The All Blacks are backing a call by Wellington referees to pull out of this weekend’s games due to ongoing abuse.
On Monday, the Wellington Rugby Referees Association (WRRA) decided to withdraw their services from all of this weekend’s matches following another three incidents of abuse last Saturday.
The Wellington Rugby Union (WRFU) met with club chairs on Monday night and subsequently decided to cancel all games from 10-12 July.
Players walk through the mud.
Simon Watts/Photosport
WRFU chief executive Tony Giles said the clubs were united in supporting the match officials.
“The clubs were unanimous in their support of zero tolerance toward referee abuse and are motivated to ensure the integrity of our officials and our game are upheld to the highest standard,” Giles said.
The cancellation comes as Wellington prepares to host the All Blacks’ second Nations Championship test against Italy on Saturday night, creating the unusual spectacle of the sport’s biggest stars taking the field while community rugby across the region is at a standstill because of abuse directed at referees.
All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard, who plays for the Wellington-based Hurricanes and will start for New Zealand against Italy, said he supported the referees’ stance.
“It’s disappointing to hear (about the referees abuse),” Roigard said.
“We play club rugby for the love of the sport and the referees, the majority of them are volunteers and they’re doing it for the same reason. It sounds cliche, but without the referees, we have no rugby.”
All Black Cam Roigard says Wellington Rugby has made the right call.
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Roigard said he sympathised with the players who don’t get to participate this weekend, but he believed Wellington Rugby made the right call to cancel the games.
“It is a shame, but I think it is good that they’re stamping their mark and putting their foot down to actually do something about it,” Roigard said.
“Hopefully there is a change and they’re (the referees) not getting as much abuse and whatnot in the future.”
So far this season, WRRA has received 19 reports of verbal abuse towards referees from the about 2300 games Wellington Rugby has hosted in this timeframe.
RNZ understands eight of the incidents involved players, five involved coaches or team support staff and the rest involved spectators.
The WRRA and WRFU met on Wednesday night and reached an agreement to strengthen support for match officials.
The agreement clears the way for rugby to resume next weekend.
However, discussions would continue “throughout the next six weeks or so before the end of the community season and then we’ll also meet in the off season to plan how we’re going to improve things for 2027”, he said,
Wellington Rugby chief executive Tony Giles said a Memorandum of Understanding between the union and the referees would be signed to pave the way forward.
Giles said he tabled the implementation of a Positive Vibes programme that was developed by Sport Waikato under the leadership of Matthew Cooper.
Parental behaviour at the junior level of the game would also be targeted with the New Zealand Rugby programme Applaud.
The WRRA president and chairperson, Ben Van Berkel, said the referees had received wide-ranging support for their stance of not officiating this weekend.
“We’ve been astonished and really appreciative of all the support we’ve got. There’s been a lot of people from within rugby, also outside of rugby, via our social media channels. I’ve been reached out to personally by a number of rugby and non-rugby people from Wellington and around the country, even some other people around the world too.”