Judicial Inequality?

Judicial Inequality?

During the court case in which former Wests Tiger Jarrod McCracken sued the Melbourne Storm and two of its former players, Stephen Kearney and Marcus Bai, over a spear tackle in 2000 that prematurely ended his professional rugby league career, footage of the incident was broadcast as evidence. The tackle, as a result of which McCracken suffered neck and spinal injuries, earned the former Kiwi captain AUS$97,000. More importantly, however, it demonstrated the essential need to maintain player safety and welfare.

The National Rugby League introduced a new rule stating that a tackled player could not be placed onto the ground past a horizontal angle, so as to avoid unnecessary contact with the head. This makes perfect sense, of course, especially in light of the number of players who have had to give up the game because of a neck or spine injury, the most notable of recent times being Andrew Johns.

At the same time, the governing body has taken measures to protect its officials from physical and verbal abuse. The aforementioned Johns experienced this first hand in 2006 when he let out a tirade of angry words at a touch judge during one highly emotional game, after which he received a two match suspension at the hands of the judiciary.

But has the National Rugby League gone too far? In their efforts to ensure the safety of their employees, have they placed the welfare of match officials above that of the players themselves?

During the Round 5, 2007 match between the New Zealand Warriors and the South Sydney Rabbitohs, a match that will be remembered as being the catalyst to a change of the obstruction rule, two other incidents occurred that attracted the attention of the judiciary, both involving Warriors fullback Wade McKinnon.

In the official Laws Of The Game, a player is deemed to be guilty of a Dangerous Throw “if, in any tackle of, or contact with, an opponent that player is so lifted that he is placed in a position where it is likely that the first part of his body to make contact with the ground will be his head or neck (‘the dangerous position’), then that tackle or contact will be deemed to been avoided”. [Section 15, Note 1 (d)]

In the second half of that match, Souths player Dean Widders and a fellow Rabbitoh lifted McKinnon in a tackle that saw the fullback to land headfirst onto the ground. However, referee Jason Robinson declined to award a penalty, saying to McKinnon: “You put yourself into that position”. For the referee to suspect a player would put his body into a dangerous and potentially career-ending position for a mere penalty is absurd enough, but when McKinnon pushed Robinson two minutes later, he found himself on the end of a contrary conduct charge.

As a one-eyed and biased Warriors fan, I completely agree that McKinnon was right to get charged. However, I take issue with the length of the ban in comparison to the one placed on Widders and other players guilty of dangerous throws, such as the Warriors’ own Michael Witt and Tony Martin a few weeks later. Widders was charged with a grade one dangerous throw, meaning an early guilty plea prevented him from missing any game time. In contrast, McKinnon was forced to sit on the sidelines for two weeks after pleading guilty to his grade three charge.

At what point was McKinnon’s act, which didn’t put the referee into any physical danger, worse than a tackle that could potentially remove a man from the playing field for good? It is right that the National Rugby League works to protect its officials, but what seems to be lacking is common sense.

Numerous other examples exist, some more relevant than others, in the recent history of the judiciary. In Round 5 alone, Widders, Dragon Ben Hornby, and Bronco Darius Boyd failed to miss any game time after taking early please following dangerous throws. Meanwhile, Jeremy Smith, the last player before McKinnon to manhandle a referee, sat out for four rounds following his indiscretion.

One would have thought a player’s safety would take a higher precedence over a referee’s comfort, especially when situations like McCracken’s arise. Clearly, the judiciary appear to disagree.

Sources:
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/devastated-wade-takes-ban/2007/05/01/1177788106427.html ‘Laws Of The Game 2007’ – NRL Rule Book

***Published in Issue Three of Super League Magazine, 2007***

Brothers In Arms

Brothers In Arms

The soldier shifted nervously as the small landing craft made its agonisingly slow passage towards the steep and rugged coastline. With the sun yet to rise, he squinted his eyes and peered through the darkness at the shadowed horizon. With his heart pounding, the Lance Corporal gripped his rifle firmly, double checking that his bayonet was in place, as the lifeboat was rowed closer to shore, the first crackles of gunfire audible from the towering ridges ahead.

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be

Charles Savory was never far from controversy. Born in Auckland in 1899, the keen sportsman initially picked up rugby union as his sport of choice. After allegedly kicking an opposition player in a club match in 1910, and receiving a two year ban as a result, Savory switched to rugby league, where he earned a reputation as a fearless and rugged prop forward.

He represented New Zealand in the thirteen man game against Australia in 1911, and played to such a high level that he was invited to join the Kangaroos on their tour of Great Britain, not unlike what Dally Messenger had done for the All Golds only four years earlier.

Some day you’ll return to
Your valley and your farms
And you’ll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Letting out a battle cry, the non-commissioned officer leapt from the boat and into the cold water of the Dardanelles, running as fast as he could, desperately trying to find safe ground amidst the fury of gunfire. As sunlight began to gently creep over the rugged terrain above them, the invading soldiers managed to dig themselves into positions in the side of the cliff.

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I’ve witnessed your suffering
As the battle raged higher

During a 1912 match against Auckland club side Newton, Savory first found himself on the wrong side of the judiciary. Having been sent off during the game, and after a failed appeal, the burly prop was suspended for the rest of the season, costing him the opportunity to take part in a second tour of Australia.

The following year, just days after having been selected in the national side, Savory was caught in what he forever labelled a case of mistaken identity. At an inquiry held by the Auckland Rugby League, the Kiwi forward was found guilty of kicking and banned for life.

The New Zealand Rugby League’s reaction was swift, and although they selected another player to take Savory’s place in the tour, they allowed an appeal to be heard. After finding there was no case to answer, they allowed the former rugby union player to return to the playing field.

And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

The Lance Corporal took a deep breath as he looked over his equipment, making sure there was nothing missing and that he was ready for battle. The word had just come through: they were to advance on the enemy’s position. The soldier had encountered battle before, albeit on a rugby league field. The countrymen of his former opposition were now his comrades, fighting somebody else’s war in a far off land.

There’s so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

In the aftermath of Savory’s disqualification and reinstatement, a split formed between the Auckland Rugby League and the New Zealand Rugby League that still exists to this day. After earning another international cap in 1914, the man whom the controversy surrounded became the New Zealand amateur heavyweight boxing champion, before signing up to perform his duty after the outbreak of World War One.

Now the sun’s gone to hell
With the moon riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die

Yelling out “I’m going to fight for my country”, Lance Corporal Charles Savory charged the enemy positions in an ill-fated attack. He was killed by Turkish artillery fire, and was later credited for his bravery during the battle. Despite what some league officials had thought two years earlier, Savory proved in death that he had been a worthy representative of New Zealand.

But it’s written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We’re fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

Lest we forget.

Sources:
www.cwgc.org
www.lighthorse.org.au
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Krithia
www.letssingit.com - song lyrics - 'Brothers In Arms' by Dire Straits, 1985
Wanganui Herald, 26th July 1915, Page 5
'The Kiwis: 100 Years Of International Rugby League' by John Coffey and Bernie Wood