2023-11-20 08:38:10
There was a film in the 1980s by Jean-Pierre Mocky “To Death the Arbitrator”. After a contested decision, a football referee played by Eddy Mitchell was forced to flee in front of a horde of stupid and raging supporters. Reality has caught up with fiction. Criticized for some decisions he made during the tournament, Wayne Barnes, the English referee of the last Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and New Zealand (12-11) is threatened with dead.
This is what he explains in a testimony delivered to Guardian and to Sky News. “I understand that people think they’ve been treated harshly and, whether that’s true or not, everyone is entitled to their opinion,” he said. But the idea that you could use your phone and send hate towards a family? I can’t imagine doing that to anyone. »
After reffing the RWC final & announcing his retirement, Wayne Barnes hopes to become an advocate for all officials (not just rugby). Here he is on why coaches & managers need to set an example in the way they talk about the ref & how damaging their words can be @SkySports pic.twitter.com/EWq2rsnXLx
— Eleanor Roper (@EleanorRoper) November 15, 2023
With five World Cups and 111 international test matches to his credit, Wayne Barnes (44), retired from the whistle since the final, has seen others. So in 2007, when social networks were still in their infancy, he had already received death threats. A “Wayne Barnes Must Die” group had been created, calling the referee the third most villainous man on the planet after Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.
“Much worse than in 2007”
16 years ago, he was criticized for having forgotten a forward on a French try during the quarter-final won 20-18 by the Blues in Cardiff. “We have gone to another level of insult,” laments the referee. It’s much worse than in 2007, because now it’s directed at my family. For 12 months, since November 2022 until this story with South Africa at the World Cup, I am not the only one targeted. They are also tracking my wife, they find her email address, and they threaten her directly. They say: ”We know where you live, we will wait until the children leave school, we will burn down your house with the children”. Of course it affects you. “.
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