Fielding abuse part of the game for rugby referee
The worst abuse Gary Reilly ever copped during his four years as a rugby referee was from a player’s mum.
After the game the woman came up to him and said: ‘‘I hope we never have you as a ref again.’’
‘‘You just say, ‘Whatever. Cheers, love. Thanks for your support.’ You don’t let it get to you,’’ Reilly said.
‘‘You’ve got to have a reasonably thick skin.’’
From the outside, being a club rugby referee might look like a thankless job.
It’s voluntary, for one (referee’s actually have to pay $30 to join an association).
You work in all weather, running around a field with dirty, sweaty men.
You occasionally field abuse — ‘‘Are you f...ing blind, ref?’’ And what’s more, you’re working every weekend.
But for Reilly, 52, and most of the other rugby referees in the Nelson region, it’s all worth it.
‘‘The motivation is the love of the game and giving back to the community. I’m real passionate about rugby. I love it.’’
Reilly cut his teeth playing and refereeing basketball.
But when his son Isaac started playing rugby, he switched codes.
He started refereeing the under-10 division.
‘‘Got it all wrong on day one as you’d expect and quite enjoyed it, actually. That was four years ago.’’
He was quickly picked up by the Tasman Rugby Union and promoted to refereeing senior level rugby.
He said the perception that referees were hounded by players, coaches and people on the sideline was no longer accurate.
The Tasman Rugby Union has done an ‘‘amazing’’ job at clamping down on referee abuse, Reilly said.
Referees now have the power to red card players, coaches and members of the public for verbal abuse.
The red card is reviewed by a judiciary in much the same way as a dangerous tackle.
‘‘We don’t get hardly any of it anymore,’’ he said.
‘‘You can go onto a rugby field now and you can feel like someone’s got your back.’’
Reilly said he’s refereed games ‘‘knee-deep in mud’’. There was one time in Hanmer when he had to call a game off because kids were at risk of drowning at the bottom of the ruck.
Last year, he intercepted a rugby ball with his face and had his bottom teeth knocked in. He had to wear braces for a year.
And while he’s occasionally on the receiving end of harsh words, he said he gets more upset about making a wrong call.
‘‘It’s not uncommon for refs to say to the players, ‘I’m going to make a mistake today. Don’t you stress about it.’
‘‘Just accept the fact that we’re human and I’m going to make a mistake.’’
Despite all that, he said he looks forward to every Saturday and will keep showing up ‘‘as long as I can run’’.
‘‘The best part of the job is the enjoyment of the sport and you don’t get any better view of a game of rugby than being a referee.’’