A few years back I wrote a piece entitled J’Accuse. If you have the time and interest, it is in the 2016/17 season section in the book (available at all good booksellers etc.…..). My diatribe that particular week was making the point that the elite refereeing fraternity have continuously undermined the Laws of the game and that in areas such as put ins, forward passes and so on they have unilaterally decided that there are laws that are disposable. ‘We know better.’

To be fair, laws are strange creatures. It is a well-known feature of legislation that a law that needs ‘interpretation’ is a poorly worded law. In our constitution this interpretation is carried out by the Judiciary who through their training and experience of the law, determine how laws should applied to the cases and situations before them. Or you can take the view that -‘Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.’ To quote Douglas Bader. (Youngsters, look him up).

Those of us that have played the game for any number of years usually have a pretty good idea of what the laws of the game actually are. Admittedly this understanding does get a little blurred after a sherbet or two but by and large, having played over many years a pretty accurate understanding is still there, despite the usual close season tweeks here and there.
So far so normal. Cue (in normal times) the usual moans and groans up and down the country when various situations arise in televised games. And during the Six Nations such bluster is, of course, never blurred by national biases (God forbid).

All this has become part of the scenery and is taken for granted. But I read something a couple of weeks ago that brought me up short. I felt like a Qanon believer, whose crazy view of the world had actually just been confirmed. You’d moaned about it for so long that when it was actually proved right, it was still a shock.
What brought this about was an interview with Nigel Owens. Yep, our Nige. The one referee in the world who when you saw he was in charge you had a degree of confidence. A man whose rapport with players and instant authority, had made him Ref number one.
In answer to the question: Why is it so difficult to referee putting a ball in straight at the scrum?

Nige’s response was as follows-
The honest answer is it’s not difficult. Referees, myself included, just don’t bother refereeing it anymore, and that is wrong. A lot of referees are so worried about things like the scrum collapsing that they just want to see the ball go in and out. Within refereeing circles there’s no appetite to do so. It has to come from the top. The leaders of refereeing in World Rugby have to tell the referees to do so or there will be consequences in appointment. I’m as guilty as anyone for not doing so, but I agree, it should be refereed. It’s similar to the lineout throw not being straight, which is another area that’s creeping into the game. So many throw-ins aren’t straight but that’s being ignored. They’re penalising players for jumping across in the lineout, but the only reason that happens is throws aren’t straight. Referees need to get back to refereeing the basics as they are there for the good of the game.

So there you have it. The top referee in the world game has admitted that the elite refereeing fraternity have unilaterally decided whether certain laws need applying or not. Tell me, how can you have a mainstream sport upon which thousands depend for their livelihood and millions follow avidly, have its law making processes bypassed and determined by a small number of professional referees?

Nigel is essentially saying ‘we could referee to the laws but we just can’t be bothered and if we did we wouldn’t get very far in our career.’
It’s like your bank saying ‘Financial Conduct Authority? Yeah, well nobody bothers anymore’. That would be reassuring wouldn’t it?

If you have ever watched a lower level club game with an amateur referee, by and large you will see the laws applied as they are written. But it is clear that to make headway up the refereeing ladder you must conform to the freemasonry whose rules are set from the top. The cascade of this malpractice is already evident. Even at lower levels you now see the put in law ignored.

‘Dad, why do they call him the Hooker?’

‘Because he hooks the ball back in the scrum son’

‘When will he do that Dad?’

‘Never son’