Unsporting Conduct Question.

[Balones]

Fair enough but I don't think I'd be telling the coach that "the ref was quite within his rights". Probably more like "that was an incident that we will be discussing later".

Spot on. That’s my approach.

[tewdric]

There's an assumption here that it was the crowd noise that led to the rekick - it may have been something else like an early charge and the referee acted coincidentally to curtail abusive language in the crowd of 150, which would very likely have had children present.

Our assessors do have comms kits and the fed is normally mic'd when being assessed IME.

[Arabcheif]

I'm dual registered up here in SRU land, my 2nd club is Stobswell (although I don't think I'll be playing much for them this year as I'll be hopefully reffing if I'm not playing for my primary club). Stobbie have a friendly ever year against Treherbert, I've played once against them up in Dundee and broke my arm while being tackled.

Anyway, I agree that it's the player, coach, subs that fall under the jurisdiction of the ref. But the ref might've thought it was a Sub that shouted???

[OB..]

Some years ago I was at Twickenham for England v New Zealand. As Jonny was lining up a PK, the All Blacks bench decided it was a good time to do some warm-up sprints in the same in-goal area as Jonny was aiming for. The crowd booed loudly, but quietend down as Jonny prepared to kick. Naturally he nailed it.

I suspect somebody spoke to the All Blacks, since they did not do it again.

[damo]

Do we know for a fact that the referee pulled the kick back for behaviour of the spectators alone?

If that was the case then the ref was clearly wrong. However. in the absence of confirmation of this fact I am not going to condemn the referee.

[crossref]

Do we know for a fact that the referee pulled the kick back for behaviour of the spectators alone?

If that was the case then the ref was clearly wrong. However. in the absence of confirmation of this fact I am not going to condemn the referee.

See post 6 , I gather from that Marc has tracked down and spoken to the ref

[Marc Wakeham]

Assessor does not need to "hang him out" but he should not lie either!

"we'll chat later to find out exactly what the reason was for the retake." Hangs no one out to dry at all. A ref could have given a retake for a different reason to the one the crowd , and the assessor thinks they heard.

[thepercy]

The referee was wrong.. but so was the coach

The referee's authority is confined to the pitch and the players. He can't sanction the spectators

On the other hand the coach has no authority over the events on the pitch .. but he has enormous moral authority over his spectators.

Rather than bugging the ref , he should have been chastising his unruly spectators

I don't think a re-kick is on for this. I do think the referee has authority to make abusive spectators leave, but I don't think this is one of those cases. This isn't a law violation or abuse, just poor etiquette.

I find this etiquette odd though. Are there other parts of the game where we ask the crowd to be silent? What about scrums, don't the front rows need to concentrate? Is this a cultural thing? In the US during basketball free-throws it is encouraged to be loud and distracting to the shooter. In gridiron football, being loud during kicks is normal at all levels, and the crowd is encouraged to be loud on 3rd downs to distract the opponents. Besides golf, are there other sports, or situations within the sport where it is uncouth to be boisterous?

[didds]

I do think the referee has authority to make abusive spectators leave

Not sure about that.

isnt a case of stop play, time off, then ask a home side representative to deal with the spectators and play will nto resume until that's done - otherwise the game will be abandoned and the situation put in the ref report.

??

Caveat : I do have sympathy for sides whose home pitches are on what are otherwise pretty much public spaces and "the public" involved may not actually be allied to either side or even the game of rugby. Years ago when I played, it wasn't unusual when playing cricket on council pitches to have people deliberately meander across the pitch as play went on. But that isnt what we are debating here of course.

didds

[L'irlandais]

I agree, the referee is responsible for the Laws of the game, which apply to the playing enclosure. Spectators are the responsibility of the club’s blazers. World Rugby’s regulation 20 is vague enough about things

20.4 While it is not possible to provide a definitive and exhaustive list of the types of conduct, behaviour, statements or practices that may amount to Misconduct under these Regulations, by way of illustration, each of the following types of conduct, behaviour, statements or practices however or wheresoever undertaken are examples of and constitute Misconduct:

To be honest, World Rugby if cannot keep International players in check, so I fail to see how they expect clubs to keep Joe Public quiet.