The Origin of Rugby Referees
Team sports of sorts were part of the social fabric of England for centuries as villages challenged villages to a variety of male dominated competition usually annually. The origin of the modern referee can be traced back to 1581, when Richard Mulcaster, a 16th-century educator, emphasised the need for a “judge over the parties” in football, highlighting the necessity for an impartial figure to oversee the fairness and integrity of the game.
However, it was as more regular competition began and forms of football developed in the 19th century that the real development of the modern referee began. For the first half of that century, games continued to be played without officials. In October, 1863., the Football Association was founded The aim of the FA was to establish a single unifying code for football. This included an attempt to deal with disputes about rules and infringements during games. On 8th December, 1863, the FA published the Laws of Football.
It was now clear that officials were needed to enforce these new laws. It became fairly common for two umpires to be appointed to referee the game – one nominated by each side. These umpires only made decisions when appealed to by the players in the way cricketers still do today. Umpires were first mentioned in the laws of Association Football in 1874.
As Association Football became more competitive, the number of disputes about the interpretation of the rules became more common. Gradually, a more objective official, the referee, began to take control of games. And he started to use a whistle to control the games.
In parallel to the developments in Association Football, there was the development of Rugby form of the team ball sport, When the laws of Rugby Football were documented no provision was made for anyone to referee the game. Instead, the two captains had the job of judging on issues that happened during the game. Obviously if they couldn’t resolve the issue then the game couldn’t continue. But rather like kids in the school playground playing the game was usually more important than wasting time arguing so it worked to a degree. Of course, the more that was at stake the more disagreements would occur.
By 1871 the laws of Rugby clearly stated “The captains of the respective sides shall be the sole arbiters of all disputes”
In 1875, a provision was made for the appointment of an umpire, however this was still optional. Indeed, the terms “referee” was not used prior to 1885 when the Rugby Committee took the decision to draft “Regulations for the Guidance of Umpires and Referees”. From then on, the presence of a referee and umpires was no longer an optional extra. The resulting law from the 1885 meeting meant that the referee was to be chosen “with the consent of either the representative Secretaries or Captains of the contending clubs”.
Prior to 1892, the touch judges at the time called Umpires and usually one from each team, were provided with sticks which were raised to indicate the fact that the umpire agreed with an appeal. In 1892, the touch judges were issued with flags which were to be held up only when and where the ball went into touch. A further change was made in 1893, making it mandatory for a referee and two touch judges to be appointed for every game. The referee was provided with a whistle and the laws were amended to indicate the specific circumstances when the whistle should be blown.