The Royal-Trinity rugby game known as the “Bradby” boasts of a rich history that brags of great tradition.� This year the “blue ribbon” of school rugby was garlanded with unruly behaviour as spectators walked into the field of play and behaved intimidatingly.� The ugly protest was because the referee sent off a player for kicking a man on the ground.� Stamping a player is a red card offence as specified in the guidelines of the IRB and explained using a video clip. The match was stopped due to the invasion and recommenced after the Principal of Trinity came onto the field and spoke to the referee and� the trespassers.
Going on air on a popular local radio channel, Nigel Footie the Trinity Coach did not grumble about the penalties and said that he accepted the decisions. The characteristics of a good coach are to guide his athletes to better performance without shielding them and blaming others. The pressure that was brought on was such that the game ultimately suffered.�� In an environment where people will resort to any means to achieve their ends it is not uncommon to see behaviour that is distasteful. Pressurizing a referee before a match has been a tactic that has been adopted by many and it is not something that came in recently. Many are guilty today of going overboard in their attempts. The most disgusting incident occured when a parent of a player� twice visited the parents of a referee in the company of a local goon.
People talk of a request that was addressed to Royal to agree to bring in a referee from overseas. This match to my knowledge was a schools tournament fixture and the Schools Rugby Football Association is the match organizer and referees are appointed at their request. The request should have been discussed by their tournament committee according to whose rules the tournament is run. Royal happens to be the host and it so happens that this match is also the�� Bradby.� School tournaments involve around 250 matches and there are 45 matches in Division 1. What about the other schools who may make similar requests?
The match itself has taken second place in this scenario and the competition was hindered as Royal seemed broken following the fracas.� The story built by some is that this action was planned to exert pressure. This brings us to the issue of an ugly precedence that may be followed by others. The situation is even worse� because people well known in society, and from a school that is expected to lead by example and not through force and intimidation, were involved.
