One strike and you're off as SRU introduces 'zero tolerance' policy
CRAIG FORBES

SCOTLAND'S referees have been told by the Scottish Rugby Union president Andy Irvine that they must henceforth take a 'zero tolerance' approach towards punching, kicking, stamping and verbal abuse. Any player found guilty of any of those offences is to be automatically dismissed from the field of play.

Irvine's letter to officials follows a recommendation from the union's discipline panel, which the Scottish Rugby Council accepted. The discipline panel has noted a disturbing increase in the number of players committing those offences, and is equally worried by the number of reported instances of club officials abusing match officials.


"Rugby must be played both to the letter and within the spirit of the Laws of the game," Irvine said. "The responsibility for this lies with all who participate.

"It is in the interests of all within our sport to eradicate foul play and all participants within the sport should be informed of the new policy. The SRU disciplinary panel have issued lengthy sentences where appropriate - and will continue to do so in addressing these problems."

The former Scotland player's letter highlights the difference between legal and illegal rucking. Referees have been instructed they should not dismiss players when they ruck the ball and accidentally make contact with an opposing player, but that they must dismiss players when they kick and stamp opponents. Iain Goodall, the SRU's referees manager, said the aim was to reverse the upward trend of offending as quickly as possible. "We don't have exact statistics for this season, but the general trend has been worrying and we want to get rid of this culture once and for all," he said.

"There has been a rise in incidents of serious foul play and if I were the parent of a budding young player, I would have difficulty giving my blessing to him being involved in rugby. The main problem areas seem to be in the lower leagues and the junior teams attached to bigger clubs. It seems that at the higher levels of the BT Premiership the picture is not so bad. That is probably because referees and touch judges are more experienced, along with the fact that the players realise there is much more to lose if they get into bother."

This article was posted on 7-Dec-2005, 08:43 by Hugh Barrow.