International referee Wayne Barnes shows a yellow card at a game at Twickenham. Two yellow cards were dished out in the Mid Western v Whangaruru game. Photo / Getty Images
A Northland division one rugby game between Mid Western and Whangaruru called off after 62 minutes on March 22 has sparked a judiciary hearing.
The hearing, which featured a number of representatives from the rugby and legal community, was held on Monday to analyse the events of the game and decide what team received the points from the game.
In a general incident report compiled by the game's referee, who the Northern Advocate has chosen not to name, the referee said the game was called off prematurely due to too many infringements being made from both teams.
The report said the game, held at the Mid Western Rugby and Squash Club grounds, had over 30 penalties and two yellow cards awarded in the 62 minutes. It said both team captains were spoken to in an attempt to address the infringements, but that this was not supported by both teams' actions.
The report said at one stage in the game, captains were spoken to regarding a potentially racist comment made to a Mid Western player which, the report said, was encouraging this player to go back to his own country of South Africa.
The report said the referee told captains at one point that, "I will not be spending my weekend filling out yellow card reports, any further swearing the game will be called off".
It said during a Whangaruru lineout, after that message was delivered, the referee thought he heard a Whangaruru player swear at the assistant referee, which was when the game was called off.
The report said this was corrected by the assistant referee that the swearing was directed at a supporter on the sideline.
At the time the game was called off, Whangaruru were leading 10-0. On the Northland Rugby Union website, the final score is listed as 10-10.
Whangaruru Rugby Football Club chairperson Hamish Haika confirmed the two clubs involved could not agree on a date to replay the game and it was decided the four points for winning the game would be shared between the teams.
Haika said the team had discussed the report but he felt the infringements were not as serious as the report said they were.
"The majority of those incidents, I think, were blown out of proportion," Haika said.
In relation to the potentially racist comment made to a Mid Western player, Haika said he didn't see it as an offensive comment and he didn't agree with the judiciary's decision to share the points from the game.
Haika said he thought the club had been treated unfairly by the Northland Rugby Union.
"It's a bit frustrating on our end because we feel discriminated against because this hasn't happened to any other club that I know of when a game has been called off."
He said the next step was to consult club committee members to consider whether it will appeal the decision.
Northland Rugby Union community rugby manager Clark Lewis said the hearing panel of three people, independent of the Northland Rugby Union, made a ruling which was agreed upon by both clubs on [Monday] night.
"A game was called off by a referee of which an official incident report from the referee was submitted to Northland Rugby Union which ended up at a judicial hearing that both clubs appeared as per the process," Lewis said.
"Yes, Whangaruru were reluctant to accept the ruling as in their eyes, they won the game with regards to a game being called off after half time as per the rules, but the jurisdiction of the black book with a game being called off overrules that and the decision was final."
Lewis said anyone had the right to appeal the decision but said the Northland Rugby Union correctly followed this by the process and letter of the law, and no discrimination was made whatsoever towards the club.
Mid Western club president Carl Gunson said he didn't want to blame the referee but said there were a number of interesting calls in the game.
"Without referees we don't have a game, but the whole game was very interestingly refereed," he said.
Gunson respected the judiciary's decision and said there were different ways to deal with repeated infringements like using yellow and red cards, instead of calling the game off.
Gunson said poor behaviour sometimes happened in rugby in the heat of the moment but felt it needed to be addressed.
Former rugby referee Gavin Benney, who was at the hearing representing referees as part of an incident committee, said he supported the referee's right to finish the game early.
"I'm not saying whether the decision was right, I defend the referee's right to call the game off and walk off the field," he said.
Benney said the repeated infringements could have been handled differently but felt that the event managers, who are required to be at every rugby game, should be used to cut out poor behaviour from the sideline.
"The referees have got to take it upon themselves to get the event manager to stop that behaviour so I'm encouraging referees that if there's no event manager there, get in your car and go home, but they don't want to do that because they want to see a game of rugby."