On Bayswater's website, within a document entitled "club team standards", under the "respect" headline it reads: "We treat others well – we have positive exchanges with all match officials." "The rugby community must remain vigilant against abuse towards match officials, and we hope that this sanction contributes to ensuring a more respectful approach to officials at any level of rugby." "We strongly condemn any form of abuse or harassment towards match officials, and are determined to ensure that any such behaviour is stamped out of the game," RugbyWA chief executive Simon Taylor said. According to the Herald, the player's contrition and other mitigating factors resulted in him avoiding a sterner sentence.
Under World Rugby laws, the player's ban could have been anywhere between 96 weeks and a lifetime. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the unsighted referee took zero on-field action, deeming the player's actions to have been accidental, but the contact was reassessed after witness statements and video evidence.Īfter the incident, the unnamed player can count himself lucky that a lifetime ban was not administered by RugbyWA. Video taken by a spectator shows the player shoulder-charging the back of referee, Ian Sunderland, which knocked him to the ground, close to the ball-carrier. The Perth Bayswater Rugby Club player, who was not named in the Rugby Western Australia (RugbyWA) statement confirming the sanction, received a 96-match ban - the equivalent to around five years of play - which is the strictest available under World Rugby laws after the assault in April.
A Western Australia player has received one of the longest bans in rugby union history after being found guilty of assaulting a referee during a match in the region's top club competition.
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