Foul play called on referee abuse in the BOP

Eleven red cards were issued in one weekend in the Bay of Plenty. File photo.

Two Bay of Plenty rugby players have been suspended after a horrendous weekend that saw eleven red cards issued in one weekend of school and club rugby matches across the region.

In two recent and separate cases, two players have been suspended for 52 weeks and 34 weeks respectively, says a statement from the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union.

In the 1st case, a ball carrier was struck in the face by a would be tackler with a swinging arm tackle, that saw the ball carrier rendered unconscious before he landed on the ground.

The BOPRU says it was the ugliest piece of foul play that the referee had ever seen his 12 years of officiating.

The injured player had to be airlifted to hospital with a suspected fractured cheek bone.

The carded player has been suspended for 52 weeks.

In the 2nd case, a misconduct charge was brought against a senior player who verbally swore and abused a referee after the full time whistle.

In that case, the player has been suspended for 34 weeks.

All cases are heard by the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union's Disciplinary Committee, made up of community based volunteers, with a vast and extensive rugby pedigree.

'In a weekend where there were 74 games of rugby held across the region from Under 11 to Premier Mens and everything in between, it's a shame that a handful of games had really poor player behaviour,” says community rugby manager Pat Rae.

'Punching, stomping, shoulder charging dangerous tackles & referee abuse offences are all deliberate acts that require a conscious effort on the part of the player to be committed. These are all totally avoidable.”

Pat says it was such a busy week last week for the Disciplinary Committee, they had to bring in more volunteers and hold multiple hearings across three consecutive nights in order to hear them all before the player's next matches.

On another judicial note, the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union is trialling a new way of dealing with disciplinary matters in the junior and secondary school space.

Based on the restorative justice principles, where tamariki and rangatahi admit their behaviour as detailed in the referees report, the matter is then referred to a Whanau Group Conference involving the player, his whanau, the referee and coaches, managers and school teachers in charge.

The purpose of these conferences is to ensure that the player accepts responsibility for the actions on the field, and suitable actions or tasks are put in place where the player can learn.

'It's only early days but there have been some interesting outcomes so far,” says Pat.

'The players have been far more willing to be held responsible for their behaviour and they have also self-imposed voluntary stand downs.

'The really cool aspect though has been how the players have problem solved the reasons behind their offending and have come up with strategies to learn how to become better players.

'Where other players are involved, letters of apology are a must. Verbal apologies to their team mates for letting them down are also non-negotiable and with everyone having phones, these apologies are filmed in order to give them a sense of importance.

'Other self-imposed penalties have included washing the jerseys, setting up the fields, cleaning the change rooms, to running touch in the matches that they voluntarily stand themselves down.”

Pat says they have gained NZR permission to borrow this process from the Canterbury Rugby Union.

'I was impressed with their re-offending statistics being so low, hence the reason why we've introduced it here.”

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