Sub ref upgrading a sanction

[FightOrFlight]

I was speaking with an old campaigner recently enough and he was telling me a story from a few years back. It was in a game in a certain country in the Southern part of a large continent.

A promising young ref was out in his first season doing an U17s game. He had 2 TJs who were appointed as it was a semi final. One was a lower grade referee and the other was a higher grade than the referee. He PKs the attackers for entering the 10 before the lineout was over. The player in question has the ball and is not happy...he informs the referee as such and hurls the ball at his face breaking the referees nose. The young lad no doubt a little caught off guard by this advances 10 and YCs the player in question. As blood is pumping from his nose the game is stopped and it is decided he cannot continue so he heads off to hospital.
The higher grade ref is subbed in. His first action is to call the player in question out and straight RC him. The coach is not happy and claims this cannot be done as the sanction has been applied. Sub ref says that he is applying a corrective sanction.( perhaps the coach planned to return him to the field when the card was over?:shrug

From a moral stand point I'm told the referee was close enough to the player's age and so could have gotten away with landing one on the player easier than an adult! The guy should have gotten a RC off the bat no question but the YC was shown.

Thoughts on this corrective action? No doubt justice was done but from a protocol point of view...he was not the ref when it happened and the referee did sanction it.

(caveat: the player in question got a 5 year ban from rugby and returned only to be given life a few months later for attacking a coach...charmer)

 

[OB..]

Not mentioned in the Laws but Equity definitely supports it.

 

[Adam]

The referee obviously had a discussion with the AR after giving the YC and decided that the punishment was wrong, but couldn't carry on to issue the RC...

;-)

 

[Browner]

Sounds like new ref disregarded the wrong decision that the ' still in shock from the injury ' original ref had made under duress..

Well done that new chap ..

 

[menace]

Clearly the judiciary applied some common sense and heard the case and did not dismiss it on a law technicality. Giddyup.

 

[leaguerefaus]

From the title of the forum, my first thought was the sub ref can't do that. But after reading what happened I'm bloody glad he did! I'd use the argument that it's unsafe for anyone to continue refereeing that game while that player is on the field. I also hope the police were contacted.

 

[chrismtl]

According to me, it was fine. I'm under the impression that you can pretty much change any call made until the game is restarted from the penalty that was awarded. The ref most likely would have had a chat with the senior AR, had he been able to continue, and adjusted the call accordingly since he would not have restarted the match yet.

 

[Dickie E]

Good scenario but lets look for a unified theory.

Ref A puts player in bin for dangerous tackle. 5 minutes later ref A twists ankle and has to be replaced by ref B. Ref B thinks the dangerous tackle was worse than a YC so shows player RC.

Yes or no?

 

[Browner]

Good scenario but lets look for a unified theory.

Ref A puts player in bin for dangerous tackle. 5 minutes later ref A twists ankle and has to be replaced by ref B. Ref B thinks the dangerous tackle was worse than a YC so shows player RC.

Yes or no?

No. Timeline barred. In that case.