Mike Hester: NZ Rugby Participation Development Manager on Horowhenua-Kāpiti postponing games following referee abuse

Concerns have been raised after Horowhenua-Kāpiti Rugby Union cancelled a series of Saturday matches.

The provincial union made the call after the abuse of a referee at last Saturday's game between Kapiti College and Mana College, which saw him escorted to his car out of safety fears.

NZ Rugby's Mike Hester says there was abuse from spectators that prompted the match getting called off.

"A lot of these things can happen on the sideline with chat from spectators to coaches and the like. The details of it - again, it depends on who you talk to - but certainly, it was sufficient enough that the referee had to make a decision." 

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now Ellen, there will be no rugby and the Carpety
and Horde Fenerware regions this weekend because the local rugby
union has canceled all club games all school games after
another case of referee abuse.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
The game was between Carpety College and Marna College. The
union said the ref was so seriously abused he had
to be escorted to his car. Mike Hester is the
participation development manager at New Zealand Rugby. Hey, Mike, Hi,
what happened was this between the ref and the coach
of one of the teams.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
The details depend on who you talk to, but the
reality was there was some views from spectators that were
really at the heart of it, and so that's what
led to some of the issues with the game having
to be called off.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
So the spectator started piping up and did they then
wind up one of the coaches?

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yeah, So the reality is, I mean a lot of
these things can happen on the sideline with chaff from
spectators to coaches and the like. So probably the details
of it, again it depends on who you talk to
and the reports. But similarly, it was sufficient enough that
referee had to make decision around the game and then
be supported to be able to leave.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
And was it the coach of the Mona team, which
is the team that.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Lost again, Probably not looking again into specific.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Come on, this is what is out there. It's already
out there. So either either you're going to let somebody
continue to be falsely accused or we're going to clear
it up.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Probably don't have the information to be really accurate, and
we don't want to start sort of causing suggestions about
who did what.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Did the ref push or punch the coach?

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Not to my knowledge, no, neither of them, not to
my knowledge.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
And did the coach punch or push the ref.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Again, not not to my knowledge. And there will be
an investigation that will work through all of those issues
to get to the bottom of all of it.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
And was this because the ref because the crowd found
that the whistle had been delayed, allowing the opposing team
to score an try and thus win the game?

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Again, it depends on the reports that you you listen to.
But again, these things will be worked through. But the
reality is, I'll tell you what I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
I mean, I didn't get you guys, I didn't get
you on to have a fight with you. So I
apologize but why are you being weird and shady about this?
Why not just tell us what happened?

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Well, the reality is that we don't exactly know what
happened because there's a process that will be followed through
to get to the bottom of it.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
This happen at the weekend? Am I imagining that?

Speaker 3 (02:36):
No, no, it didn't happen at the weekend.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
So you're telling me on Thursday you don't know what
happened at the weekend.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Well, these are local metas that HK has worked through
to evaluate.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
What's Can I tell you something? There are some people
who have spoken to are pretty annoyed at New Zealand
Road because they reckon you guys just don't care about
the stuff enough. And it's sounding of it like that.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Ah, it's quite the contrary. The reality is that these
sort of behaviors are just totally unacceptable. And we know
that we have a sort of around seven thousand games
that are run every weekend and a lot of people
role model really good behavior, both as spectators, coaches, managers
and officials try to do their job, so there will
be these instances where unfortunately people get carried away and

(03:19):
go below the line. When these things happen. We need
to work through what are the facts, get to the
bottom of that, run their appropriate investigations and let it
run its course. What we're really pleased to see is
that whilst it's disappointing to see that they've to go
to these steps, is that the union has it acted

(03:40):
to back up their officials and also what good behavior
looks like. So these are things that are really important.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Now, Okay, Mike, I appreciate your time. I really appreciate
you coming on mate. That's Mike Hester, participation development manager
at New Zealand Rugby.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
For more from Hither du Plassy Allen Drive, listen live
to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or
follow the podcast on heart radio