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FFR president Florian Grill addresses French public on social media
By Ian Cameron
The president of Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) – Florian Grill – has implored France’s rugby public not to go down the route of criticising referees in the wake of defeats.
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New Zealand referee Ben O’Keeffe has received a torrent of public recriminations in recent weeks, mostly notably in the aftermath of France’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss to South Africa.
When O’Keeffe was introduced on the big screen at the Stade de France just prior to the semi-final between England and South Africa, he was roundly booed by the many French fans that were in attendance.
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Grill has implored the French public not to go down this route.
“If I allow myself to address you it is for an essential point,” wrote Grill on Facebook. “If we must fight for France to have influence within World Rugby, we must put an end to the negative comments about referees. Firstly because the referee is, like a player, fallible.
“Then because we have 2700 referees in France and we would need 3300 to cover all the matches. Accept that people say bad things about referees, open this Pandora’s box means taking the risk of no longer having them, because they will no longer go on the field.
“Talking only about the referee prevents us from analyzing the reality of the match with lucidity. If you are like me convinced of all this, despite the sadness of our defeat, do not hesitate to comment on the subject. Defending referees and respect, even in the disappointment that is ours, is defending rugby.”
The Referee is always Right, even when he/she’s wrong. 1st lesson I was ever taught when I first started playing rugby.
Of course referees are human, but in the France SA game, there is one thing I cannot understand: why did Ben O Keeffe decided to not check the video when Kolbe blocked Ramos kick? Such block never happened before in an international game + how is it humanly possible to check at the same time if Kolbe feet were behind the line, when Ramos start his run and if Kolbe started his after. There are too many things to check simultaneously and in different locations. What disturbs me is not that he made a mistake in the moment, but that he decided not to check the video. This is one of several key moments where not checking the video makes his performance really bad. The knock-on (or not) from Etzebeth was snother one, and not checking the video again in that moment was also a professional fault IMO. Of course, having him and the video referees from New Zealand when the AB were still qualified did not help accept contentious decisions (some of them confirmed wrong later by World Rugby)
I must say that the Boks did get the rub of the green from BOK in the France match, and the final penalty in the England game was somewhat dubious too, given that the Bok #3 was angled in as the ball was put in (right in front of BOK).
We all get it Refs have a tough job given the plethora of confusing rules in Rugby Union which result in inconsistencies in decision-making because each Ref may interpret the rule differently.
World Rugby really needs to address some of the subjectivity in interpretation, and simplify the rules so the average punter can better understand what’s going on.
That said, teams must accept and learn the different interpretations of Refs and just get on with it.
What is frustrating is not the different interpretations between Refs, but the inconsistencies of a single Ref or TMO within the same match.
Its not uncommon for a Ref to ping one team and allow the other team to get away with the same offense. The Wales vs Fiji was a classic example.
Then you get the absurd situation, where a TMO intervenes for ABC, yet for XYZ nothing is said. In the 37 phases of Ireland, there was a clear neck-roll on Reiko Ioane.
Great speech by the French president, referees we need to protect. Dupont should be censored for his attack on the match referee.
Well said, to the idiotic blind morons commenting on losing because of referees learn some rugby values. Your view isn’t the correct view or the referee wouldn’t get a semi he wouldn’t have a reason to favour South Africa a team that has a torrid relationship with officials they were owed no favours, one charge down which was 50/50 call and a hand on the ground 50:50 call(you are allowed to place a hand down as long as it doesn’t hold your body weight) Jesus man these 50/50 calls happen in every single match, they were not the reason France lost the match, South Africa scored 4 tries to frances 3, that is where the game was lost, frances defence, catch a wake up or go support football that’s where your attitude belongs
I’m sorry but this is BS.
As an Englishman corrupt officials robbed me, from seeing my team get ripped a new one by the French.
Instead we see the same corrupt officials win SA the game, back to back!!!
It is absurd!
Rugby has been tarnished. You don’t need much of a brain to understand France were straight up robbed of lifting their first WC, on home soil too!
The way they robbed the host nation is beyond disgraceful. How does a TMO miss a SA player running 3/4 of the way to make a charge down, before the kicker even moved.
Why was no replay shown during coverage, this is what makes it beyond sus.
How does live coverage best angle going, show SA player hand down supporting his weight, somehow win a penalty winning the game. Even the pundits see this and called it out!! Saying this is going to be looked at by TMO. Again where was the TMO.
Rugby TMO has always been highly respected and well regarded. All of a sudden they are worse than VAR in the PL.
Absolute joke! I feel so sorry for the French.
They should just say, they do not like the Northern Hemisphere rugby. It has too much flare and speed. It takes out both SA notorious for power. Along with NZ who France breezed past.
I'm not being funny, but that was the most controversial game I have ever seen, in all my time watching rugby. Absolute disgrace.
It also does not look good, when 10 months prior French Police raided RWC HQ, investigating corruption, favoritism, and match fixing.
Great sport turned on its head, should be bloody ashamed!!
France should have smashed my team 86-3, if we were lucky to get a penalty. Their attack, they play like demons. Love their flare at the minute. I can swallow my pride and admit not only the French, but the Irish too they play in a tier of their own. Great rugby! It’s so good to see how France came from being average to a level, that I feel is where the game is evolving too.
France, to us that are sane and right, you were the true champions of this WC. Stay strong, keep your heads up you played rugby that was better than the rest.
It took officials to knock you out, an absolute travesty.
While he is right about stopping the abuses on referees, the inconsistency in refereeing is an issue. Beyond the controversial calls, the refereeing in the rucks was very permissive whereas World Rugby issued in the beginning of the year new directions regarding this area.
In the beginning of 6N France learned it the hard way against Italy, then addressed this issue with a different playstyle. However these new directions were not taken in consideration during the quaterfinal, and I believe that was what Dupont complained about.
I still cannot believe France got KTFO’d. I still struggle with this. World Cups are crazy. This is the WORST ABs team in history, holder of all the embarrassing records, now on the verge of taking out the Webb Ellis trophy.
It would be nice to see some positive reactions to this news and this man’s words. The French are immensely passionate about rugby, play a beautiful brand of rugby, and should not be mischaracterized as sore losers or sour grapes, as I am certain you know better. I understand bashing gives you a brief moment of satisfaction, though.
Maybe if world rugby dealt with Dupont as they would have with a springbok after his critical rant about the ref, the fans would nit have felt so entitled to boo the officials. Poorconsistency from world rugby really!