‘TARGET OF VILE SEXIST ABUSE’

Ulster rugby fine club after ref report

A LEAKED report has revealed how a rugby referee was subjected to a vile tirade of sexist abuse while at a match.

Grainne Crabtree refereed the game between Coleraine’s 1st XV Senior Men’s team and Dromore RFC at Coleraine Rugby Club in March.

This week, a file on the game revealed the “sustained, vile, sexist abuse” to which Ms Crabtree alleges she was subjected during the game by four male spectators.

Ms Crabtree wrote the report after the game and submitted it to the Irish Rugby Union’s Ulster Branch, who subsequently fined Coleraine £5,000.

In the report, Ms Crabtree describes how a small number of spectators shouted a “tirade of profanities and sexual remarks” at her during the match.

As the match went on, she overheard the men yelling sexually degrading language at her,. She said: “The game continued and I could hear men laughing at how funny they found themselves. I noticed that the crowd was splitting, which left four men standing on their own. As I approached, they jeered and told me I was a ‘f ***** g joke’.”

In her statement, Ms Crabtree said the men told her to “take off your shorts so we get a better look at your a**e” and shouted “Yo, you s**g, you’re a f **** g disgrace, you s**g.”

Ms Crabtree said she approached the men after the game to ask their names for her report. She said one of the men dismissed her using a swear word.

Following the game, the Ulster Society of Rugby Football Referees said Ulster officials had investigated the abuse and upheld the charges. A Coleraine RFC spokesman said the club had accepted the outcome of the investigation.

A spokesman for Ulster Branch said: “While the Coleraine RFC issue is now closed, the IRFU Ulster Branch is actively considering how to promote respect for referees.”

They jeered and told me I was a ‘f ****** g joke... a s**g’ GRAINNE CRABTREE OFFICIAL MATCH REPORT