Opinion: Get used to it

The relentless and nonsensical abuse and threats against rugby referee Ben O’Keeffe on social media during and after the recent Super Rugby Pacific final at Waikato Stadium has brought several issues into the spotlight.

One of them is that some people take advantage of anonymity to write all kinds of nonsense. Another reason is that some people have trouble keeping track. Another reason is that in a nation of rugby lovers some of us have a very faint understanding of the laws of the game.

As a professional match official, O’Keeffe is used to criticism and the occasional troll on Instagram. And as a paid referee, he has a good support network.

But the level of abuse and the nature of the threats he received after the Crusaders’ 25-20 win over the Chiefs will be shocking and hurtful, and he’s right to worry about where it’s all going .

In a thoughtful response yesterday on his Instagram page, after 1News on Sunday revealed the extent of the abuse, O’Keeffe linked the incident to a disturbing recent incident involving England football referee Anthony Taylor at a Budapest airport was accosted by angry fans following a Europa League final between Roma and Sevilla, which Spanish club Sevilla won on penalties.

This comes after Roma manager Jose Mourinho was seen gesturing at Taylor in the stadium’s car park, calling him a ‘disgrace’.

Chairs were thrown at Taylor at the airport and his family, who were traveling with him, were visibly frightened.

Fans ranting about rugby umpires is nothing new – ask Wayne Barnes after the All Blacks lost to France in the 2007 World Cup final – but the anger that lies in the messages O’Keeffe received and the New Zealanders wrote to a New Zealander after a super Rugby game seems to have taken it to a new level.

O’Keeffe is right to be concerned and if we could take something positive from that then we would use it as an opportunity for New Zealand to talk about how we treat match officials of all sports and particularly those who volunteer in clubs and schools work.

Many of us will have stories of courtside referees being abused in front of impressionable young children.

For example, towards the end of my 12-year-old son’s rugby match last weekend, the opposing coach, whose team was up by four or five tries, berated the volunteer referee long and loud for missing a real or imagined shot.

This is clearly the very mild end of the scale, but the criticism can weigh on the volunteer and is normal for the kids on the field.

A family friend recently told us that after refereeing a football match at a secondary school, she was approached near her car by a group of opposing parents, upset about one of their decisions during a 1-1 draw were. She was alone with her son.

It didn’t get physical, but it was ugly and unsettling, and considering it’s happening now at both amateur and professional levels, it could be the sad reality of our sporting future.