Ref?
Are you out there, ref?
The Otago Rugby Football Union is so desperately short of referees this season some officials have had to referee two or even three games to cover the shortfall.
The shortage has reached a breaking point and the onus is being put back on the rugby community to find a solution.
Earlier this week, Council of Rugby Clubs chairman Paul Dwyer sent an email to all the metropolitan clubs plus Crescent, Strath Taieri and Tokomariro clubs asking for their support.
"We are facing a refereeing crisis in our competitions at present," he wrote.
"This is a rugby crisis not a referee crisis. Without referees we have no games.
"It is up to all clubs to step up and provide a solution."
Dwyer said it was no longer sustainable to ask some referees to officiate in multiple games and the decision had been made to ask for help from the 13 clubs which have a senior open-grade side.
Each club has been asked to send at least one volunteer along to a one-hour referee course this week and then be available to referee, perhaps a schoolboy game, if required.
"We need to act urgently on this," Dwyer wrote.
"The consequence of not doing this will mean senior [grade] games not being refereed."
Otago Rugby Football Union referee education officer Tumua Ioane said he had been heartened by the response to Monday’s SOS.
"It has been amazing," he said.
"I’ve probably had 10 to 15 people already reach out after that letter was sent out.
"We are short of on-field referees but we are not short of referees because they are actually out there. They are the parents who are watching on the sidelines, and the coaches who coached in the morning and could be able to ref in the afternoon.
"They are out there, they are just not putting their hands up."
Ioane said there were about 35 to 40 Dunedin-based referees and 79 throughout Otago. But on a very busy week there were up to 72 games just in Dunedin.
"When we have got that amount of traffic in town — and it is not like that every week, some weeks you have maybe 30 to 40 games — you have referees doing two appointments or the extreme is three appointments."
Ioane said there had been a steady decline in the amount of referees during the past five years.
"In Dunedin there were probably around 50 to 60 maybe."
The decrease was down to a "number of different" factors.
"We’re reliant on students coming through but they are only here for three or four-year periods and then you are trying to get the next wave."
Covid had an impact and people are also more conscience of spending time with their families. It can be a thankless task as well.
Volunteer referees are often subjected to abuse from sidelines and criticism from players, management and even the media.
"Everyone has a different opinion on what is being ruled in the middle but it is because they often don’t have a good understanding of what the laws are.
"If we can educate our public better ... then we can create a better environment on the sideline. It can be a bit of barrier in terms of getting referees."
