Watson on the whistle-blowers
André Watson, as the manager of South Africa’s professional referees, has a big role to play in the 2009 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International. We caught up with him to find out his thoughts on the tournament.
Of course, whilst most tend to focus on the emergence of new, talented players in the Varsity Cup – think Kyle Brown, Paul Bosch, Mat Turner, etc – for Watson, as the head of SA Referees, the tournament is also a fantastic opportunity to help referees hone their skills.
Watson, however, is quick to point out that the tournament is not simply a developmental tool when it comes to the whistle-blowers – it is more than that, with the high level of rugby on offer aiding the best officials in the country to get good game time away from the Super 14.
“We actually assign Varsity Cup matches to our provincial panel of referees, which is only one level lower than our national panel,” he explained to varsitycup.co.za. “The referees used for the tournament are thus well-established and reasonably experienced.”
According to Watson, the rationale for this arrangement is that the tournament provides an ideal platform for the referees to stay active in case they are needed for higher-level duty such as the Super14.
This notion, in turn, means that SA Rugby’s referee head is very positively inclined towards the tournament.
“The fact that experienced referees are used for these games illustrates how exciting and competitive the Varsity Cup is,” he said.
“One can still argue that this is club-level rugby but the magnitude and standard of play makes it a good challenge for our referees.”
Watson was also of the opinion that the level of accountability among the men with the whistle would be raised given the higher stakes for the teams but said that the was happy with his charges so far.
By Heinz Schenk
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