Hoskins:  “Referee abuse is a blight on our game of which we should be ashamed.”

South African Rugby Union President, Oregan Hoskins, has told reporters he has written to all fourteen provincial rugby unions as well as school rugby administrators to warn them of SARU’s zero tolerance stance on referee assault. He was responding to recent incidents in high school rugby where a referee was headbutted by an enraged teenage player and another where a ref was assaulted by a coach following a decision on the field.

“Attacks on referees are rare but we want to stamp out the idea, once and for all, that abusing the referee — either verbally or physically — is somehow acceptable and that ’taking it’ is actually part of the official’s job description,” Hoskins told the media.

“People need to be banned and they need to be banned for life to drill the message home. Let us have no sympathy for the assailants. There is absolutely no reason why anyone involved should lay a finger on a referee. If it does not happen in the most pressured environment of Test or Vodacom Super Rugby, why should it happen at a Saturday morning school match?” he said.

Recently, ex-Springbok flyhalf Naas Botha spoke out in response to an incident after a rugby match between two high schools in Pretoria, where a fight broke out between players after the final whistle, leading to one being knocked unconscious. Botha said he thought the offending players should be banned from the game for life.

[Source: Sportlive]