CRYING FOUL
Farcical for officials to ignore dirty play just because TV pundit beat them to it!
MORE officiating controversy. There’s always something, isn’t there? And this time, apparently, it’s Austin Healey’s fault — for making a swift and astute observation in his role as a TV pundit.
In the closing stages of Saracens’ thunderous 52-7 win over Harlequins, Stephan Lewies, the frustrated captain of the doomed visitors, hurled himself recklessly into Owen Farrell, who was on the ground beside a ruck.
It was an ugly collision, late and off the ball, sparking a scuffle involving several players. It justified action against Lewies, but nothing happened, because Healey highlighted the offence on TNT Sports commentary.
Television match official Stuart Terheege was overheard telling referee Christophe Ridley: ‘The problem I have got now is that it looks like Austin has instigated it, because we’re late, so I don’t want to talk about it, OK?’
In essence, he did not want to be seen to make an intervention to ensure justice was done, in case it was perceived as being prompted by an external voice.
The bizarre, farcical episode has not gone down well. Professor John Fairclough from player welfare group Progressive Rugby said: ‘Whatever the reason, it is clear a decision has been taken to ignore foul, reckless or dangerous play because of concern that it had been highlighted by a pundit. This is hugely concerning and a clear dereliction of a match official’s duty to ensure player safety. An explanation should be sought as a matter of urgency.’
He’s right: it was wrong. It shouldn’t happen, but this is a problem of having a member of the match- day officiating team being so reliant on broadcasters to provide the material needed — and to even be sat with them.
In a murkier sense, there have been regular grumbles over recent years that TMOs can be hampered in France by sudden, inexplicable shortages of camera angles.
The incident at Saracens was a bad look for the game and needs to be rectified. There cannot be such a glaring procedural flaw for no good reason. It would be ideal if the officials could be kept separate from — and oblivious to — the work and views of the television staff nearby. But, even if they cannot avoid being privy to some outside opinion, take the correct action anyway.
On a brighter note, there were positive developments on the far side of the world last weekend. During the Blues v Crusaders match in Super Rugby, Kiwi referee Ben O’Keeffe kept ordering scrum-halves to hurry up at the base of rucks — with countdowns to prevent time-wasting.
Then he was available for interview after the game, to talk through his decision-making in relation to three yellow cards and other talking points. Urgency and transparency: a welcome double.