Rugby’d & Berry’d

I wouldn’t want to plagiarise what’s already been 

said about the vaguest refereeing out of an elite 

Alright, I’ll repeat it - Stuart Berry is of an elite set 

of South African referees whose refereeing failed 

the litmus test of relevance; this morning’s game 

was between the Lions and Crusaders; I’d guess 

the Crusaders would bless their luck in winning a 

close encounter - playing the ref & the opposition 

doesn’t make it an even contest, but Berry isn’t a 

arbiter with fairness of mindset; no, he’s too busy 

discouraging a game’s progress irrelevantly - and 

in adjudication he’s a frustrated bureaucrat at sea 

Rules are all he heeds, so sequencing &/or intent 

be damned - we’ll deal with what he saw last that 

biased his sense of justice - minor infractions can 

& will be tolerated - but only by the home team 

And there the opposition stands - playing against 

16, at least, unless linesmen see the irony … 

© 2 April 2016, I. D. Carswell

For the record: 

Super Rugby teams Crusaders & Golden Lions 

played in Johannesburg on 1 April 2016, with the 

Crusaders winning 43 - 37. Stuart Berry was the 

match referee. Perhaps April Fool’s date effected 

both referee performance & final score!