Wellington Rugby Referees Association takes stand against abuse with non-appointments

Author: Christopher Reive ,
Publish Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2026, 1:27pm

The Wellington Rugby Referees Association has made a stand against abuse, opting not to appoint officials for this weekend’s fixtures.

The move follows three instances of verbal abuse of referees during weekend games

Wellington Rugby Referees Association (WRRA) president and chair Ben van Berkel said the Wellington Rugby Football Union (WRFU) had been advised that such a step would be taken if referee abuse continued.

Van Berkel noted they had already received 19 reports of verbal abuse towards referees, across junior, secondary schools, and senior club rugby.

Not all reports of abuse came from referees, he said.

Speaking to the Herald, van Berkel said it was great that non-referees were reporting incidents of abuse.

“Obviously we want everyone to support referees and it’s not so much just referees, it’s if anyone walks past a behaviour they don’t like, they should be doing something about it.

“I appreciate the people for stepping up and supporting the referees, but yeah, there’s a lot of work to be done obviously.”

The abuse came from players, volunteers and spectators.

“This year we want to make sure that we were actually reporting everything. So that’s one of the reasons why we’re at 19. I think we were at six or seven last year.

Of the weekend’s incidents, van Berkel said: “I’m not going to go into clubs or any specifics, but verbal abuse towards two referees and one assistant referee".

Van Berkel said while they had a meeting scheduled with the WRFU on Tuesday night to discuss the issue, the decision to not appoint referees was one the WRRA made independently.

“After I refereed a game on Saturday, I was notified of an abuse incident. So, I gave Tony [Giles, WRFU chief executive] a heads-up then that we were going to follow through with not appointing referees next weekend.

“I’ve had some constructive, positive conversations with Tony since and yes, we are meeting tomorrow night,” van Berkel said.

“I believe he’s meeting with the club chairs or representatives tonight just to discuss whether games are cancelled, for example, or what their approach is. That’s not something that we’re across.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.