Wayne Barnes abuse: Don’t blame the referee for Rugby World Cup final defeat

Ardie Savea and All Blacks teammates share a moment with referee Wayne Barnes. Photo / Getty Images

EDITORIAL

When the All Blacks arrive home today, they should be greeted as heroes - beaten heroes, but heroes all the same.

In the past 18 months, Ian Foster’s men reinvented themselves, flipping the switch and lifting our national game from one of our lowest points to within striking distance of the ultimate title.

All Blacks fans need to celebrate their efforts, acknowledge the bits that didn’t work, stop blaming the ref and get on with life.

The ref-blaming is the worst of it.

Of the few universal concepts that underpin all levels of sport - from kids playing at grassroots community level to top-flight heroes setting global records and winning world titles - not blaming the ref is the most fundamental.

Yep, even when you think they got it wrong.

Wayne Barnes didn’t cost the All Blacks victory in the Rugby World Cup final, nor did the largely faceless Television Match Officials. So, don’t blame the ref (and - since some of us seem to need reminding - don’t issue death threats against the ref, either).

Any errors made by the match officials pale in comparison with those made by the All Blacks players themselves. But don’t blame them either - they did better than any of us could have managed. Better than many of us would have hoped just nine weeks ago. They worked hard in a tough campaign, knocked out the world’s top team, Ireland, and took our oldest foe, the Springboks, right to the wire.

If you want to know who’s responsible, look no further than the Springboks, who were - by the narrowest of margins - the better side on the day. Siya Kolisi’s men are worthy champions.

In the days following the Rugby World Cup final, a small - though very loud - bunch of All Blacks supporters have said some pretty disgusting things about the match officials. Social media has given very visible platforms to opinions that were once drowned out at the pub.

Here in New Zealand, we tend to assume other sports fans - principally rugby supporters from England and South Africa - are the “world’s worst fans”. We tend to think that view is shared universally; we imagine fans in Australia, France, Wales and elsewhere agree that the Boks and the Poms are the worst.

But well-travelled Kiwi sports followers will know that we are not universally loved; in many corners of the world we are regarded as small-minded, petty and abusive. It doesn’t help that with no singing and no meaningful chanting, we bring zero atmosphere to big occasions.

As Kiwi fans abuse Barnes online, it’s worth asking: are we the baddies?

When we normalise yelling at referees, we create a culture in which sideline abuse at kids’ sport is accepted - encouraged even - and when we do that, we drive away the volunteer coaches and refs that make kids’ sport possible. We’re killing kids’ sport and with it cutting short future generations of All Blacks and Black Ferns.

Let’s not be those fans, let’s be the goodies.

Winston Aldworth is NZME’s Head of Sport and has been a journalist since 1999.