Weekly Ramble

Today, a departure from the norm. A storm seems to have been raised about the level of officiating during the Impala vs. Harlequins match over the weekend. To me it is a bit belated since I have variously posted on the level of officiating in this country but then it did not seem to matter. Let me ponder about our referees.

Refereeing is a very difficult task. It is one of those jobs that one does virtually "alone". A referee is not a popular person much of the time due to various perceptions. The world over, it is acknowledged as one of the most difficult roles to perform in virtually any sport. That it is difficult and lonesome possibly means you need a "special" kind of person to perform the role. This person has got to be somewhat motivated to perform this role.

What then would "inspire" one to want to be a referee? Most of the motivation would seem to be from within. A referee needs to be assertive in his role and to command all those around him. Does this come with training or with life experiences? Let me take a ride through my short history of the game of rugby and the referees I recall. Most referees of the sport were predominantly white, either settlers or expatriates. They were "bosses" where they worked and were self confident in their own right. Names of Andrew Jackson, Tom Thorpe, Mark Riley, etc. come to mind. Others were teachers and symbols of authority, e.g. Kevin Obyrne. The "indegenious" referees who came through at the time were the likes of Tom Oketch, John Gishinga, Ojok ma K'Odawa and others, who were successful businessmen in their time and hence bosses as well. All the mentioned authoritative figures in life and carried this "aura" onto the pitch. Dissent then was unheard of either due respect for the referees and their command of the "laws of the game" or just due to their own ignorance of the same. The end result was that the referee was the law.

As the "Africanisation" of the sport took root, if I may use that word, we got more and more indegenious referees. Many were former players or those who started playing but were unable to continue for some reason. Here the likes of Tchalla Raposo, Victor Muniafu, Michael Otieno, Mark Andere and several others come to mind. These were also fairly respected since they had played the game to some level and thus "understood the game". They were also thus presumed to be competent.

We are now in an era where there are no volunteers to referee, for some reason or the other. We now have referees of "dubious" rugby pedigree. The likes of Raymond Oruo, Paul Weloba, Godwin Karuga who are undoubtedly our top three did not play any rugby anyone remembers (leave alone saw). They have encouraged a motley crew of like persons with "no history" to speak of to take up the sport. We thus have an entire refereeing fraternity that "does not understand the game" at least to the diehards of the sport. We now also have more enlightened players and fans than before, leading to a situation where referees' calls are challenged on the pitch and from the sidelines (albeit by loud heckling). To me the current crop of referees are motivated more by a desire for power than anything else. They however have one thing in their favour that most people ignore. They have a structure. More refereeing courses are carried out in this country than even coaching courses. The referees actually have coaches of referees amongst them and are regularly evaluated. That they have skewed allocation methods for games does not hinder the fact that they actually debate merits and demerits of a particular referee handling a particular match. They are also regularly assessed. That it is such a thankless job means there is not much in terms of motivation for the referees and in fact the protection a referee gets from the laws of the game is to encourage their boldness. That the referee is the "sole judge of fact" on the field of play gives them unbridled power. And that the sanctions against anything done to a referee in terms of abuse or assault are so stiff is also meant to protect them against that "lonesome" element.

What then must we do? We must let referees get on with refereeing and leave them to it. That a referee is incompetent is an equalising factor as opposed to calling one biased! Once players and spectators learn to realise that the referee is not a factor, they will also get down to playing within the limits of the officiating and we may see our games improve.

I am yet to see a referee knock on a ball or miss a tackle in order to be blamed for losing a game. Let us sort these out first and then start pointing fingers at the referee!