Digby Ioane is a bit of trouble

[matty_k]

So Digby Ioane posted this on Twitter on Saturday night.

the worst ref ever

Now he has to face the SANZAR Judicial Committee over publicly criticising the ref's performance.

Rugby Heaven story

 

[matty_k]

Does anyone know what the standard penalty has been for publicly criticising the ref.
Money or time?

 

[twenty seven]

Shame - its more fact then anything else. Massive forward pass - try, knock on - try. Lets face it, they have been inconsistant since the season has started. The reds match was not the only one where a Kiwi ref was biased. Don't mind a miss by the Ref on occasions, due the speed of the game, but that forward pass was a shocker.

 

[Tank]

Does anyone know what the standard penalty has been for publicly criticising the ref.
Money or time?

quote from a recent SMH article...

Ioane looking at sanction after tweet Jim Morton
May 2, 2011 - 6:14PM
If he is found to have breached rugby's code of conduct relating to criticising match officials, Ioane can be fined or suspended but previous rants against referees have resulted in heavy fines.

Former Reds coach Eddie Jones was slugged $10,000 for a prolonged attack on Matt Goddard's officiating in 2007 while Brumbies star Matt Giteau was fined $5000 last year for saying Steve Walsh needed to be relegated following a controversial loss to NSW.

 

[Bullrush]

Shame - its more fact then anything else. Massive forward pass - try, knock on - try. Lets face it, they have been inconsistant since the season has started. The reds match was not the only one where a Kiwi ref was biased. Don't mind a miss by the Ref on occasions, due the speed of the game, but that forward pass was a shocker.

Kiwis can only laugh when everyone else complains about forward passes....you have no idea

 

[Ruggo]

I we seriously buying into the Kiwi bias theory when a Kiwi ref pur Ritchie McCaw in the bin for an offence at the breakdown only last weekend.

I have my gripes about the standard of reffing this year but bias, no.

 

[mark_s]

how do they know which ref he is talking about?

 

[daz]

Kiwis can only laugh when everyone else complains about maginally flat passes....you have no idea

There ya go Bullrush. Is that better?

 

[MrTimms]

SANZAR press release:

Queensland Reds wing Digby Ioane has been charged with contravening the SANZAR Code of Conduct and will face a Judicial Hearing on Wednesday.

The charge stems from a comment made by Ioane on the social media website Twitter after the Reds' loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington last Saturday.

A SANZAR investigation has determined that Ioane has allegedly breached Sections 8.3.1 d) and 8.3.1 e) of the SANZAR Code of Conduct as contained in the Super Rugby tournament regulations.

The Code states:

8.3.1 d) All participants shall accept and observe the authority and decisions of referees, touch judges, Match Officials and all other rugby disciplinary bodies, subject to Regulation 17 as amended by these rules; and

8.3.1 e) Shall not publish or cause to be published criticism of the manner in which a referee or touch judge handled a match.

The hearing will take place via teleconference on Wednesday 4 May at 19h00 (NZ), 17h00 (EST) and 09h00 (SA) and will be chaired by SANZAR Judicial Officer, Nigel Hampton QC (Quade Cooper).

Ends

 

[twenty seven]

Sorry Ruggo but can't agree. Even noticed it in there when it's a Kiwi V Kiwi team. I'm a rugby nut and have been involved in rugby for a long time so I hate to say it but the level of reffing, in S15 down to club, has gone down. Would like to see more effort in promoting and coaching/mentoring of Ref's. They have something in place but it is not enough. Have academies etc for players and we sure could do with a couple for ref's.

 

[Bullrush]

There ya go Bullrush. Is that better?

Hahahaha.....I like your style sir

 

[Sully]

Queensland Reds wing Digby Ioane has been charged with contravening the SANZAR Code of Conduct and will face a Judicial Hearing on Wednesday.

The charge stems from a comment made by Ioane on the social media website Twitter after the Reds' loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington last Saturday.

A SANZAR investigation has determined that Ioane has allegedly breached Sections 8.3.1 d) and 8.3.1 e) of the SANZAR Code of Conduct as contained in the Super Rugby tournament regulations.

The Code states:

8.3.1 d) All participants shall accept and observe the authority and decisions of referees, touch judges, Match Officials and all other rugby disciplinary bodies, subject to Regulation 17 as amended by these rules; and

8.3.1 e) Shall not publish or cause to be published criticism of the manner in which a referee or touch judge handled a match.

The hearing will take place via teleconference on Wednesday 4 May at 19h00 (NZ), 17h00 (EST) and 09h00 (SA) and will be chaired by SANZAR Judicial Officer, Nigel Hampton QC (Quade Cooper).

Ends

I am not a lawyer so tell me if I'm wrong about this. Ioane didn't participate in the game so he can say whatever he likes! Anyway if I was his advocate that;s what I would be doing.

 

[vidiot]

how do they know which ref he is talking about?

I would love him to say he was watching and tweeting about the NRL. Does bringing the NRL into disrepute carry a SANZAR reward?

 

[daz]

I am not a lawyer so tell me if I'm wrong about this. Ioane didn't participate in the game so he can say whatever he likes! Anyway if I was his advocate that;s what I would be doing.

I'm not a lawyer either, but he is a paid employee of the QRU and ARU which falls under SANZAR and IRB law.

If one of my employees has a sick day and spends the day sending tweeting/sms-ing to all and sundry about what a crap boss I am, I'd probably be dragging him into a "please explain" meeting.

 

[Bullrush]

I am not a lawyer so tell me if I'm wrong about this. Ioane didn't participate in the game so he can say whatever he likes! Anyway if I was his advocate that;s what I would be doing.

I'd say it refers to 'all participants' in the SANZAR tournament rather than individual games.

eg. If Isaia Toeava watched the game at home and then tweeted something along the lines of "the ref for the Reds v Hurricanes game was absolutely crap" then he'd be up for the same charge even though he didn't participate in that actual game.....

 

[Ignoto]

Does anyone have a link/website to sanzar especially the code of conduct? I'd love to have a read.

I think its quite pathetic that he can't give a personal opinion which wasn't that big of an outburst.

From memory the clown that is De Villers gave a Ref a massive spray and didn't get anything?

 

[Brumby Jack]

From memory the clown that is De Villers gave a Ref a massive spray and didn't get anything?

He gets to coach the Springboks...

 

[twenty seven]

Australian Players Association
CODE OF CONDUCT
11. not to show unnecessary obvious dissension, displeasure or disapproval towards a referee, touch judge or other match official, his or her decision or generally following a decision of a match official;
14. not to conduct themselves in any manner, or engage in any activity, whether on or off the field, that would impair public confidence in the honest and orderly conduct of matches and competitions or in the integrity and good character of participants; and
15. not to do anything which adversely affects or reflects on or discredits the game, the ARU, any Member Union or Affiliated Union of the ARU, or any squad, team, competition, tournament, sponsor, official supplier or licensee, including, but not limited to, any illegal act or any act of dishonesty or fraud.

Only one I could find but imagine they would all be similar.

 

[wamberal]

Is it an insult to say that a particular referee is the "worst ever"? If we were to rank all the referees Australia and New Zealand, in order of quality, or height, or age, or any other criterion, what does it prove? In fact, when it comes to quality, they are already ranked. What is wrong with players, spectators, administrators, whoever, having an opinion about the rankings?



Some referees are clearly more competent than others, the most competent referees are selected for the most important matches. The least competent/experienced/whatever are probably running around refereeing subbies - but even these officials are presumably good enough to do their job.

So Digby might be implying that the referee in question is less competent than a subbies referee, although it could be argued that he has never seen subbies referees, so could not be referring to them.

It is a bit like ranking schools. Just because a particular school is at the bottom of the rankings does not mean that it is not operating acceptably. It just means that the schools above it are operating more effectively.

If Digby believes that this referee is at the bottom of the list of referees that he has played under, or watched, surely that is an acceptable opinion to hold. It is not as though he has accused him of cheating, showing bias, or anything reprehensible.

 

[daz]

I think that the respect rugby players have towards the ref is fairly unique in world sport. We call him "sir" and are taught from our junior days that there is no back chat. I'm sure we can all remember doing laps or being dragged for breaking this key element of our junior games.

Do we really want to start heading down the path of other sports, especially soccer? Regardless of the intent or the perceived triviality of Digby's tweet, at the end of the day he showed disrespect towards an official. In our game, that is not on. If he had said that to the ref during the game, he would have enjoyed a nice 10 minute breather.

Call me old fashioned, but I like this aspect of rugby. Yes, heat of the battle, points denied, ladder jostling, etc....but you don't play the man; especially the officials.