The victim of sideline abuse from a senior Otago Rugby Football Union manager at a schoolboy rugby game says he has quit coaching. OTAGO IMAGES/OTAGO DAILY TIMESKettle Park and middle beach. Photo: Gerard O'Brien Sassenachs Senior fill-in coach Paul Skipper was yelled at by Otago Rugby Football Union commercial manager Paul Thompson during a Trinity College Sassenachs and Otago Boys' Colts Red match at Kettle Park in Dunedin on June 27. Below first XV level, New Zealand Rugby has a “half a game minimum” for young players. During the match, Mr Thompson expressed frustration with Mr Skipper for not letting his son play. SuppliedOtago Rugby Football Union commercial manager Paul Thompson. A complaint was made after the match, a judicial panel reviewed it, found Mr Thompson guilty of misconduct and banned him from attending matches for two weeks. He also wrote a letter of apology. Mr Skipper told the Otago Daily Times Mr Thompson was verbally abusive and “kept coming towards me” in an intimidating manner. The behaviour was compounded by the fact Mr Thompson was wearing an Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) uniform at the time, Mr Skipper said. “He could have just come up to me and said, ‘hey mate, you need to be doing this and that’ and keep it quiet. “But honestly, he just kept going. “In the end, he basically started getting a bit closer and I said to him, ‘listen mate, back off’.” Because Mr Thompson had his ORFU uniform on and arrived in a union vehicle it “felt like a bully at a playground showing off in front of everybody”, Mr Skipper said. "As a representative of Otago Rugby Union, he did an absolutely piss poor job of representing Otago Rugby Union." Mr Skipper said the incident had made him not want to continue coaching. “Things may take a better turn . . . but at this present time, I won't be sitting around going back coaching again.” ORFU chief executive Richard Kinley said the union had received no previous complaints regarding Mr Thompson’s sideline behaviour. He said Mr Thompson was attending the match as the parent of a player and was not carrying out duties on behalf of ORFU. “That is the context in which his attendance has been described and was not an attempt to deny or minimise his employment with ORFU.” At the same time, the union recognised ORFU employees were “rightly held to a high standard” and that their conduct could reflect on the organisation, including when they were attending rugby in a personal capacity. Mr Kinley declined to disclose whether Mr Thompson received any further punishment from his employer. Asked whether this was a bad look for the ORFU, Mr Kinley said any incident involving inappropriate behaviour on the sidelines was concerning, particularly when it involved someone associated with the union. “We expect our people to model the standards of behaviour we ask of the wider rugby community and concerns raised about those standards need to be taken seriously.” The independent judicial panel suggested it would have been better if Mr Thompson took up his issues with the school, rather than abusing from the sidelines. Mr Thompson has been approached for comment.
