The public meltdown of Ireland and Connacht wing Mack Hansen has placed match officials prominently in the spotlight.
Hansen was slapped with a six-week ban (with three of those weeks suspended) after a disciplinary panel upheld a charge of misconduct against the player.
Additionally, Connacht has received a €10,000 fine suspended due to Hansen’s sanction.
Hansen was charged with misconduct in breach of clause 3.2 of the disciplinary rules of the United Rugby Championship.
This followed after comments that he made about the match officiating of Connacht 12-20 Round Eight clash on December 21.
* To read more about the ban and see the video of Hansen’s meltdown, CLICK HERE!
Those comments included significant criticism of the referee officiating at that match.0
The URC’s head of communications Adam Redmond said they are keen to address the question of refereeing accountability in the aftermath of the Hansen versus Chris Busby saga.
URC Head of Match Officials Tappe Henning made it clear that referees “are accountable” for the performances.
“They are appointed by the URC and accountable to the URC,” he told a round table media briefing.
Henning explained that a panel of four selectors – George Clancy (Ireland), Nigel Owens (Wales), Neil Patterson (Scotland) and Stuart Berry (South Africa) – review referees.
They make notes of decisions that were made or not made that may not be accurate.
“After the game, on the Monday, there will be a review process,” Henning explained.
“The referee will self-review his game, then join the reviewer and they will discuss incidents the referee has seen and incidents the reviewer has seen.”
He said the process is to make the referee accountable to the URC, to identify flaws in their refereeing and how to correct those areas.
(WATCH as URC Head of Match Officials Tappe Henning explains how match officials are being held accountable….)
“It is an evidence-based system,” Henning said, adding: “Every incident is captured on our AMS [association management system software] – with a clip for each incident.
“We will say: ‘This is the incident, this is your decision and this is why we think it is not accurate’.
“We discuss it with the referee and their coach the way forward and how to improve him.”
Henning revealed that for referees who do not meet an acceptable level of performance in two or three matches, there will be a period of ‘remedial work’ for that referee.
“They will do some local games within their union and once their confidence and understanding of the areas they need to improve is visible, they will be allowed to be reintroduced into the environment.”
The URC referee boss says a referee requires a skin thicker than that of an elephant.
“You need to be diplomatic where you are challenged under difficult circumstances, where you are challenged live during a game.
“It is a process to get to that level,” he added.
Henning also revealed teams have official channels through which they can request reviews of specific incidents or trends (including via WhatsApp with Henning personally).
Henning said that it typically takes five to seven years for a referee to progress from the URC’s development panel to overseeing a league game.
During the early stages of their careers, they are deployed in the domestic competition of a foreign union to remove them from their comfort zone and expose them to different cultures.
The URC are also hoping the Hansen versus Busby saga will lead to something more meaningful and achieve a greater understanding between players, referees and supporters.
The URC’s head of communications, Adam Redmond, that Busby will be available for selection for the rest of the URC season.
There were reports that Busby had strongly considered an immediate retirement from refereeing in the wake of the fallout from Hansen’s meltdown and criticism.
“I would say you’ll probably see something more public about what occurs as a result,”, Redmond said, adding: “It will not necessarily be as it was described in the press release as a simple: ‘Hey guys, don’t say something bad about a referee in a post-match environment’.
“There will be very much an education exercise that will probably get applied across all 16 teams.
“In this very, very unique situation, because it’s an independent panel, they can come up with what is a very unique clause to the disciplinary sanction, and then it is up to other people within the environment to shape that in a more meaningful and impactful way, which I hope we will.”
Henning added that they want something positive to come out of this.
“Our focus and our best efforts will be that the game will benefit from an incident that was so sorry to happen,” the URC referees boss said.
“That’s all I can say about that for now, that we’ll try to turn it into a positive in the relationships between match officials and teams and players.”
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