Referee Nika Amashukeli has become the latest Test official to speak out following what he describes as disgraceful abuse directed at Wayne Barnes and his family during the Autumn Nations.
Last week Barnes revealed the direct abuse aimed at his partner Polly in the aftermath of the game that threatened his family; abuse his wife has also now spoken to on social media. Mrs Barnes says that fans threatened to kill her children and burn down their house.
Although she doesn’t specify which set of fans are behind the abuse, the hateful comments which was directed at her husband in recent weeks have largely come following South Africa’s loss to France in the Autumn Nation Series.
Now, in a long interview with Planet Rugby, Georgian referee has described a subset of fans as behaving disgracefully and irrationally following some recent matches.
“Obviously we do understand that there are going to be criticism – it’s always been like that and it’s not something new.
“However, when the critics go beyond what is legally and socially acceptable and when it comes to a personal family abused and threatened that’s just disgraceful. It’s just not normal – it’s irrational. By all means discuss the decision and the calls in isolation, but attacking a referee’s family? Come on, that’s just ridiculous and quite pathetic behaviour,” said Amashukeli.
“Within certain sections of the fan community, there’s a lack of understanding of the depth of performance review we go through.
“We are Test match performers and just like a world-class team the reviews and learning are deep and detailed. Post-match most of the referees will get the live notes straight away – either directly from Joel or from the match assessor.
“You will get some feedback from your coach who is actually watching it very carefully from the screen and an overall comment on what was the topline feeling and maybe some notes on the big decisions and their outcomes.”
Sunday Times journalist Stephen Jones put the blame at the feet of Rassie Erasmus. “…attention Rassie Erasmus,! wrote Jones on Twitter. “You are directly responsible for the horrible abuse suffered by Polly Barnes revealed by Wayne, this week. Your failure to take defeat on the chin and paranoid response to blame the referee should terminate your involvement in pro rugby for good… and SA Rugby are you ever going to make any form of announcement casigating [sic] Erasmus and banishing him. Or maybe to disassociate yourself entirely from the moron SA supporters who abused his family? Never too late.”
