Female referee for mens rugby

kerryjack

Hi there said I would post this in gentlemen's forum, I am sorry but I think this is ridiculous and a step too far having a female referee reffing a mans game. Be honest lads be sexist on this one, am I right.

babyhack

You are wrong

KaneToad

I don't agree with you.

I can't see any issue with it. If the ref is good enough to ref then I can't see gender playing any part. I realise that you're probably stirring but what insights do you think a male would have when reffing males that a female wouldn't have ? Likewise, what insights/advantages would a female ref have for a female game that a male wouldn't have ?

kerryjack

KaneToad wrote: »

I don't agree with you.

I can't see any issue with it. If the ref is good enough to ref then I can't see gender playing any part. I realise that you're probably stirring but what insights do you think a male would have when reffing males that a female wouldn't have ? Likewise, what insights/advantages would a female ref have for a female game that a male wouldn't have ?

Not stirring at all concerned nobody is shouting stop.

CIARAN_BOYLE

My only issue is that female referees are required to have the same fitness requirements as male referees.

If this is the case and I believe it is I would have no issues.

Yawns

why shout stop?

As long as the ref is good enough, who cares about gender.

irelandrover

Why would you possibly have an issue with this?

Stheno

kerryjack wrote: »

Not stirring at all concerned nobody is shouting stop.

Did you see that a female referee won ref of the year?

Insect Overlord

Why would anyone shout stop?

We have teachers, doctors, Gardaí, TDs, judges, shopkeepers, farmers, psychologists, barbers, taxi drivers, etc. Why not have female referees?

Fuzzy Logic

kerryjack wrote: »

Hi there said I would post this in gentlemen's forum, I am sorry but I think this is ridiculous and a step too far having a female referee reffing a mans game. Be honest lads be sexist on this one, am I right.

What an absolutely ridiculous statement. I refereed alongside Joy and the amount of work that she has done to get to where she is at now is outstanding. Also being awarded the women’s rugby World Cup Final earlier this year is testament to her talents.

gctest50

kerryjack wrote: »

Hi there said I would post this in gentlemen's forum, I am sorry but I think this is ridiculous and a step too far having a female referee reffing a mans game. Be honest lads be sexist on this one, am I right.

If she ( and it's down to the individual ) can do the job as well as anyone - grand, bit of a change anyway

kerryjack wrote: »

........

a mans game....

crowd of lads mud wrestling ? lol


it's just a game


.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Stheno wrote: »

Did you see that a female referee won ref of the year?

I presume this is why he is posting. Congratulations to Joy Neville on her award and congratulations to her on refereeing three men's internationals this autumn.

Stheno

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I presume this is why he is posting. Congratulations to Joy Neville on her award and congratulations to her on refereeing three men's internationals this autumn.

Agreed great achievement

Inmyownworld

kerryjack wrote: »

Hi there said I would post this in gentlemen's forum, I am sorry but I think this is ridiculous and a step too far having a female referee reffing a mans game. Be honest lads be sexist on this one, am I right.

Just curious - do you also think it's ridiculous having male referees in women's rugby?

panda100

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote:

My only issue is that female referees are required to have the same fitness requirements as male referees.

Ha! Do you really think so little of women's athleticism that you don't think they could keep up with men while refereeing? Have you seen the size of some of the umpires at GAA matches???

coolbeans

kerryjack wrote: »

Hi there said I would post this in gentlemen's forum, I am sorry but I think this is ridiculous and a step too far having a female referee reffing a mans game. Be honest lads be sexist on this one, am I

What's your beef with it like?

Wibbs

panda100 wrote: »

Ha! Do you really think so little of women's athleticism that you don't think they could keep up with men while refereeing? Have you seen the size of some of the umpires at GAA matches???

Exactly. The role hardly requires Ironman triathlon levels of fitness. You have to be fit of course, but nowhere close to the gender difference in fitness/strength levels at high level sports. Fair play to her for winning the ref of the year.

Tefral

Cant see the problem to be honest. Its not like she will be in showering away with the lads in the dressing rooms.

As long as she can keep the pace (which she clearly can) and officiates over the game with fairness and in accordance with the rules of the sport, who cares if its a female or a man.

kerryjack

We don't need them, enough of good reffs with out them.

GLaDOS

Next thing they'll be letting the homosexuals referee. When will it stop?

CIARAN_BOYLE

panda100 wrote: »

Ha! Do you really think so little of women's athleticism that you don't think they could keep up with men while refereeing? Have you seen the size of some of the umpires at GAA matches???

I don't know about gaa at all. I don't follow the sport. My only concern is that the fitness requirements for the referees are the same no matter the gender.

In professional rugby referees are required to pass strict fitness tests and the women take the same tests as the men if they want to referee men's matches. It's not an easy pass for any one.

In soccer for example the fitness tests are spelled out here

https://www.dutchreferee.com/fifa-fitness-test-for-referees/

Stheno

GLaDOS wrote: »

Next thing they'll be letting the homosexuals referee. When will it stop?

You're a few years behind on that one :pac:

Tefral

kerryjack wrote: »

We don't need them, enough of good reffs with out them.

Joy is better than some of the (male) Refs in the Pro 14 at the moment.

Sleepy

Stheno wrote: »

You're a few years behind on that one :pac:

I'd have assumed it was sarcasm since the best known rugby referee in the Northern Hemisphere at least is openly gay...

CardinalJ

You clearly don't watch much rugby then. Have you seen how poor some pro14 referees are?

This is a mindless thread.

laserlad2010

Concept: 3/5
I gave you three points because sport is an emotive topic, tends to get lads backs up, and rugby is topical at the moment. Nicely timed attempt. Also with women's rugby in the headlines for poor funding and the argument of Sevens versus Union on a global scale - it's topical. Also Joy Neville's award recently (only realised that reading this thread!)

Content:1/5
Really poor attempt to draw the reader in. No anecdotal evidence? No "I heard down the pub"? I would have at least expected a negative reference to women's rugby abilities. I'm afraid this is where you really fell short and lost points. Only one paragraph, poor syntax... No real passion oozing out from your complaint.

Execution: 0/5
Posting at 10:30 on a Monday morning was a mistake. Perhaps you should have waited until later? More site traffic. Also, your line "C'mon lads you can be as sexist as you like" - that old baited line! Seasoned sexists such as yourself will have seen that as a trap. Subtlety, my friend.

Total: 1/5

Overall, if this is your first wind up attempt I'd say there's potential there to turn into another EOTR, which bodes well for Boards' future. I wish you all the best with your career!

kerryjack

I am not winding up its just a discussion we are having and I have been honest and I said I don't like it, I also don't like women boxing, looks like I am on my own on this one and and thats fair enough.

seamus

kerryjack wrote: »

I am not winding up its just a discussion we are having and I have been honest and I said I don't like it, I also don't like women boxing, looks like I am on my own on this one and and thats fair enough.

"I don't like" isn't a good enough reason to stop anyone else doing it.

If you don't like it, then don't watch it.

If you want others to not do it, then you're going to have to come up with actual logical arguments.

There is no fitness argument. It's not like they need to be able to run a 2-hour marathon, or wrestle people to the ground, to ref a rugby game. Half of the game is standing around anyway.

NUTLEY BOY

A woman is as entirely capable of refereeing a mens' match as a man.

I fail entirely to see the conceptual difficulty with a woman refereeing a mens' match. Maybe the wonderment turns on the relative cultural novelty of the concept.

A few years ago I saw a visiting lady referee from England in charge of a fairly vigorous match in the Belfield Bowl. She was even smaller than either scrum half ! Her control of the match was solid but not in a bossy way. She made good decisions, retained complete authority and the players gave her no trouble. It was also most entertaining as the players didn't seem to know how to get mouthy with her

Well played Joy Neville....

flaneur

I can't see any issue at all.

It's not like the referees are physically involved with tackling guys. They have to be fairly fast, observant, understand the rules, be fair, able to deal with people on the pitch and fairly light on their feet.

A lot of male refs wouldn't necessarily be physically anywhere near as strong as the players. It doesn't stop them reffing.

A lot of female rugby players could also floor your average guy (including quite a few rugby players).

I don't see any reason why a woman couldn't ref a male game or a man ref a female game.

The notion that women are some kind of delicate flowers is a bit ridiculous.

Tefral

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

A woman is as entirely capable of refereeing a men's match as a man.

I fail entirely to see the conceptual difficulty with a woman refereeing a men's match. Maybe the wonderment turns on the relative cultural novelty of the concept.

A few years ago I saw a visiting lady referee from England in charge of a fairly vigorous match in the Belfield Bowl. She was even smaller than either scrum half ! Her control of the match was solid but not in a bossy way. She made good decisions, retained complete authority and the players gave her no trouble. It was also most entertaining as the players didn't seem to know how to get mouthy with her

Well played Joy Neville....

I saw a video recently of a player giving her lip and then said "Sorry Sir" and then said sorry for calling her Sir. For the life of me i cant find it now. I thought it was funny. Someone subsequently asked her about it on Twitter and she just responded by saying she doesn't care what they call her.

I say fair play to her. Fellas have reff'd female matches.

flaneur

Meh. Sure on Star Trek they made "sir" just a gender neutral mark of respect.

For some reason mam sounds like you’re talking to your mammy, especially in Ireland.

exaisle

Welcome to 1917, OP. The rest of us are living in the 21st century...

From what I can see, one poster has agreed with you. Sure, I suppose every town has its idiot....

CIARAN_BOYLE

exaisle wrote: »

Welcome to 1917, OP. The rest of us are living in the 21st century...

From what I can see, one poster has agreed with you. Sure, I suppose every town has its idiot....

I don't see any agreement.

The most vaguely supportive comment was me saying that as long as they pass the same fitness tests as male referees (which are stringent and not particularly easy) it's only a good thing.

I hope you don't read this to mean I agree with the op.

Carlos Orange

panda100 wrote: »

Ha! Do you really think so little of women's athleticism that you don't think they could keep up with men while refereeing? Have you seen the size of some of the umpires at GAA matches???

Women often seem to have lower physical fitness requirements for jobs.
Unless you think women can't meet the same physical fitness requirements as men I don't see why you would object to them being subject to the same requirements.

Wibbs

exaisle wrote: »

From what I can see, one poster has agreed with you. Sure, I suppose every town has its idiot....

Dial back on the "idiot" stuff. People are allowed have opinions, attack the opinion, not the poster .

panda100

panda100 wrote: »

Ha! Do you really think so little of women's athleticism that you don't think they could keep up with men while refereeing? Have you seen the size of some of the umpires at GAA matches???

Wibbs wrote: »

Exactly. The role hardly requires Ironman triathlon levels of fitness. You have to be fit of course, but nowhere close to the gender difference in fitness/strength levels at high level sports. Fair play to her for winning the ref of the year.

Umpires don't move much. The levels of fitness required in the Gardai are on a far lower scale again yet women get special dispensation there.

But yeah, once they're in shape and can keep up with the play at the higher levels there's no issue with what's between their legs (or however they choose to define their gender :pac: ) as far as I'm concerned.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Zaph

kerryjack wrote: »

Hi there said I would post this in gentlemen's forum, I am sorry but I think this is ridiculous and a step too far having a female referee reffing a mans game. Be honest lads be sexist on this one, am I right.

Why is it a step too far? What is the part of it that is a step too far for you? Is it simply that it's a woman? Or is there some other factor at play? Are you OK with Nigel Owens refereeing matches, or should openly gay men not referee either? What about black or Asian refs? Where exactly do you draw the line as to what is acceptable to you?

kerryjack

Thanks for the discussion guys Its no big deal on the large scheme of things maybe I don't like change and don't see the need for change nothing against women like the old saying goes you spend nine months trying to get out and the rest of your life trying to get back in , I apologize if I have offended any one with that statement.

marieholmfan

kerryjack wrote: »

Hi there said I would post this in gentlemen's forum, I am sorry but I think this is ridiculous and a step too far having a female referee reffing a mans game. Be honest lads be sexist on this one, am I right.

No it's fine if she is fit enough and knows the laws of Rugby.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

endacl

kerryjack wrote: »

I am not winding up its just a discussion we are having and I have been honest and I said I don't like it, I also don't like women boxing, looks like I am on my own on this one and and thats fair enough.

I don’t like people starting dopey threads, but hey, it’s a free country. Fire ahead.

Water John

Joy, loses on two counts so, she's both female and openly gay.
We'll be in right fix once transgender becomes the issue.

lalababa

Tefral wrote: »

Cant see the problem to be honest. Its not like she will be in showering away with the lads in the dressing rooms.

As long as she can keep the pace (which she clearly can) and officiates over the game with fairness and in accordance with the rules of the sport, who cares if its a female or a man.

Nothing wrong with a woman showering with the lads, but a reff a a high level would more than likely have a shower room of their own or at least a sink, as otherwise it would be seen as a partisan forming fraternisation. IMO

Tefral

lalababa wrote: »

Nothing wrong with a woman showering with the lads,

I actually think there is an issue with this statement. This most certainly would not be allowed the other way around.

Equal means equal...

marieholmfan

Tefral wrote: »

I actually think there is an issue with this statement. This most certainly would not be allowed the other way around.

Equal means equal...

Lads I am prepared to do my duty and referee women's rugby even if I must shower with the team afterwards.

Darkglasses

There is absolutely no issue whatsoever. In recent years there have been plenty of women officials at LOI matches, and gender has absolutely no relevance to the job at hand. Can you point to anything specific, at all, to support your opinion? Have you any first hand experience whatsoever of sports with a woman official?

enda1

What a very strange thing to have an issue against!

marieholmfan

Kerryjack she's pretty as a picture, fit as a fiddle,smart as a whip, strong as horse, tough as nails and gay as Christmas. She isn't some dolly bird from Essex.

Hoboo

Pretty, fit, gay, dolly bird. Fiddle, whip, nail. Sex. Christ!