Andrew Bourke: Sumner Rugby Club referee on his treatment on the field, referee abuse

The treatment of match officials has been thrown into the spotlight of late, after a union cancelled their upcoming fixtures due to the abuse faced by their referees. 

Lesley Murdoch spoke with a local referee from Sumner Rugby Club, Andrew Bourke, to hear about his experiences while he’s on the field. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Andrew Burke, I just wanted to ring up and congratulate
you on the way that you ref your junior rugby
games and the positivity that it receives from the sideline.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thank you. That's something that I like to do and
like to see the excitement of the kids' faces and
that when I do get to reaf.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
So what is your philosophy when you've got the whistle?
What do you want to achieve when you go out
to reap?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
The way I do it for the kids to have fun,
but also for them to learn. I believe, and they
go out and they if they're having fun, and if
they make a mistake, if they have a penalty or whatever,
is to use it as a teaching moment and just
to go, hey, you know, an opportunity to go, let's improve,
let's understand what the era was and then how we

(00:43):
should how we should be doing it, and so that
way next time they either may not make a mistake,
but also they don't feel like it's they've done something
wrong and there's no explanation of why, so that they
can they can learn and they can feel more positive
about it.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
So how long have you been reathing?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Probably for I think it's about five years now of
age the under under sixes all the way up till
now what will be the under tens, So that's about
four or five years now that I've been doing it.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Now, have you found the reaction to the way that
you approach your rething.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
I think most of the time, probably about ninety percent times,
it's usually very positive. I find that I've had a
good support from the sidelines. There has been a couple
of negative points you never enjoyed, but I think majority,
like the overwhelming majority of people that I've interacted with,
has been has been in a positive nature, which has

(01:39):
been good in the end for the kids and for
going the kids, they need someone out there to help
them and to I guess be a good role model
if they want to refer when they get older. They
don't want to be I don't want to be marred
by potentially bad sports, bad sideline chatter and things like that.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Exactly a positive experience last weekend when we were watching
on the sideline and You've got a special award at
the end of the match, and that was met with
applause from both teams.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
That's the first time I've had something like that has
happened to me. I have had sinks from other pos before,
but from other teams before. But it was awesome to
be recognized for that. You don't go out and do
it for recognition. That we do it to try and
help the kids have fun and progress in their in
their sporting careers. But yeah, it was awesome to be

(02:36):
recognized as well by another team. It's something to be
recognized by your own team. But when other people say that,
it does think make you feel like you're doing making
a difference.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
All we can say is credit. We're credit is due,
and you're doing a magnificent job, and we just wanted
to say well done, keep it going and hope that
you are a beacon of light out there in a
difficult job.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Thank you very much. And coaches to refs and there
out there is that you know, they all do a
fantastic job, and I think they should all be praised
for what they do going out every Saturday morning, etcetera.
In the cold with the kids having to run around.
So I think it's awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, you are awesome.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
My problem.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Andrew Burke fantastic.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
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Speaker 1 (03:21):
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