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Luke Fitzgerald has called on renowned Welshman Nigel Owens to just referee
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The Welshman is also known for making headlines for his witty comments during games
Luke Fitzgerald has called on renowned Welsh referee Nigel Owens to stop using one-liners and putdowns while officiating.
“I don’t like it personally,” Luke Fitzgerald said on this week’s episode of The Left Wing
“There was a clip with Cian Healy down in Thomond Park which I thought was a step too far.
“He shouldn’t be commentating on the game. His first focus is to make it a good spectacle, that he referees the game correctly.
“We’re heading into a dangerous territory for me.
“It’s a soccer thing, when you have everyone on the pitch talking to the referee, the referee trying to be too smart, trying to be friendly with the players
“I’d rather he just refereed the game well.
“The first job of the referee is to almost be anonymous and that’s the first duty for him.
“He is taken seriously, he’s a brilliant referee, no doubt about that.
“I just think those kind of things are disappointing and it’s disrespectful to the players who are putting in a huge amount of effort.
“There’s no place for it in the game. You can’t actually speak back. It’s almost like a situation where someone is on a podium having a go at someone in the crowd. It’s wrong because there’s no platform to come back.”