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Sideline referee abuse to stop

A campaign designed to stamp out sideline referee abuse on our community rugby fields kicked off on Tuesday in Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.

Tuesday, 29 June 2010

NZ Rugby World

A campaign designed to stamp out sideline referee abuse on our community rugby fields kicked off on Tuesday in Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.

The campaign was developed in response to a need identified by Rugby Referee Associations around the country, and is supported by AMI Insurance. It is aptly titled: ‘Let’s kick referee abuse for touch’ and aims to incite peer pressure among spectators through catchy on-field signage with the line - ‘Scream for your team…not at the ref’.

The hard hitting awareness campaign will run over the rugby season and will be supported by radio advertising. BBQs at many of the junior rugby venues will also be held this weekend where local refs will don aprons and run a sausage sizzle alongside local AMI Insurance staff, to promote the message.

Matthew Cody, Executive Manager of Marketing, AMI Insurance says, “This campaign is just part of our commitment to local rugby referees (AMI currently supports 17 referee associations nationwide). We believe that passing the message back to the sidelines and asking the spectators to control their own behavior will resonate with rugby supporters.”

The campaign follows on from the success of a similar initiative by AMI and the Auckland Rugby Union in 2009, which saw a dramatic decrease in reported referee abuse.

Referees at junior games, in particular, are often first or second year referees who are still learning the basics of refereeing. Sadly some of these new referees give up because of the actions of a few supporters.

"As an active referee, I know firsthand how serious this issue is. Rugby is our sport, our passion. We seek the same rewards and enjoyment from participation as the players and coaches do. Any abuse takes away that enjoyment and has caused a number of referees to leave the game. With the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next year, we’re expecting an influx of new players, especially in junior grades so we just can’t afford to lose refs,” says Brendon Hill, Chairman of the Canterbury Rugby Referees Association.

“Volunteer referees are the unsung heroes of grass roots rugby, without them there would not be a game and yet they’re often the target of spectators’ misdirected passion,” says James Munro of AMI Insurance. Few know this better than 23 year old Munro who, after five years as a volunteer ref, is now ‘blowing the whistle’ at a senior level in Canterbury when he is not at his AMI Insurance day job.

NZRU General Manager Community Rugby Brent Anderson says the campaign’s arrival is timely.

“Being a referee is a fantastic way to get involved with junior rugby while keeping fit. We’re hopeful that this campaign, supported by AMI, will get spectators onside with this important issue and that heightened awareness may even encourage supporters to pick up a whistle themselves,” says Anderson.

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