Refs angry at light sentence

A disciplinary hearing of the Free State Rugby Union (FSRU) heard the case of a player charged with assaulting and racially abusing a referee and suspended him for two years. Referees are up in arms about the lightness of the sentence.

The incident happened in a match between the third teams of Collegians and Crusaders in Bloemfontein on Friday, May 16.

Three Collegians players were summoned to the inquiry on May 19, after it was alleged that the referee had been physically and racially abused by players.

It was also claimed that the much-maligned racial slur 'kaffir' was hurled at the match official.

The inquiry, chaired by Advocate Johan Daffue, found two players not guilty of unsporting behaviour, but found the Collegians captain, Jaco Rademeyer, guilty of unsporting behaviour and suspended him from all rugby for two years.

The referee was Milton Bolawa.

It is alleged that during the match one of the players, Leon Goosen, said to the referee: "Jy blaas kak." ('You are reffing shit.')

He is then alleged to have used a racial slur and said to his teammates: "Die k... blaas kak." ('The k.... refs shit.')

It is alleged that at that stage Bolawa showed Goosen a red card but Rademeyer refused to allow his player to leave the field. Bolawa stopped the match and walked off the field in the direction of the changing rooms. Rademeyer is said to have followed him. Bolawa was shoved  against the stand, his head knocked against a wall twice and he was punched in the jaw.

Rademeyer is alleged to have said to him: "K...., jy moet sokker gaan blaas en nie rugby nie." ('K...., you must go referee soccer, not rugby.')

The chairman of the Free State referees' Society, Servaas de Kock, told the Bloemfontein-based Volksblad newspaper: "We are disappointed at the finding. It means that nobody is taking responsibility for the assault on Bolawa.

"How can Rademeyer be found innocent of assault but guilty of bad sportsmanship?"

He said that referees were obviously fair game and that several had decided to stop refereeing.

After the newspaper report of the incident and the findings of the disciplinary committee,  the FSRU issued another statement.

In it the union expressed its strong disapproval of the behaviour and the use of insult and expressed its determination to eradicate it. But it accepted the findings of the disciplinary committee. It stressed that the disciplinary committee had in fact found Rademeyer guilty of assaulting the referee as the referee had stated in his witness.

The FSRU's second statement ended, ominously, with: "Free State Rugby will again look at the appointment of referees with experience to sensitive rugby matches."

It was a match between third teams in a union short of referees.

The Volksblad reports that the police have the matter in hand.