BY RICHARD SHAW-WRIGHT
DOCUMENTARIES are like buses, nothing for ages and then you can’t find enough time in the day to watch them.
The unravelling drama of Shaun Wane and all things England was caught by the excellent Jam Films, who brought you Tomkins: The Last Chance and We Are Wigan Warriors in Chasing History.
Also hot out of the editing suite, is Beyond the Whistle, with Acme Whistles the driving force behind it together with the RFL, as we get a behind the scenes look at the world of match officials, also available on YouTube.
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Their aim was to bring out the personalities and, hopefully, attract new people to become involved.
“If we expect our match officials to be elite,” says now former RFL chief executive Tony Sutton. “We have to give them an elite environment to train in.”
And if you want to see your favourite refs lifting weights and pounding the tracks, there’s plenty here for you.
The publicity blurb said: “It’s unlike anything you’ve seen before. This 40-minute film isn’t just about officiating. It’s about the passion, pressure, and the people behind the whistle.
“From the camaraderie and competition between top officials to the personal journeys of those who’ve overcome incredible odds, Beyond the Whistle highlights the true heart of the game helping to humanise the referees who have given so much.”
I’ve now learned what a “single leg loop bridge” is and certainly won’t be trying that anytime soon.
What’s really bizarre, and we all know this, is listening to Jack Smith talking about being a Marine, getting shot and turning to officiating after leaving the services, but then seeing him walk out of the stadium at Everton after the Second Ashes Test and getting booed by some supporters.
Liam Moore vs. Chris Kendall. It’s the elite of the elite, pushing each other to be in the middle of the big games, like the season opener, which I’d not thought of.
This is 2024, and the campaign in which we start with cards everywhere for high tackles, before everyone – but mainly coaches – moaned, despite knowing the reasons why.
“Nice and easy,” says Moore, after a Hull derby with two FC players sent off, justified with the explanations of how the decisions were made, both on the pitch and afterwards in the changing room.
Phil Bentham – chief referee scapegoat might as well be his title – tells us the decision on who would referee at Wembley took them 90 minutes, so slightly less than the average video referee review when the match director selects the wrong angles.
Kendall is shown preparing in his hotel room before the game, with his ACME Whistle, in its presentation box, pride of place. Just the kind of thing we need on Forty20 LIVE’s ‘Table of Tat’, which is currently groaning with ephemera.
“When we’ve got a decision to make, make it,” he tells his team pre-match, which he does by sin binning a couple of players.
The problem is, anyone with sense, which I always assume are readers of this periodical, know referees are human, have emotions, and make mistakes because everyone does.
Those who don’t, or don’t want to, won’t watch this, and will never accept that they aren’t inherently biased.
THE Welsh did it and now the Scottish have come clean with their version of Codebreakers and the hypocritical treatment of players from the Borders who switched codes.
They put this expose on YouTube and ITVX, which have much wider broadcast areas than the Selkirk and Calbeck transmitters can reach.
Lucy Anderson, the journalist behind this report, was born after union ‘turned professional’ so comes to this story without the jaded, ingrained opinions on both sides.
It doesn’t make any sense that taking a job playing rugby means you’re almost written out of history, as Ron Cowen was when moving to Leeds.
He explains, it was about being “looked after” by the Scottish Rugby Union, in finding a new job to fit around playing, but when the SRU reneged on that, his move to Headingley was on.
“I was a villain,” recalls Cowen of that apartheid.
All of it, being banned from walking into a club, written out of history and the like, is, and always will be utter nonsense. Anyone outside the bubble can see that.
As Alan Tait, who went and came back said more politely than I would, when talking of his dad who didn’t have that luxury: “It’s daft.”
The SRU declined an on-camera interview, releasing a statement instead.
What have they really got to hide? The story is out there, and has been for a long time.
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