Last updated 13:29, Saturday, 22 March 2008

PERHAPS the most disturbing headline in Cumbrian sport during 2006 came early in the rugby union season.

Red card blight: Rugby Union crackdown on the problem that still plagues the Premiership

Surely there must have been some mistake – rugby union referees being verbally abused by players, officials and supporters?

Football, the game for gentlemen played by ruffians, was surely the natural arena for this sort of behaviour – not the game for ruffians played by gentlemen!

I’m afraid it was true and the start of the 2006/07 season was blighted by the threat of referees refusing to take matches and hang-up their whistles prematurely.

Sadly the sight of Premiership soccer stars man-handling, swearing, arguing and generally making life hard for referees have become common-place.

But on the green and pleasant playing fields of Cumbria general abuse of referees was considered off limits. He was the man who made the decisions, rightly or wrongly, and whatever he gave they were accepted.

Whether it was a general response to the enlightened age we live in; the advent of more serious League rugby rather than the social variety or a general decline in the sportsmanship associated with rugby union, last season opened unpleasantly.

Cumbria RFU’s Discipline Panel pledged to deal with each complaint on its merit and to be unstinting in the support of referees and determined to eliminate “this creeping cancer from the game.”

As a consequence one club and eight players were dealt with over the next few months until the lesson was brought home.

The club concerned had to post warning notices at its ground and had to pay a total of £315 in costs after the referee had been verbally abused in the clubhouse after the game.

That particular club was docked two points in the Cumbria League, and that probably sent out the strongest message that the Discipline Panel meant business.

The eight players were dealt with on their merits – serving between four and 12 weeks for their verbal abuse of referees.

You see referees are human and they need to know that they have the backing of those who have appointed them, the leagues, and, more importantly, those they are in charge of, the players and officials.

If we fast forward 18 months, from the start of the 2006/07 season to the present time, two-thirds of the way through the 2007/08 season, it’s pleasing to be able to report that not one player has been summoned for abusing a referee.

The only case dealt with on abuse to a referee concerned a club official who was given a ten-week touchline ban.

That has to be a statistic which pleases everyone involved in Cumbria rugby union – not least the referees who were at the sharp end of it all. But it has to be maintained, the message regularly delivered in case improved standards start dropping again.

When I discussed the improvement this week with David Morton, the secretary of the Discipline Panel, he said: “We were concerned at having had to deal with so many cases of indiscipline at such an early stage in the season.

“Without a referee there is no rugby and players and we asked clubs to bear that in mind. It is difficult enough trying to encourage people to take up refereeing when they retire from playing and it is unlikely that people will take up a refereeing career if they think that they are going to be subjected to unwarranted abuse.

“Whilst perhaps the reaction of players in certain circumstances may be understandable, nevertheless, their behaviour is inexcusable.

“We had a bit of a campaign and I’m happy to be able to report a dramatic improvement – although we still have two months of the season to go.”

As he gets around the  north in his official duties he says that players attitudes to referees are no  better, no worse than they are in Cumbria. It’s all a much of a  muchness.

One of Cumbria’s most-promising referees is Dean Lythgoe of Carlisle and he is more concerned when players question his impartiality.

“It hasn’t happened a lot in the five years I have been refereeing but that is the most unpleasant aspect, especially when it’s done in an aggressive manner.

“Most of the time there’s good banter between referee and players, which is fine.”

There was a time when the only player who queried (and politely) a particular decision by the referee was the skipper. Depending on how well they knew each other there might have been some earthy language – but it was usually taken the right way.

The time to discuss the finer points of the rules and their interpretations was in the bar afterwards, and that’s still practiced by a lot of the old school coaches and senior players.

Whatever sport we play there are good, bad and indifferent match officials – every bit as there are good, bad and indifferent players and coaches.

Interestingly I saw that certain soccer leagues are to introduce instant red cards for swearing. That’s all very well and good, but given the language around these days some teams could be left with just two or three players.

Language which we didn’t hear on the street 20 years ago is now commonplace on the sports field – some of it mild and inoffensive, but it can also be vulgar and completely unnecessary. I suppose a lot is down to the loudness of the oath and to whom it is directed.

There was a shortage of referees in Cumbria at the start of the season but there have been some additions to the ranks – one of them from South Africa.

But Cumbria does have some senior referees, approaching the final blast on the whistle, and it’s important that the roll-call of new boys is added to each season.

It’s always particularly good to see former players take up refereeing duties. Perhaps, now more than ever, they will appreciate the efforts being made to show more respect to the man in the middle and make his job easier – rather than harder.