Murrayfield - You Have A Problem

IT HAS been said that you have to have half a brain missing to become a referee. Be that as it may, you certainly have to be something of a masochist to put up with the abuse which comes with arbitrating on a rugby match. Refereeing is best left, I feel to retired forwards or scrum halves and putting a whistle to one's lips ought not to be contemplated before one's 30th birthday.

So what are we to make of today's fashion for ever-younger match officials such as Wayne Barnes, New Zealand's favourite Englishman or our own Andrew Macpherson and Andrew McMenemy?

As my alter ego: Socrates MacSporran, has said of football's Willie Collum - a man who even as a teenaged schoolboy wanted to be a football referee - that is surely the ultimate example of a mis-spent childhood. Ditto then for messrs Macpherson and McMenemy.

Young McMenemy was supposed to be in charge of Ayr v Currie on Saturday. He never really was; throughout the 80 minutes this was a free-for-all about to break out and if the players, mostly, listened to his whistle - he can never be said to have been completely in charge.

This was a shame, for Ayr v Currie games are never less than meaty affairs, full-blooded even match-ups, played with no quarter asked nor given, but always in the right spirit.

They need strong, even-handed officials and on these two crucial counts, McMenemy let himself and the game down on Saturday. The most-crucial element in a good referee's arsenal is consistency. Players will always push the boundaries, but, they will accept the referee's censure, provided it is consistently given.

On Saturday, McMenemy was quick to spot and punish Ayr's infringements, but would let Currie off with commiting exactly the same offence. Ayr were repeatedly pinged for infringing at the offside line; if Currie were also, I must have missed it and on a couple of occasions at the breakdown, I am sure Ayr scrum half AJ Macfarlane's pass away went behind the back of a Currie player to stand off Richard McCallum.

I have no complaints about the first two Ayr yellow cards, other than to say, when a player is pushed to retaliate and gets a yellow, it's a poor referee who doesn't also punish the opponent who caused the retaliation.

But the third Ayr yellow card, when replacement winger Cammy Taylor took a right hook to the jaw and got a yellow card for his troubles - on several Ayrshire junior football grounds, sending off a home team player for that would have guaranteed the referee a bed in either Ayr or Crosshouse A&E.

One weel-kent former Ayr and Scotland squad player was so-incensed by the refereeing, he is penning a letter to Murrayfield. Aye, not one for Andrew McMenemy's scrap book.

We Scots wonder why we haven't got a referee on the IRB's elite list - maybe it's because those we have got are shite - and it's time Murrayfield started doing something about it. Get the IRB's top men in, to hold workshops and what not, or to assess game management, but, sort it out, you have a problem.

That said - Currie deserved to win and must be ruing their poor start to the season. If they had started as they had finished, their title would surely have been retained and they have a terrific squad at Malleny Park who will be at the top for a year or two yet.

I would like to say the same about Ayr. They have a marvellous off-field set-up, with president Billy McHarg, Director of Rugby Jock Craig and man-for-all-seasons Norrie Lymburn and Co deserving of the highest praise for their management of the club.

Kenny Murray is one of Scotland's brightest and best young coaches and he has some terrific, still-young and promising talent at his disposal, under-pinned by a youth set-up which is the envy of many.

However, Saturday marked the farewells of Damien Kelly and Glen Tippett, two anitpodean pillars of the club's recent success. I fear that, like Rangers post-John Greig, Celtic post-Billy McNeill and Aberdeen post-Fergie - there will maybe be a slight dip.

Skippy Kelly, in particular, not only for his iconic presence as an on-field rallying point, but also through his unheralded development work round local schools, will be a huge figure to replace. Tippett will still be around in his role with the SRU and he will now have Stuart Fenwick in Kelly's old role. But, the club will need to recruit a big hulking lock to do Skippy's hard yards on the park.

Rumour has it that James Eddie is joining-up to reinforce the back row and he will certainly grind-out the hard yards. Certainly Ayr's qualification for the British & Irish Cup will help their recruitment drive but getting the right guys in is never a given.

Behind the scrum they will surely have to replace Mark Bennett, who is headed for higher things, while a reliable place kicker is another must. It will be interesting to see what Ayr's estimable antipodean recruitment team come up with, to assist in the development of some of their younger players such as Robbie Fergusson and Mark Beckwith.

Glasgow Hawks are also keen to turn the Big Three into a Big Four. Gone are the days when there was a laissez faire attitude to the game at Old Anniesland - next season promises to be a very interesting one for our top clubs and you can guarantee, a lot of hard work will be put in over the summer to guarantee this.

I can hardly wait.