Refs turn to cooking, gardening, teaching
Usually they are criss-crossing the globe to destinations where, as part of the job, they boss around blokes twice their size.
For rugby’s top match officials the Covid-19-enforced lockdown must be a huge departure from their comfort zone. It can reasonably be assumed that referees and television match officials (TMOs) must by now have developed cabin fever‚ while becoming a nuisance to those they routinely leave behind.
“My wife said I’m far kinder to the rugby players than I am with her. It would appear I’ ma bit of a taskmaster‚” top SA referee Jaco Peyper reveals.
He throws his weight around in a meaningful way at home‚ helping with cooking‚ home schooling his two young daughters and manicuring the garden‚ when he is not in work-related virtual meetings.
“My garden looks an absolute picture. Everything is well kept‚ the grass is growing properly and it looks as if I’ve developed green fingers. Maybe it was just in need of a bit of love.”
The home schooling at times‚ however‚ is as tricky as keeping count of the number of jumpers in the lineout.
“The maths the kids are doing in Sub A‚ or Grade 1, is what we did in Standard 5‚” said Peyper‚ who is regarded as one of the top three refs in the world.
Maths may not get his juices flowing, but a good steak does. “Jis‚ now I can braai. In the past I thought I could but now I can. We tried a lot of‚new recipes.
“I’m in the catering business. I own a coffee shop. I’ve always enjoyed cooking and my wife does as well.”
Peyper is not the only official who has warmed to domesticity. Fellow ref Rasta Rasivhenge now knows an apron is not only where he walks to boarding a plane‚ while TMO Marius Jonker has come to know a bit about cooking himself.
Apart from working on his fitness and lamenting the amount of time he has spent watching screens big and small‚ Rasivhenge says he has been reading‚ while also engaging in some introspection. He claims to be more comfortable in the kitchen and can even present edible gem squash‚ which apparently was not the case before the lockdown.
He may be turning more knobs on his oven but he isn’t about to present his creations for mass consumption. Instead‚ Rasivhenge is part of a scheme that delivers food to the needy in Imizamo Yethu and Hangberg in Hout Bay.
Jonker is at the other end of the epicurean scale. “I love cooking‚” he says. “I experiment with food every day. My 14year-old daughter is my guinea pig. I love pasta‚ I make my own. I’m into Thai food. I love experimenting with spices.
“Last week I did Mozambican prawns cooked in beer.” He admitted, though: “Look‚ not everything comes out the way you intended.”
He too is in endless online meetings but helps out where he can. “My son [Rynhardt], who is at the Sharks‚ is at home and we train every day. I’m reasonably fit but the speed … is no more. We jump over the local school’s fence and we practice kicking.”
May 26 1989: Arsenal celebrate winning the First Division title after a 2-0 win over fellow title contenders Liverpool at Anfield on the last day of the 1988-89 season.
Victory ended Arsenal’s 18year wait to be crowned champions as they lifted the trophy having scored more goals than second-placed Liverpool, after both teams finished on 76 points and an identical goal difference of 37. Michael Thomas scored
●
Arsenal’s decisive second goal in the final minute of the match to seal the title for the Gunners.
May 26 1999: Manchester United’s players celebrate with the European Cup after their dramatic 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the final at Camp Nou in Barcelona.
Alex Ferguson’s side, who had already won the FA Cup and Premier League, were trailing the German side in the final after Mario Basler’s early goal. But substitute Teddy Sheringham scored an equaliser in the 90th minute to reignite their hopes of
●
a historic treble. With extra-time approaching he rose to head on a corner and set up Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for a stunning winner.
May 26 2011: Olympique Lyonnais players celebrate after sealing a 2-0 victory over Germany’s FCC Turbine Potsdam in the Women’s Champions League final in, London.
The victory was sweet revenge for the French side, who were beaten 7-6 on penalties by Potsdam in the title clash the previous season.
May 26 2018: Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale scores twice in a 3-1
● ●
Champions League final win over Liverpool. Bale’s brace and errors by Liverpool keeper Loris Karius gave the Spanish side a third straight title in the competition. Bale came on just past the hour with the score at 1-1 and after three minutes produced a bicycle kick finish and netted again with a speculative longrange effort that somehow went through the hands of the unfortunate Karius.
The German keeper had earlier handed Real a 51st-minute lead when he threw the ball straight at striker Karim Benzema
and the ball rolled into the unguarded net off the Frenchman’s leg.
May 26 2019: Russia’s Anastasia Potapova celebrates defeating Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-2 on Court Philippe Chatrier in the first round of the French Open.
Defeat meant Kerber’s campaign to complete a career slam was cut short but that came as no surprise considering the former world No 1 was playing on her least favourite surface.
May 26 2019: Drivers observe a minute’s silence in
● ●
tribute to late Formula One legend Niki Lauda at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Triple world champion Lauda, regarded as one of the finest racers in motor racing history, had died six days earlier aged 70.
Lewis Hamilton withstood lap after lap of intense pressure on worn tyres to win a nail-biting race in a triumphant tribute to Lauda. “I was fighting with the spirit of Niki. “I know he’ll be looking down and taking his hat off,” Hamilton said.
May 26 2019: US President Donald Trump presents the President’s Cup trophy to rising Japanese wrestler Asanoyama, who won a 15-day Summer Grand Sumo tournament at the Kokugikan sumo venue in Tokyo.
“I’ve always wanted to see sumo wrestling, so that was really great,” Trump, the first US president to watch sumo in the sport’s homeland, said. Trump, who was on a four-day visit to Japan, had earlier played golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. /
●