Refs ‘don't want to give up their Saturdays to be abused'
Referees are walking away from community sports because they "don't want to give up their Saturdays to be abused on the sideline", an Otago sporting leader says.
It comes as a sporting regulatory authority says there has been no recent rise in antisocial behaviour in any sport.
The Otago Daily Times has reported multiple cases of antisocial behaviour, including referee abuse and the sharing of unconsented sexual videos by club rugby players this season.
On Monday, it was revealed Clutha Rugby Football Club coach Benjamin Keach was banned for seven weeks after allegedly verbally abusing a referee.
Keach, who was previously in court for violating a rugby player with a pool cue, allegedly took out his frustrations following his team's narrow defeat at a championship final held in Wānaka late last month.
In May, Crescent Rugby Football Club president Glen Ferguson was banned from his own club for the rest of the season for an expletive-laced outburst from the sidelines.
A division 1 game a month later between the Bluff Rugby Club and Pioneer Rugby Football Club was postponed amid accusations of both referee abuse and widespread use of derogatory racist, sexist and homophobic language.
Sport Otago chief executive James Nation said poor sideline behaviour affected volunteer referees' passion for their sport.
According to last year's National Sport Club Survey by the New Zealand Amateur Sport Association, the average number of club volunteers, who volunteered for at least three hours a month, had nearly halved from 31 to 18 over the preceding five years.
In addition to rugby, the sports codes negatively affected included athletics and football.
"I would say that evidence is pretty clear that they're walking away because they just don't want to give up their Saturdays to be abused on the sideline," Mr Nation said.
Verbal abuse across all sports ebbed and flowed, but recent incidents that made headlines were outliers.
"Conversations or sideline behaviours aimed at the referee or players, that is pretty constant across the sports.
"Some seasons it's worse than others; some weekends it's worse than others."
While it was not ideal, it was fairly frequent among the sidelines and tolerated.
"I think if you talk to referees, they'd say they cop a bit of abuse every game, whether it's from the players or whether it's from the sideline and occasionally coaches."
Referees were not professionals nor were they paid, volunteering their time out of a love for the sport.
Mr Nation encouraged those having a crack at referees to be more tolerant.
Last month, two players from the Green Island Rugby Football Club appeared in the Dunedin District Court, each charged with making and posting an intimate visual recording.
Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui chief executive Rebecca Rolls said the commission had not seen a particular increase in verbal abuse or sexual misconduct in any specific sport in the 12 months since the commission's inception.
"But it does occur and, where it does, that is of concern to us.
"There's no place in any sport or recreation activity for abuse and harassment of any kind."
Everyone — including referees, officials and players — deserved to enjoy the sports they loved in a safe and healthy environment, she said.
tim.scott@odt.co.nz
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