VINCENT RINGROSE. Gisborne Herald file picture by Paul Rickard
How does a neutral referee keep order and remain impartial in the roughest, toughest Heartland Championship rugby derby of the lot?
The wooden answer to that question is “without fear or favour” but with Civil Project Solutions Poverty Bay set to play Ngati Porou East Coast in what could be a classic under South Canterbury's Chris Paul at Gisborne's Rugby Park tomorrow, the men in the middle for three of the teams' most memorable clashes have a tale to tell.
Commercial real estate agent Gary Wise, of Hawke's Bay, controlled the National Provincial Championship third division final on October 24, 1999. NPEC won that classic match at Whakarua Park in Ruatoria 18-15, on the back of a drop goal by first five-eighth Victor Taingahue.
Wise was reminded of what was a grand occasion and the partisan, tribal nature of the Bay-versus-Coast game by former Magpies halfback Ken Lord last Wednesday afternoon at a gym in Greenmeadows.
Wise said: “I'd been named in the elite squad that year, gone to the Hong Kong Sevens, even been named the Most Promising Referee of the Year, but I hadn't thought about the teams — Poverty Bay or East Coast — until my referee coach Malcolm Dixon and I got to Gisborne on Friday evening. In the morning, we did some pre-match preparation but nothing had prepared me for the atmosphere on the way up or at the ground: roads, horses, stickers, balloons, letterboxes — it was all Sky Blue. I remember I ate a steak pie before the game, the atmosphere, and that 90 percent of the crowd were East Coast supporters.
Pre-game, my touch judges — Tony Treloar (King Country) and Matt Peters (Bay of Plenty) — and I walked around the field in our New Zealand Rugby Union dress suits, and the locals asked us if we were here for a fashion show.
“The game itself was fantastic. At one stage, I slipped over — that got a few chuckles — but I was determined to let the players, not a refereeing decision in the 80th minute, decide the outcome.
“The uniqueness and authenticity of the passion, the crowd, the whole package, made that one of the most memorable days of my career.”
Kings College old boy Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri has worked for New Zealand Cricket as their match officials manager and for the Otago Rugby Football Union as referee education officer, and blew the whistle in 48 first-class games.
He was in the middle for the Gisborne-Napier first 15 clash at Napier Boys' High School last year and the unforgettable 2012 Meads Cup final at Whakarua Park in which defending champions Wanganui were 27-3 up at halftime, but the Coast came back to win 29-27.
Eden-Whaitiri saw the Colin Hovell-led Bay hold off a Sky Blues crew containing loosehead prop Michael Noble and another former North Harbour and NZ Maori representative, the late Horace Lewis, at No.8, 33-24 at Ruatoria on September 15, 2007, having led 20-3 at the break.
During the game in 2007, the then-22-year-old official recalls “dishing out more cards than a poker dealer”.
Four years later, he was in charge at Uawa Domain when Bay lock Api Ratuniyarawa (with NPEC 30-29 ahead) — in the act of scoring — mistook the NPEC dead-ball line for the goal-line with only 90 seconds left to play.
While impartial in his role, Eden-Whaitiri — like the 2000 on hand to watch the 154th Bay-Coast clash during World Cup Year — wouldn't have been human had he not felt for Ratuniyarawa.
Referees and players tend to register and empathise more or less, after the fulltime whistle.
Vincent Ringrose was a court registry officer for the Ministry of Justice when, on May 30, 2015, he took charge of Poverty Bay's 125th-anniversary match against the Sky Blues.
Then, as will be the case tomorrow, the Bay had on their mantlepiece the Anaru “Skip” Paenga Memorial Shield.
Ringrose may now be on secondment from the Ministry of Justice as a private secretary, but six years ago he was in the hot seat.
Wellingtonian Ringrose remembers that picture-perfect day at Gisborne's Rugby Park with feeling.
“I was new at that level, to that pressure, having refereed only three Heartland games before” he said.
“I realised quickly that I had my work cut out trying to manage one of the best loose forwards I've ever encountered, and one of my all-time favourite players — the Coast's fiery No.7, Tanetoa Parata.
“In the end, I politely asked the Coast first-five, ex-Otago and Southland rep Richard Apanui, to help me out with that.
“I'd add it was always a privilege to referee the Coast or the Bay, let alone both on Poverty Bay's 125th jubilee.”
A fourth-year man in the New Zealand Rugby high-performance referee squad, Chris Paul, 30, played for Harlequins of Timaru and made his Heartland debut with North Otago versus Mid Canterbury in Oamuru on October 5, 2019. His assistant referees in Week 7 will be Poverty Bay stalwarts Royce Maynard and Mark Greene.