Laws & Referees

Legendary Rugby Rugby writer Paul Dobson brings us another of his famous anecdotes. This time he tells us about a time when referees refereed the game and nobody spoke ... unlike today.

Communication is important for referees. As the game has become more complex and the need to entertain frantic, referees are required to communicate more with the players and the world.

I watched to two matches recently and the referees' voices were obvious. In one in England's Premiership, the referee rattled on, often repeating himself as if he wanted to convince himself and others that what he said was right. The other, Jonathan Kaplan in Brisbane, was crisp, business-like. The players accepted what he had to say while the referee in the Premiership match invited - and got - increasing debate.

There was a time when the referee's communication consisted of a blast on thew whistle and one of three gestures - scrum, penalty or try. That was it. No secondary signals, no explanations, no barked commands and certainly no debate.

Then came Max Baise who was more flamboyant in his gestures and then Steven Strydom with his little explanations of decisions and now the law book has 46 signals for referees apart from all the verbal advice and explanation.

Ralph Burmeister was a great referee. He refereed Tests from 1949 to 1961 and was for over two decades the chairman of the Western Province Referees' Society - a man of firm discipline who also had a feel for the game.

When this communication things started to happen - early stages before people started talking about man management - I, an up-and-coming young referee, went to Ralph and asked him if he ever talked on the field.

Ralph said: "Only once - and it was a mistake."

He was about to retire from refereeing and it was his last provincial match - Western Province against Border at Newlands.

Rugby was different then. Hookers hooked. They tried with might and main to hook not only their own ball but also their opponent's ball. They resorted to all sorts of devious tactics to do so. In those days all hookers were rogues, prone to foot up, twisting, hanging and tactics too nefarious to mention.

Ralph was having trouble with Border in the scrums. Their hooker was a young Turk called Brian Harrison who later became a Junior Springbok.

Ralph, feeling comparatively relaxed in his last match at the end of an illustrious career with Western Province well in the lead, broke the habit of a lifetime and spoke.

"Break up," he commanded. The scrum broke up. Then he said to Harrison: "Do you know anything about hooking?"

Harrison said: "A darn sight more than you know about refereeing."

Ralph knew he was losing.

Ralph answered: "Listen, sonny. I was refereeing long before you were born."

Harrison retorted: "That's your trouble. You're too old."

Ralph lost the battle and remained an advocate of refereeing silence!

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