Leinster Rugby crack down on referee abuse

Downtime

Leinster Rugby Press Release...

Following a disciplinary hearing, the decision of the Leinster Branch IRFU was that for (1) misconduct (2) bringing the game into disrepute (3) physical abuse of the referee – De La Salle Palmerston’s Mark Kavanagh has been given a 10-year suspension from ALL rugby related activity on and off the pitch.

The sentence was imposed following an incident in a RE/MAX Metropolitan Cup Quarter Final tie between De La Salle Palmerston v Monkstown on 4th May 2005. Dorothy Collins, Honorary Secretary Leinster Branch IRFU, said: “Physical and verbal abuse of match officials will not be tolerated in Leinster Rugby. The sentence confirms that stance and we hope that it will prevent future incidents from occurring.”

Superb - this is great news for the game of rugby and for referees in the sport. Such abuse has no place in the game.

RuggieBear

hmmm....while i'm all for protecting referees....does the punishment really fit the crime.

This is just some average club player. Would Dennis Hickie or Mal o'kelly have got a 10 years....for the same offence?

Downtime

Well I don't think that it was his first time getting red carded. I do beleive that any international player would have gotten the same punishment but I dont think that they would put themseleves in that position

RuggieBear

Downtime wrote:

Well I don't think that it was his first time getting red carded. I do beleive that any international player would have gotten the same punishment but I dont think that they would put themseleves in that position

neil back got 6months for pushing a ref over

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

RuggieBear

I've been yellow carded and sent off for abuse before....and trust me it was all i could do not to ****ing punch the daylights out of the sanctimonious little twats that did it....

I reckon a year ban (with maybe 9 years suspended pending good behaviour) while also being forced to coach underage (to give something back to rugby).

in my mind kicking him out of the game is a waste....

damnyanks

Did he seriously assault him ?

RuggieBear

damnyanks wrote:

Did he seriously assault him ?

it sounds like he punched him but can't find any real details anywhere

Trojan

I've heard on the grapevine that he was banned for 5 years by his own club, that's before considering the Branch's response.

Peter B

Could someone tell me what actually happened? Or even a link to a write-up of the incident.

Eoin

I was speaking to a ref on Saturday and he mentioned this. There was physical abuse of some sort - don't know if it was a punch, or whether he "just" shoved the ref. I think he was initially carded for dissent, and this prompted the assault.

A clear message has to be sent that shows that abuse to a referee is not acceptable in any form - especially if the player physically abused the referee. However, a two year ban would have been more appropriate IMO.

RuggieBear wrote:

I've been yellow carded and sent off for abuse before....and trust me it was all i could do not to ****ing punch the daylights out of the sanctimonious little twats that did it....

Hopefully this ban will make sure that punching the daylights out of a ref is the furthest thing from a players mind. There may be some power-trip type refs out there, but at the same time they are the guys who put in a lot of effort without the reward of medals etc that players train for.