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Johannesburg - South African Rugby Union (SARU) manager of referees Andre Watson called for players who assault referees to be banned from playing rugby for life on Monday.
Watson was reacting to an assault on 17-year-old referee Schalk Rossouw who was physically attacked at a club game in Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape on Saturday. Rossouw was officiating a third-team fixture between Kruisfontein and Harlequins and immediately called off the game after a Harlequins player struck him on his ear.
"I would like to condemn this incident and any assault on referees and match officials in the strongest possible terms. It is totally unacceptable and incidents like this should never be allowed to happen," said Watson.
"Violence in rugby, at any level, can never be condoned. There should be no place in our wonderful game for any player who assaults or attacks a match official.
"It is also disgusting that our referees are being insulted and humiliated in the manner in which they are. But let me also add that with all the negative publicity referees are getting through the media, I am not surprised that incidents like this are happening on our fields."
The incident was also condemned by the president of SARU, Oregan Hoskins.
Watson said SARU had made strides in adding to the ranks of referees but attacks on match officials and negative criticism of referees had an impact on the campaign.
"An incident like this chases away a number of referees. It also breaks the cycle of development and harms the standard of refereeing. We continuously need more referees and it will be difficult to recruit aspiring refs if incidents like this continue," he said.
A charge of assault has been laid with the police in Humansdorp following the attack.
