Brian Mujati facing minimum 6month ban for pushing Nigel Owens

Ceartgoleor · 23-10-2009 10:14PM

One of the things that is so admired about the game of rugby from other sports is the respect the players have for the referee and the way the referee is generally treated well at all levels of rugby. What Mujati did is simply unacceptable. There was no excuse for it whatsoever; he wasn't even in the direct line of the ruck. Theres no point in comparing it to other offences directly because its at a different level-you could be trying to rake a ball free and stamp on a player in the heat of the moment, you could be involved in grappling with another player and accidently have your hands in his face or something (i'm not condoning these things either, but they will crop up in the course of the match), but it will never be acceptable or understandable to just push the referee knowingly in that manner.

duckysauce · 23-10-2009 10:32PM

PYRO#1 wrote: »

That was intended he deserves 6 months.
Owens is a legend!!!

why ? is owens a legend ???????????

from wales for a start! a legend dont get it any reasons ?

anonymous_joe · 23-10-2009 10:34PM

duckysauce wrote: »

why ? is owens a legend ???????????

from wales for a start! a legend dont get it any reasons ?

Best ref ever?

Brave man for coming to terms with his sexuality and back from the brink of suicide?

Fairly impressive, n'est pas?

PYRO#1 · 23-10-2009 10:34PM

Whats his being from Wales have anything to do with it??????????????

One of the very best if not the best refs in the world. End of.

Ceartgoleor · 23-10-2009 10:37PM

PYRO#1 wrote: »

Whats his being from Wales have anything to do with it??????????????

One of the very best if not the best refs in the world. End of.

No disputing hes one of the best refs in the world, but I don't even think that should be the issue here. We've all had referees who you think are terrible on occasion for a variety of reasons, but the rugby way is still to shake hands with the referee after the game and thank him, and thats the way it should be. Incidents like this are only bad for the game.

PYRO#1 · 23-10-2009 10:45PM

Ceartgoleor wrote: »

One of the things that is so admired about the game of rugby from other sports is the respect the players have for the referee and the way the referee is generally treated well at all levels of rugby.

I agree.
But you have to admire Owens for the way he handled it too. Alot of refs could learn alot from him.
Maybe he should have given a card for it but he didnt lose the rag and blow up there and then. He waited til the break in play and made his case.
How many others would do that in the face of such idiotic behaving?

Ceartgoleor · 23-10-2009 10:47PM

PYRO#1 wrote: »

I agree.
But you have to admire Owens for the way he handled it too. Alot of refs could learn alot from him.
Maybe he should have given a card for it but he didnt lose the rag and blow up there and then. He waited til the break in play and made his case.
How many others would do that in the face of such idiotic behaving?

Yeah I definitely agree! I'm not a referee but I know I for one would be fuming in the circumstances!

funky penguin · 24-10-2009 10:42AM

He managed to stay standing after an 18 stone prop intentionally pushed him in the back.

If that isn't impressive, I don't know what is.

drkpower · 24-10-2009 12:29PM

LeeroyJones wrote: »

Assaulting the ref you say!! A push is not an assault! !

I think you will find that a push, or a shove in this case, is an assault, particularly when it is done against a referee, who shouldnt even be spoken to out of turn.

LeeroyJones wrote: »

With regards your point on not comparing offences against fellow players to offences against the referee. I think this is dangerous territory-not in the case of a push but for the other malicious offences. Why should a player be subject of gouging & potential blindness. If player for some reason wanted to gouge a ref there would be uproar(rightly so) but why is it less of offence to do it on a player. Some offences are simply assaults on human beings and it shouldnt matter if the victim is a player, ref, coach or fan the offender should be dealt with equally. Please may I stress this is me saying stamp down on truely awful offences and please be able to differentiate between an assault and petty stupid incidences!

Do you really think that a violent offence against a referee should carry the same punishment as one against a player? For instance, should a stamp on a player be dealt with in the same way as a stamp on a refereee?

If you do, I really dont know what to say to you. Its a bizarre viewpoint. Rugby should be proud of the respect that is given to referees generally. It is vital to the smooth running of a pretty 'violent' game. You see in soccer what can happen where referees are not respected. I would never suggest that violent incidents vs players shouldnt be dealt with firmly, but physical interference with the referee is a far more significant offence and should be treated accordingly.

Profiler · 24-10-2009 12:41PM

A very stupid thing done by Mujati there. He will quite rightly get a ban for that.

Sangre · 24-10-2009 12:43PM

The book should be thrown at him, from behind, when he isn't looking.

LeeroyJones · 24-10-2009 10:27PM

drkpower wrote: »

I think you will find that a push, or a shove in this case, is an assault, particularly when it is done against a referee, who shouldnt even be spoken to out of turn.

Do you really think that a violent offence against a referee should carry the same punishment as one against a player? For instance, should a stamp on a player be dealt with in the same way as a stamp on a refereee?

If you do, I really dont know what to say to you. Its a bizarre viewpoint. Rugby should be proud of the respect that is given to referees generally. It is vital to the smooth running of a pretty 'violent' game. You see in soccer what can happen where referees are not respected. I would never suggest that violent incidents vs players shouldnt be dealt with firmly, but physical interference with the referee is a far more significant offence and should be treated accordingly.

First off before I respond I just want to say I cannot access internet for the next 2 maybe 3 days so I'm afraid I'm going to have to park my side of the debate here! I hope not to come off as rude by not replying to any future responses!

Your point regarding stamping: stamping is a part of the game and I fully accept that. However, it is only a part of the game if an opponent is killing the ball. If a player stamps on an opponent for no reason then yes I believe the offender should be given a lengthy ban.

Rugby should be proud of the respect that is given to referees generally . Agreed but Rugby should be ashamed of the fact that offences such as those of Umaga on BOD and Berger on Fitzgerald amongst many many more(chose those 2 as they're 2 high-profile ones in Ireland) are treated as "part of the game" just because BOD and Fitzgerald are fellow players. This is my point which I think you may have seen from a different angle. I am not for a second saying Referee's being hit should be part of the game-quite the opposite. I'm say that rugby players should be protected by the IRB and all associations involved against such terrible offences like the ones above and it shouldnt matter for a second that they are players.

If I can just go back to the Mujati case and give my final opinion.
It was stupid, ok a push is techinically an assualt but come on-in that case I've been "assaulted" hundreds of time! I do understand everybody's points of view but I still hold the opinion that 6 Months is being over the top and hyper-sensitive to a stupid incident. We see too often players getting properly assaulted and it rarely gets as much coverage as this push on Owens. Yes referees must be protected and a few games on the sideline for Mujati would make him think twice but I do not believe it would be more productive to just finish his season now-actually it would probably make him resent the authorities!

Anyway, must park it there for now!

stephen_n · 24-10-2009 11:07PM

It's buffering a bit when i'm watching it so can't really see clearly but does owens take a step back into his path as he is coming up? Still a stupid thing to do put your hands on a ref is a no, no but I really don't think there was any malice involved in that!

thomond2006 · 02-11-2009 08:26PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/my_club/northampton/8335175.stm

Mujati banned for 6 weeks.

He was adjudged to be suffering from concussion at the time, therefore the leinent ban.

He was looking at 24 weeks (6 months) otherwise.

ERC report: http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/12_13435.php

The_Kew_Tour · 02-11-2009 08:46PM

I can see both sides of the coin on this one. Myself I dont know if he really meant it or not.

Its hard call although I think he should get least few weeks for it.

Can you really push ref round like this?

Depp · 02-11-2009 08:55PM

too right i say

Podge_irl · 02-11-2009 08:55PM

I think that's a good outcome. He was stupid to do what he did and this manages to be lenient on him in this case while still sending out the message that they will come down hard on this kind of thing.

Amabokke · 02-11-2009 09:35PM

I've pushed refs out of the way before and even asked them to "get the F%*K" out of the way but that push was stupid, ill timed and dangerous. I don't like gaylord Owens but the push was just a bit too much.

Spore · 02-11-2009 10:37PM

Amabokke wrote: »

I don't like gaylord Owens but the push was just a bit too much.

Backup the goddamn truck right there, his sexuality has nothing to do with anything.

Teg Veece · 03-11-2009 12:48AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5WS8psbtI4

Brian Mujati could learn an important lesson from Mafi.

If you're going to man-handle the ref, tackle him so hard that he won't believe it happened.

Similar to how Ted tried to get away with kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse.

ManofMunster · 03-11-2009 01:18AM

that mafi clip is too funny. he obviously abided by the mantra that once you've started a tackle, you should finish it - for everyone's safety.

watched the mujati clip a few times and i really can't understand what he was thinking. owens wasn't even directly in his path. there had to have been some element of premeditation there. can't argue with a decent ban but i hear the protesters who argue that 6 mth - 2 yr bans should be reserved for thuggery such as burger's (which this evidently wasn't - just mere cowardly stupidity).

i did think jennings deserved a ban btw. it looked to me like there was, at the very least, intent to do eye damage. and cullen came out in quinlan's defence in may - victim support doesn't matter if there's video evidence indicating the contrary.

murphym7 · 03-11-2009 08:58AM

Teg Veece wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5WS8psbtI4

Brian Mujati could learn an important lesson from Mafi.

If you're going to man-handle the ref, tackle him so hard that he won't believe it happened.

Similar to how Ted tried to get away with kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse.

Thanks for that clip, that was the funniest thing I've seen for a while.

Mujati deserved the ban, totally mindless thing to do.

buck65 · 03-11-2009 11:05AM

What was Mafi thinking?
I would say that it was an accident, it was so crazy it had to be, he probably tackles in his sleep!
Did anything come out of that?

thomond2006 · 03-11-2009 10:26PM

buck65 wrote: »

What was Mafi thinking?
I would say that it was an accident, it was so crazy it had to be, he probably tackles in his sleep!
Did anything come out of that?

That was ML, of course not.

Teg Veece · 04-11-2009 03:54AM

buck65 wrote: »

What was Mafi thinking?
I would say that it was an accident, it was so crazy it had to be, he probably tackles in his sleep!
Did anything come out of that?

Nothing came of it. The important difference between the two is the ref's position.

conf101 · 05-11-2009 01:00AM

Thought this might be a good place to stick this in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVNeb0Hm0hc

il gatto · 05-11-2009 07:43AM

Nip it in the bud I say. It was a needless and thuggush shove in the back and he deserves evrything he gets. We don't need socceresque scenes a la Drogba et al coming into the sport. Call the ref "sir" and do what he says. Any gripes go back through the captain and if that doesn't work, adjust your game. I don't know if Mujati felt agrieved at owens over anything, but either way there's no place for it.
Mafi's hit was comedy gold though. And to be fair, even if he pulled out late, it could've ended up hurting the ref more than a proper tackle.

Brian Mujati facing minimum 6month ban for pushing Nigel Owens

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