On the subject of referee abuse

Yet, not only the Senanayake pose, but, the bent-arm problem is real in Sri Lanka. During our chat with Jayaratne we tried to cover as much areas as possible on the issue at hand. Jayaratne explained that what the ICC was trying to do was not something new. He said the 15 degree tolerance level was already there in the statute book. There would have been some difference in the interpretation of it by international umpires, but now the law is put fully into effect and the umpires and the rest of the ICC machinery are at it. But, no new laws have been introduced or existing laws been removed.

What the ICC is looking at is if the bowler is extending his elbow at the point of delivery and straightening his arm. If that is happening they would accept a 15 degree move of the elbow and the buck stops there. According to Jayaratne, now the ICC testing does not take the career bend into account. What they are only concerned about is how much a bowler extends his elbow at the point of delivery. The career bend is how one holds his hands down at a relaxed posture. The bend of one’s arm at that point is described as the career bend.

At the same time the ICC is not concerned about the flexing of the arm. Flexing is described as bending inwards -- how a leg spinner delivers the ball. It is proven that one cannot throw a ball while flexing the arm.

Still world cricket has not been able to catch a bowler with a dodgy action in a match environment. A system of that nature still has not been developed. What happens at present is -- once a bowler is reported for using illegal deliveries and once the ICC receives the footage of the bowler’s bad deliveries, the bowler is sent to an ICC accredited testing centre. Here the bowler is requested to bowl with the very same action as recorded in the footage and those deliveries are overlaid and the testing is done upon that. During the test, thirteen infrared cameras are focused on the bowler’s delivery. Then the experts do the calculations on the extension of the elbow and arrive at their diagnosis.

However, Jayaratne says what is wrong in this process is that the ICC, though it gives the verdict after the test that a bowler is extending his arm to a certain number of degrees, it does not explain the methodology on how they arrived at that conclusion.

It is believed that the ICC fears that if the modality is divulged, individual boards may challenge the ICC’s conclusions through other means.

Then once Senanayake came back into the island, SLC spin bowling coach Piyal Wijetunga worked on Senanayake’s action, especially on areas that prompted the bowler to straighten his elbow at the point of delivery. Jayaratne said, “When he is operating now besides the straightness of the arm you may not see any difference. But, a lot of cosmetic changes have been put into his new style of bowling. coaches, team staff or team substitutes towards the match officials and/or to their players or opposition players, USA Rugby Referees will, with immediate effect, be applying the following”: The referee will ask the identified person to refrain from this behavior ONCE, On the second occasion the referee will EJECT the person from the grounds; Zero tolerance approach will be applied.

The indication is that action from the bench does not give a favourable environment to a referee and impacts the game. The action taken by USA does not stand alone but has precedence. The responsibility for managing the game cannot be left solely in the hand of the referee as stated in the IRB regulation and quoted in USA Rugby; it is a collective responsibility.

It may not be necessary to take action and or put in place a system like this directive but to affect a system of self regulation by those in Sri Lanka. It should not be left to the administrators to direct but for participants to put in place a code at club and school. This issue is more apparent at schools games and a nuisance at junior games. If we act wisely in enforcing a code; you are responsible and you want it that way and not because others have imposed it. This can be a greater success as you take responsibility for the betterment of the game.

Texas Rugby goes further and as an operational measure advice to use the captain during the game to communicate to players and coaches that foul language, taunts, incitement to violence and petitioning for calls will not be tolerated. It says that Coaches who persistently use the referee’s name to petition for calls MUST be dealt with through the captain. In the background of how the game is managed on the field there is an important role for the Captain to play being the main point of contact with the referee. Among the attributes one would seek for in a captain two that is important is to be •mentally strong and be. •Emotionally disciplined. The captain should have “Fire in the belly but ice in the brain.”

This is important for three reasons: (i) as a role model the example set by the captain must meet every expectation he has of the players. For example, if the captain becomes angry with the referee and constantly questions his decisions, then he cannot expect his players to accept refereeing decisions themselves. (ii) If the captain loses self-control and vents his anger or frustration (whether against an opponent, teammate or the referee), he will have lost the ability to make rational decisions. His performance will also suffer; a loss of emotional control will affect timing, co-ordination and the ability to ‘read’ the game as awareness becomes more narrowly focused. (iii) A loss of emotional control will be seen as a sign of weakness by the opposition, boosting their confidence whilst undermining that of the team. This does not mean that your captain becomes an emotionless robot, devoid of passion, but rather he plays (in the words of the great Welsh coach Carwyn James) “with fire in the belly but ice in the brain”.

Texas Rugby goes further in defining abuse: • Coaches petitioning ARs or Touch Judges for calls or asking them to bring something to the referee’s attention. • ARs & TJs need to focus on the field of play and not spend time explaining calls, defending calls or the center referees character. • Coaches consistently outside of technical area. • Coaches on field to argue call (Automatic ejection). • Coaches, players in uniform or administrators calling the referee by name to plead for a call their way at high volume. • Personal insults to opponents or referees delivered by a coach, player or administration. • Coaches, players or administration in the technical area inciting violence or revenge • Physical or verbal confrontation with referee before, during or after the match. • Abuse of referee in social media or press before or after match. •Habitually using the “third party” complaint technique: Shouting to captain or players from the sideline to “tell the ref to watch for this or that.

Clubs, the big brother of rugby can set a standard easily this season with a good cause which will be a great example to follow in the schools season that will not be far off. After all you are the role models for the kids.

Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB