Rugby Union: Men in the middle can stamp out thugs

Chris Rea argues that improving the referees is the best way to beat violence

SINCE the beginning of time, ears have played a prominent part in the evolution and survival of mankind. A war was waged over one belonging to an obscure historical character called Jenkins; a cartoon character has been named after them and they have even been considered as a means of propulsion.

Ray Prosser, that fabled son of Pontypool, was reputedly born with ears so big that it was five years before his mother knew whether he would walk or fly.

But since the incident at Bath last week, ears have been hot news. No self-respecting bulletin has been issued without reference to Simon Fenn's injury. There have been talk-ins and phone-ins offering unlimited opportunities to the warriors of yesteryear to relive the glory, gory days of the past.

Mike Burton, who knows a thing or two about both the black market and skulduggery, has been wheeled out, along with Bobby Windsor, to recount glamourised tales of the days when men were very definitely little boys sneaking a sly punch and a friendly fag behind bike sheds.

And then there was Gordon Brown, who nowadays makes his living on the after-dinner circuit, going through most of his repertoire on Radio 5 Live and claiming that, 20 years ago, an ear lobe was considered as nothing more than an hors d'oeuvre. In his time he had munched his way through a Frenchman's fingers which, to his intense annoyance and discomfort, he had discovered in his mouth trying to extract his teeth.

It was all hugely entertaining and, one suspects, very much thumb in cheek. The reality is that these recollections have been so embellished and distorted by years of retelling that they are more fiction than fact.

No one, so far as I know, who played in the infamous match between the 1971 Lions and Canterbury, when Sandy Carmichael had his face smashed to a pulp by his opposite number, when Ray McLoughlin broke his thumb attempting to protect his stricken comrade and when Fergus Slattery lost most of his front teeth, has included that as a humorous interlude in his after-dinner speech.

It was not funny then and it is not funny now. It was a shameful episode in rugby history and one which would not be allowed to happen today.

Allan Hosie, the former international referee who is now chairman of the Five Nations' committee, has no doubt that the brutal excesses of the past are now exactly that - history.

The increased television coverage, the video play-back facility, the citing procedures and, above all, the improvement in refereeing standards are the reasons for that.

Hosie has just returned from the Five Nations meeting in Paris and is immensely encouraged by the steps that are being taken to improve standards throughout the world. "It is a vital part of our management strategy within the Five Nations," he said. "And the crucial element is to achieve a uniform standard of refereeing wherever rugby is played. We will do this through the merit-based pilot scheme which is currently running."

This is a scheme which will ultimately lead to a refereeing meritocracy, where only the best who have proved themselves in both hemispheres will be given charge of international matches. The idea was conceived at a conference held in South Africa last summer and is being directed by Steve Griffiths, the International Board referees' development officer.

As a part of this initiative the top referees in the Five Nations are gathering in London today for a video conference session with their counterparts from the southern hemisphere.

It is also planned to establish a development scheme to ensure that standards are maintained. This will involve the referees' development officers from all the main countries, and the hope is that it will have a cascading effect at all levels of the game.

Hosie believes that it is not just refereeing standards which have to be addressed but that a universal punishment policy must also be determined. "At the moment there are wildly fluctuating scales of punishment throughout the world for similar crimes.

"In Scotland a player who head-butts or kicks an opponent is automatically banned for 26 weeks. But in a match last year between New Zealand and South Africa a player was suspended for three weeks for the same act of thuggery."

The problem is that the level of punishment in some parts of the world for rugby offences is linked to the country's judicial system, which is palpably a nonsense and which, Hosie believes, must quickly be changed.

The other point Hosie makes, perhaps, is that the top referees are now handsomely rewarded for doing their job and therefore the expectation level regarding their performance is commensurately higher.

"Ten minutes before going out to referee an international match," Hosie recalls, "I would be gently puffing on a Hamlet enjoying a crack with my touch- judges, who were the representatives of the two countries playing and who had no responsibility or authority beyond sticking up their flags when the ball went out of play or over the crossbar."

Hosie also remembers, with marginally less affection, the first time he was invited to run the line in an international. It was some 25 years ago when touch judges wore blazers and, specially for the occasion, Hosie pushed the boat out and bought a spanking new one. "From start to finish the rain poured down," recalls Hosie, "and it cost me twice as much to get the bloody thing cleaned."