{"id":606153,"date":"2026-09-20T11:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T11:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606153\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T11:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T11:18:10","slug":"warriors-v-knights-referees-pelted-with-bottles-as-they-leave-the-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606153\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors v Knights: Referees pelted with bottles as they leave the field"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe colours, the energy, the happiness, the celebration. But there\u2019s just no need for it. It\u2019s just embarrassing.<\/p>\n

\"WarriorsWarriors fans were seen throwing projectiles at NRL referee Ashley Klein and his assistants after the Newcastle Knights’ victory at Eden Park. Photo \/ @triplem_nrl, @nzwarriorsfanbase<\/p>\n

\u201cAshley Klein probably reffed the best game of rugby league I\u2019ve seen in a long time tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t take any gamesmanship in terms of people laying down. He didn\u2019t let people approach him winging. He didn\u2019t make the game about him. He let the players come and play and essentially they dictated the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Johnson acknowledged there could be some frustration directed towards the bunker.<\/p>\n

\u201cChris Butler\u2019s over there in the bunker and there were a couple of calls there that I\u2019m sitting here scratching my head at.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if I\u2019m a Warriors fan, whoever, just as rugby league fan in general, you can\u2019t get those wrong. And the ruling on one of them, which was the Te Maire Martin one, which really got me, which is the strip.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, the terminology that came through the earpiece and hearing Chris Butler overturn this call was that Te Maire Martin regrips his fingers to strip the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, that is actually taking the absolute piss. That is absurd. That is having zero feel for what it\u2019s like to be out there in the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually having zero feel. You can tell Chris Butler has never been bumped off in his life. I have. Okay, so I can actually talk to this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get bumped off, you cannot even in a world put your mind into a place of I need to regrip my finger to strip the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson finished with further praise for Klein.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the energy felt around here, it\u2019s unfair to take it out on Ashley Klein because he did everything exactly as he should.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I thought, to his credit, hearing him through the comms, which we are very much privy to, it was a really special and well reffed game and I hope we see him in a prelim or the grand final because that\u2019s what those games need to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RefereeReferee Ashley Klein was praised by former Warrior Shaun Johnson for how he handled the match at Eden Park. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

In 2010 six people were arrested inside Eden Park for disorder-related behaviour<\/a> with referees having bottles fired at them during a Four Nations match between the Kiwis and Australia.<\/p>\n

A crowd of 44,324 watched that test which saw Australia come away with a 34-20 victory.<\/p>\n

This latest incident comes a day after Hawthorn fans at the MCG in the AFL preliminary finals throwing bottles at the umpires after their side lost to the Brisbane Lions.<\/p>\n

The AFL said it would work with security at the venue and Victoria police to find those throwing the projectiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf identified they will be banned from games and the stadium for a minimum five years,\u201d a statement from the AFL read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe passion for footy is unmatched in Australian sport, however, what transpired last night by a number of individuals was dangerous and crossed the line.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe colours, the energy, the happiness, the celebration. But there\u2019s just no need for it. It\u2019s just embarrassing.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,806,33523,36230,68692,9517,19345,291357,78719,12514,2225,111,2653,139,69,298678,59499,119747,7812,26887,213,223,8229,84459,3006,3608,102],"class_list":["post-606153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-as","tag-ashley","tag-assistants","tag-bottles","tag-fans","tag-field","tag-klein","tag-knights","tag-leave","tag-loss","tag-new-zealand","tag-newcastle","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pelted","tag-referee","tag-referees","tag-seen","tag-sides","tag-sports","tag-the","tag-they","tag-throwing","tag-warriors","tag-were","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}