When a rugby referee pulls a red card out of his pocket, the game changes for everybody. The team on the receiving end know they are up against it. The opposing team knows they have a distinct advantage for the rest of the game. Somewhere in the middle, the viewing public is generally robbed of the spectacle for which they have paid hard earned cash to witness.
Rugby Red Cards
Rugby is a very structured game, with defined roles for each player. Taking a player out of the game means that the on field duties carried out by that player are unfulfilled, no matter how hard his team mates try to fulfill those roles, most notably in defense. There have been a number of high profile red cards over the last few years. Scottish fullback Stuart Hogg was sent off in the 2014 6-Nations tournament after his clumsy challenge on Dan Biggar. Wales ran out 51-3 winners. Welshman Sam Warburton was red-carded in the 2011 Rugby World Cup Semi-Final in New Zealand against France. Les Blues went on to squeak through 9-8. The Welsh can only wonder what could have been if they had been able to compete with 15 players.
Springbok hooker Bismark du Plessis was red carded by Romaine Poitte in the Rugby Championship match in Auckland in 2013 for receiving two yellow cards. The Springboks battled on bravely for 50 minutes with 14 men, but lost 29-15. The travesty here was that although the second yellow card was well deserved for leading with an elbow, the first yellow card was completely undeserved and was in fact one of the best tackles on Dan Carter… ever… and that by his own admission. What was one of the games of the season up until that point, fizzled out into a no-contest.
The point that is of concern here is that the punishment for one player’s indiscretion seems too absolute. Not only is the player punished, so is his team as well as all the spectators at the stadium as well as millions of viewers watching on television. Let there be no misunderstanding… if a player has committed an offense which deserves his ejection from the game, he should receive his marching orders. The question is surely whether or not his team as well as everyone else viewing the game should be “punished” as well?
There is no silver bullet to resolving this issue, but killing the game as a contest is surely not the answer in a professional sport, with so much sponsorship, viewership and competition from other sports for the viewership of a sports hungry public. The referees are not to blame here. They apply the laws as they are presented to them and do not have much scope for interpretation.
One possible answer to this issue would be to give the offending a player an on-field red card, which is followed by a ten minute sin-binning exactly the same as for a yellow card. After spending ten minutes in the naughty chair, the offending player can head for an early shower in preparation for his appointment with the citing commissioner. His place can then be taken by a player from the bench. There remains an element of punishment for the team as so-called “impact” players are called into action a lot earlier than normally required and you will have players taking up positions they are not accustomed to. The main reasoning here is that players are made accountable for their indiscretions and not the entire team or spectators. If red card offenses are dealt with in this way, players would also be subject to longer term bans. Most players escape long term bans for their misdemeanours as their expulsion from the game and therefore the punishment served by their teams is deemed as sufficient censure.
There are many opinions on this subject and this is mine… I would like to hear your opinion. Do you have a suggestion to resolve this conundrum? Please comment below.
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