Speaking to the Herald, van Berkel said it was great that non-referees were reporting incidents of abuse. <\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we want everyone to support referees and it\u2019s not so much just referees, it\u2019s if anyone walks past a behaviour they don\u2019t like, they should be doing something about it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate the people for stepping up and supporting the referees, but yeah, there\u2019s a lot of work to be done obviously.\u201d <\/p>\n
The abuse came from players, volunteers and spectators. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis year we want to make sure that we were actually reporting everything. So that\u2019s one of the reasons why we\u2019re at 19. I think we were at six or seven last year. <\/p>\n
Of the weekend\u2019s incidents, van Berkel said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to go into clubs or any specifics, but verbal abuse towards two referees and one assistant referee”.<\/p>\n
Van Berkel said while they had a meeting scheduled with the WRFU on Tuesday night to discuss the issue, the decision to not appoint referees was one the WRRA made independently. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I refereed a game on Saturday, I was notified of an abuse incident. So, I gave Tony [Giles, WRFU chief executive] a heads-up then that we were going to follow through with not appointing referees next weekend. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had some constructive, positive conversations with Tony since and yes, we are meeting tomorrow night,\u201d van Berkel said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe he\u2019s meeting with the club chairs or representatives tonight just to discuss whether games are cancelled, for example, or what their approach is. That\u2019s not something that we\u2019re across.\u201d <\/p>\n