Venter: ERC must ensure consistent approach
South African Venter, director of rugby at Saracens, made his views known as teams from across Europe prepare for the new Heineken Cup campaign, which starts in a fortnight and will see officials from different countries applying the laws in their own way.
European Rugby Cup Ltd, the organisers of the Heineken Cup and its sister competition the Amlin Challenge Cup, say they have listened to the clubs over recent years and appointed a former international official to oversee the consistency of referees and their performances.
The International Rugby Board brought out new directives this year to counter the controversial Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) that turned many matches into kicking fests and led to the notorious so-called ‘aerial ping-pong’.
These new directives are aimed at opening the game up again.
Venter said that the Aviva Premiership officials, under the direction of Head of Elite Referees, Ed Morrison, and his team at Twickenham, which includes other former international officials, are doing a “brilliant” job in England.
But he fears the interpretations of the rules by national officials across Europe will be so varied that clubs will not know where they are during the Heineken Cup.
Venter said: “The biggest challenge to me is the practical challenge. The Premiership, Top 14 and Magners League – all are refereed differently. The IRB came out and said ‘here are the directives’ which they sent to New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and everywhere else. The crucial thing is how are you going to get this right. Remember we have planned the whole pre-season around these directives.
“Ed (Morrison) has got all these people working for him and we still struggle with consistency in a brilliant environment in England.
“Give credit to Ed and how hard they are working on it. The referees put in hours analysing their own performances – that is brilliant. You cannot criticise them.
“Now I’m asking, do we have this kind of process, which without a doubt we can’t have, within ERC? All this money spent and everyone is so excited but we have this one variable.
“You can ask anyone how big a variable the referee is today. He is going to say ‘an unbelievable variable’. You ask me what I think, and I say ‘unbelievable’.
“It is less than perfect, it could be a disaster. These directives were brought in to make rugby a better game to watch. This is a potential problem because the game is played so differently in the different places.
“When you are asking what do we want, it is to produce a better product for the people to watch. This is not my opinion, this is not Ed’s opinion, it’s the IRB’s opinion.
“They (IRB) want to do this to make it better for the World Cup next year. They say ‘We have stumbled on this gem to make the game better – or are we going to have another 2007, where the teams that kick the best and tackle the best will be the ones who will win the competition’? Or can we actually get a competition where we can have scores of 35-22 with a lot of tries, and people say ‘rugby is something I would like to support because it’s good to watch’? There is no more time for ELVs and all of this. That time is finished now. If they can put this in stone, we will have a great product for a long time or, if not, we will lose this whole thing.”
The ERC appointed former international referee Donal Courtney to oversee consistency of officials in their competition last year. And their chief executive Derek McGrath said they were well aware of the concerns teams have raised about the issue.
McGrath said: “What we have been doing is responding to a demand which is a growth in expectation of the teams, the way that the games are played and the way the game is refereed.
“One of the particularities in Europe is that you are encountering different referees to those that you are encountering on a weekly basis. Therefore, the issue of consistency and application of the regulations is something that we recognise there have been differences in.
“That is why, for the last few years, we have been working very hard to address this which has culminated with the appointment of Donal Courtney, a former international referee, to act as our referee manager.
“The objective there is to show progress, to lift the standard and get an understanding of how referees are coached, measured and selected. They have an increasingly tough task and we see it as important that they understand that the organisation is behind them.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
