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Barnes' wife speaks out over threats as journalist goes after Erasmus
By Ian Cameron
The wife of referee Wayne Barnes has taken to Twitter to speak out over the abuse that has been directed at her by rugby fans in recent weeks, which she describes ‘a new low’.
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Polly Barnes says that fans threatened to kill her children and burn down her house.
Although she doesn’t specify which set of fans are behind the hate campaign, the abuse which was directed at her husband in recent weeks has come following South Africa’s loss to France in the Autumn Nation Series, in which Springbok fans took issue with a number of his refereeing decisions.
Barnes has revealed on The Good, the Bad & the Rugby how the toll of online abuse led to discussions around giving up the whistle to continue as a lawyer. The 43-year-old detailed a harrowing account of the abuse aimed at his partner Polly in the aftermath of the game that threatened his family.
Now Polly herself has spoken out on Twitter.
“I’ve seen some things in the last few years, but receiving direct messages from rugby ‘fans’ threatening to kill your kids & burn your house down with your family in it over a few on-field decisions is a new low for me, my family & a plague for our entire game. It must stop now,” wrote Mrs Barnes.
I’ve seen some things in the last few years, but receiving direct messages from rugby ‘fans’ threatening to kill your kids & burn your house down with your family in it over a few on-field decisions is a new low for me, my family & a plague for our entire game. It must stop now. https://t.co/JszdNNQt9f
— polly barnes (@pollybarnes_) December 15, 2022
“Now my mates know why I train so hard at karate! (Half a joke; not even funny) It’s not been the best few weeks, but the saddest thing is that that isn’t new. We need to examine how we behave in our sport before we claim to be superior to others.”
Now my mates know why I train so hard at karate! (Half a joke; not even funny)
It’s not been the best few weeks, but the saddest thing is that that isn’t new.
We need to examine how we behave in our sport before we claim to be superior to others. https://t.co/lP4qtP9wZQ
— polly barnes (@pollybarnes_) December 15, 2022
The revelations over the abuse led renowned Sunday Times journalist Stephen Jones to go after Rassie Erasmus. He wrote: “…attention Rassie Erasmus. 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.
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attention Rassie Erasmus. 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.
— Stephen Jones (@stephenjones9) December 14, 2022
and @sarugby are you ever going to make any form of announcement casigating Erasmus and banishing him. Or maybe to disassociate yourself entirely from the moron SA supporters who abused his family? Never too late
— Stephen Jones (@stephenjones9) December 14, 2022
Barnes revealed in the podcast appearance that a committee of the international referees got together and widely agreed that something needs to be done to protect match officials.
No one in their right mind would make these ridiculous threats over refereeing decision's. In saying that World Rugby and its referees need to admit to mistakes made, reviewing rules that are difficult to decide on, and consistent enforcement of said rules. Examples of this, sorry All Blacks feature in both, the last minute of the most recent third test against the Lions, if you've seen it, it really was a poor example of decision making, Wayne Barnes mistake in a world cup game against France. ABs lost. No explanation or excuse was ever offered at the time. Just fess up to mistakes and learn from them rather than that's just the way it is.
I do not want to spend my free time watching referees and officials watching replays of rugby. Referees have to be allowed to make snap decisions in real time. Otherwise the games become prolonged and stop start. Referees interpreting the laws while thirty elite athletes play a combative sport will lead to mistakes and they will miss things. Referees should NOT have to explain their decisions publicly, this would erode their authority and the respect that, I believe, is due to them regardless of their performance. When a top-tier nation's director of rugby undermines this basic pillar of the game he should be severely sanctioned. A ban of a year was more appropriate than a couple of weeks, in my opinion. The fallout from Rassie's childish, petulant behaviour is plain to see.
Be careful what you wish for. Changing laws changes the game. There are no quick fixes available to magically solve all rugby's problems. Referees are the human in the middle and therefore flawed. I suspect that if the technology to identify offside were introduced into rugby, we would spend more time watching penalty kicks than rugby. If every forward pass was picked up by technology, we would be watching scrums for 90 minutes.
Erasmus has been really disappointing. His abuse of referees is disgusting and the resulting CONSTANT moaning and abuse from SA fans just makes them look bad.
SARU must do something about it because the rugby world is getting fed up with this pathetic victim complex.
The sanctions are far too lenient. Rassie should have been banned for years not weeks after his Lions tour antics but even worse Rassie persisted. He publicly blamed referees and refereeing decisions for his team's losses. The fact that he did it in such a cowardly and underhand way shows he knew exactly what he was doing.
The outrageously lenient sanction against the Pau coach, who actually
manhandled a referee and then claimed it was a handshake, shows that World Rugby are prepared to tolerate this abuse.
Your husband must get fired from being a referee.....be has no consistency and resign to have a bit of dignity left
Shameful thing to say.
shame on you
You married a man how must be investigate for match fixing he has no morals and is a disgrace to the game of rugby
Stupid to blame Erasmus when he has been calling for consistency. And let's face it/- much of what he has said has been accurate.
This abuse of referees all stems from Rassie's attacks on them. For an international figure in rugby to undermine one of the basic principles of the sport in such a whiney, spineless and underhand way, brings discredit on him and the nation he represents. Should have been fired.
"all stems..." what evidence do you have Stuart?
Yeah never happened pre 2020...
Really? So because you are of British decent you benefitted and are therefore responsible for the deaths in concentration camps in the 2nd boer war? Grow up!
The people responsible for saying those things are the people saying them. Imagine trying to blame Rassie who didn't say anything like that.
Incitement:
"the act of encouraging someone to do or feel something unpleasant or violent"
In the words of some 'fans' I've seen post on here: "maybe they shouldn't go on social media, and just live their lives without it. Everyone deserves the right to express how they feel."
To those people is say everyone should have the right to engage in social media without receiving death threats against their family! There is, without question, no excuse or explaining away what people sending such horrific threats have done. They are in the wrong, and any calls Wayne Barnes made in the past obviously doesn't warrant such behavior!
Obviously Twitter won't now do anything about that behavior as Elon Musk will now only suspend accounts of those who offend or criticize him and him only (done a few times and counting so far), but we can all stand by the Barnes' and express our solidarity with them.
Why is it Twitters problem to resolve? Call the Police.