Popular Welsh referee Nigel Owens thinks it is time for players to stop the histrionics and dissent that is creeping into the game.
He used the England captains constant backchat during the Six Nations as an example of the dirty habit that is creeping into the game.
“huge respect for Owen Farrell both as a player and a person”, that “there was too much chat from him to the referee. That must stop,” wrote Owens. in his column for the Mail Online
“He never did that with me. Every time I referee, I tell the players that there is a time and a place for a conversation,” Owens wrote for the Daily Mail.
“If they want to discuss something, they have to do it in the right manner. That is one of the game’s values.
“It is up to the referees to keep strong and stay on top of things like that. We don’t want to see it creeping in.”
How Owens started refereeing:
Playing rugby at school, his team hadn’t won a game all year, and needed to kick a conversion for victory. It was Nigel’s moment of glory. But it didn’t go to plan.
The ball “went closer to the corner flag than it did to the uprights. I was a laughing stock in the school.” His coach suggested, rather forcefully, that it might make more sense for him to oversee the games rather than play in them.
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4 rugby players Nigel Owens simply cannot stand
#1. Israel Folau
Owens, who came out as gay in 2007, spoke to the BBC about Israel Folau being sacked for his homophobic views, saying: “It is an important message from the Australian Rugby Union, who I think have dealt with it properly in the only way that they could.
“It is a clear message going out to people that there are consequences for expressing those beliefs, which are very, very hurtful and not acceptable in today’s society.
“Rugby is a sport inclusive for all, which means I can be a part of the sport. When you’re in that sport you must respect other people within that sport.’
He added: ‘I cannot choose my sexuality; I can choose what religion I follow, I can choose what kind of person I am — I’m a good person — what sport I play. There are many, many things I can choose in life but my sexuality is not one of them, that’s what I’d like them to understand”