he may give some fellows the impression that his feelings as a referee are influenced by. the fact that the adf dressing of certain players by their Christian names indicates a bigger degree of friendship than should theoretically exist between a referee and a .player. "The Rugby referee; what is he? A cricket rule describes him, in my opin-ion—-'He is the sole judge of fair or unfair play,' i.e., he preserves the balance equally between the respective teams according to the laws of the game. And to do this successfully he has always to bear in mind the following: 'The referee should not whistle when the non-offending; side gains an advantage.' To riiy idea the referee, then, is the administrator of the advantage rule, ■interpreting each and every law of thej 'game, with this rule ever p_reeent in his mind., Wtiat does it matter if a man is 'offside if his side gains nothing from his breach? Let the game go on. If a free-kick would help the non-offending side, grant it by all means, but if the opposite side have possession of the ball the play should not be stopped simply because one of the other fellows was offside. This phase of my subject could be extended without limit, but I will content myself with the one illustration'; all the other, breaches of the law. can be treated similarly." > Points are briefly given by the writer as follow:— "The referee is an autocrat according to the laws of the game. "The referee is the sole judge'of fair or unfair play. "The referee has unlimited powers if he- interprets the advantage rule as th» framers of the rule intended he should. "The referee is human, and apt to make mistakes, but he can keep those errors within reasonable compass if he centres his attention on the cause of the trouble —the ball. "The referee is a man with a bump of location developed,to an abnormal extent, and with a more than ordinary commonsense view of men and things. "The referee is a friend of'all players, but a boon companion none; "and, finally, ■ f ' ' "The referee is a man .with, opinions and convictions of his own, butihe should remember that his fellow-referee is "equally entitled to his opinions. These are bound to clash at times, but the clashing should never go beyond the meeting-room."