With another seven cup finals being celebrated at Principality Stadium this weekend in the prestigious Road to Principality programme, and clubs simultaneously trying to gain promotion or avoid relegation up and down the country, John is asking supporters and clubs alike to continue to honour rugby’s core values as excitement reaches fever point.
“Rugby union was built on traditional values and behaviours and it’s vital that we maintain those as we head towards the end of the season,” he declared.
“In particular it is essential that our referees and match officials are respected at all times,” he added.
“We’re coming to the end of the season – there’s promotion and relegation. We know people will be there full of excitement and anticipation and we welcome the passion they bring – but what we are asking for is that people remain mindful and continue to respect each other at all times.
“Make sure you behave on the touchlines, make sure you are in your technical zones, clubs – make sure you welcome the match official to every single event as they are a pivotal part of the game, without referees there are no games.
“People will rightly talk about poor behaviour when it occurs and appropriate action is and will always be taken, but we have also got to remember that 90% of our games take place with no issues and excellent behaviour and we’d like to thank everybody involved for their contributions to maintaining this positive record.
“We’d like to thank clubs for welcoming our match officials to their facilities and making them feel welcome. We’re always looking for more individuals to pick up a whistle so we’re very conscious that when we do have abusive behaviour, we have to come down hard on those who transgress.”
The WRU firmly believes referees and match officials are to be respected at all times
He said the union will not be afraid to make tough decisions when it comes to referee abuse. He points to a recent case where a player was banned for 10 years …as a result of the ‘exceptionally serious nature of the offence’ which showed significant and unacceptable disrespect to a young referee.
“We’re not going to tolerate poor behaviour,” he said. “We are determined to stamp it out. But, to do that we need the support of everybody in clubs and in school and in the minis and juniors to help us to do this,” he said.
Although there is a perception referee abuse is increasing within the community game, the current statistics demonstrates that a high percentage of matches are played without generating a complaint of this nature. Nevertheless, when the need arises, the WRU continues to monitor poor behaviour, impose preventative and educative measures and will act robustly to ensure that behaviour of this nature is appropriately investigated and sanctioned accordingly.
“Match officials are a key element for our game, and we require a large number to cater for all games right across the spectrum from senior male and senior women, to our youth age groups and pathway teams. There’s also minis and juniors to cater for so we do see match officials as a crucial part of the pathway,” added John.
The WRU has worked tirelessly in the community game in bringing new refereeing talent through. John has been encouraged by their rapid rise and is determined to double down on any poor behaviour to ensure match officials feel supported and the talent pool continues to grow.
John paid special tribute to the recently retired Paul Adams who was a key driver in the development of welsh referees.
“Paul did an amazing job during his tenure and he will prove a tough act to follow. I’d like to thank him for his hard work and endeavours. We should be in a position shortly to announce our WRU elite match officials manager after what has been a thorough and vigorous process where we had some fantastic candidates.
“Jon Mason and Sean Brickell have worked wonders with a number of individuals making their mark,” said John, before adding: “Craig Evans, Adam Jones and Ben Whitehouse are now fully established referees and we’ve also had Mike English appointed to URC games.
Jenny Davies officated in her first internationla last week when taking charge of Span v Portugal
“It’s great to see the likes of Ben Connor and Ben Breakspear coming through while it was great to see Jenny Davies take charge of her first international last weekend alongside two other officials to make it an all-Wales trio of female officials. Amber Stamp-Dunstan is also making a name for herself in the game. Amber is refereeing in the championship and is part of the U18 Six Nations panel and also the women’s Six Nations group which is exciting, and her future is very bright.
The WRU Policy and Integrity department will be holding an integrity symposium on April 24 at Principality Stadium which will include volunteers and representatives from the community game and shine a light on the work being done to tackle inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour in our game.
There will be a series of topics discussed on the day with Dr Tom Webb, an expert in the global management, leadership, operational environment and working practices of sports officials, one of the keynote speakers.
“The purpose of the symposium is to seek solutions and stimulate innovative thinking, with the aim of developing a cohesive strategy as to how we collectively deliver safe and inclusive environments and great experiences for participants in Welsh Rugby,” said John.
