Referees need some love

The Chairman would like to make a point about not abusing referees. I know, he stands in the Sequins corner (corner formerly known as Sequins' Corner?) and they're not exactly quiet, but he is right, damnit.

There are two reasons why he is right as I see it:

1. Giving a referee a hard time in a game that you are playing in is totally senseless and almost always counterproductive. And people who imagine that they can intimidate a referee by being constantly in their face are almost always wrong (it takes a maestro like Gregan, van der Westhuizen or Dawson to do that...) Not unreasonably, referees resent being shouted at and are unlikely to act more favourably to the team shouting at them. How many times have you seen a decision reversed because of protests?

Referees will always make mistakes and it will always be hugely annoying when they do. But, to a man, they come to each game with honest and fair intentions and they never, ever deserve to be given a load of witless verbal for human error. If it makes you angry when the referee makes a bad call, show that the game matters to you by upping the effort, not wasting your energy shouting at the poor bloke.

2. To be a little more prosaic, rugby players don't behave in that way. Banter is great and referees enjoy that, but an absolute respect for the referee and his authority lies at the core of rugby union. We have all known that from our earliest days playing the game. Rugby players should have the self-discipline and self-respect not to demean themselves by raging and whingeing at officials like kids in a playground or - dare I say it - premiership footballers. I don't like to lay it on, but the game is bigger than each of us and we will be judged by the kind of game we pass on to the next generation. OK, it's after 1am and that's a bit strong, but I'm standing by it.

Donough's request extends beyond players on the park to members of the section watching the game. Basically we need to keep the comments witty and on the right side of the line (PT can explain where this line is).

Yours in admonition
Harps