Referees strike on the Borders
No RDO, no blow
At a meeting in Melrose on Thursday night the Border Rugby Referees' Society decided to withdraw from refereeing this weekend in protest against the Scottish Rugby Union's decision to scrap the post of Referees' Development Officer for the Border area.
All the Society referees appointed for this weekend, more than 30 in number, have backed this decision and have withdrawn their services for this weekend.
The SRU's decision has come at a time when The Border Society has been battling to maintain its numbers and was made without any consultation with the Society.
Thursday's meeting resolved that further action would follow until there was consultation between the SRU's decision-makers and the Society about the retention of the RDO's position or the establishment of a meaningful alternative.
The RDO is responsible for the recruitment and training of referees. The Border Society's chairman, Alan Lyall, has reported that the shortage of referees in the Borders has led to the cancellation of matches in the region rather than run the risk of having an unlicensed referee run a match in which a player suffered serious injury.
Lyall also said: "We've been a victim of our own success because the Borders has produced a steady stream of top-quality referees – we have five in the current top ten and Scotland's only full-time ref now – but we lose them to top matches and are left struggling to cover local games. We all enjoy what we do and the last thing we want is strike action, but we have no choice if we are to avoid greater problems in the future."
The Border RDO has been Bill Calder for the last five years. The cut-back is part of the SRU's new executive's strategy to reduce the SRU's debt of £23 million.
Iain Goodall, the SRU referees manager, said: "I hope we can get this resolved. We are desperately sorry to lose an experienced man like Bill and I can understand the feeling of the Border referees, but all strike action will do is harm Scottish rugby."
Some years ago, Welsh referees withdrew their service in a pay dispute with the Welsh Rugby Union which stopped only when the Union agreed to the referees' demands. Two years ago they again threatened to strike in protest against what they regarded as inadequate punishment for Percy Montgomery who was found guilty of shoving a touch judge when playing for Newport.
