A whistle too far for Piet from Potch

AN INCIDENT is rarely a one-off matter: the attack on rugby referee Dave McHugh by portly Piet from Potch -- that can in no circumstances be condoned -- was an expanding bubble of perceived injustice that burst.

Referees are not super human beings incapable of making mistakes. They err, of course. It has also been true since the first knockabout of a mammoth skull in the Stone Age that arbitrators always favour the other side.

According to supporters anyway.

They also tend, along with the "old farts" of administration, to be resistant to change. Thus, as in cricket, technological aids are rejected until the overwhelming tide of public pressure can be resisted no longer.

There is also evidence virtually every day that as professionally unbiased as many of the referees may be -- they can be hardly otherwise with replays and big screens -- they also take on the field with them a lifetime of likes and dislikes, popularly known as hangups.

Ian McIntosh, the former Bok and Natal rugby coach, warned in his speech at the Buffalo Football Club 125th anniversary celebrations the evening before the SA-NZ match in Durban that McHugh would be a whistle blower, acting strictly to the letter of rugby regulations. This prediction proved both true and false. McHugh might have observed rigidly the laws to stamp his authority, and maybe he went too far. His attitude from the start was obvious -- take no nonsense.

In the circumstances of his style of refereeing, South Africa was the side to suffer. Even New Zealand rugby writers and commentators were unanimous in saying a penalty try was too harsh a decision for a high tackle on Tana Umaga, as did the centre himself. They also criticised McHugh's ruling to disallow a try by Breyton Paulse; they said the ball was well wide of James Dalton's dummy run, thus ruling out interference.

Wayne Eriksen and Stuart Dickinson are other southern hemisphere referees who receive SA wrath. Ian McIntosh said Eriksen had once admired a medium range car belonging to him. He had told Eriksen: "If it hadn't been for you, I would have had a much bigger one."

Andy Capostagna wrote in the Mail and Guardian that Dickinson, an Australian like Eriksen, was "as one-eyed as Nelson" in his interpretations at the NZ-SA test at Wellington; it may be recalled that the All Blacks scored a try from the lineout when the ball had not travelled the required five metres. Capostagna, said -- adding to that bubble of resentment -- that Dickinson blew one way for three quarters of the game.

Bygones may not be bygones, and are possibly still deep in the psyche of people, including referees, unsaid, perhaps even incapable of expression.

Our unfortunate apartheid past and reputation may still be with us in more ways than are immediately apparent.

Better brighter

THIS column has been going, one way or another, for 35 years. It started life in the old East London Mercury, a rumbustious tabloid published by the Daily Dispatch, which had to be written with the left hand, as it were, while the right was night editor of the Dispatch.

When the Mercury went into demise I was urged to continue writing it as The Voice of the City in the Daily Dispatch.

This metamorphorised into a weekly column under my name; the various personal accompanying picture with hair shading over the years from black to white were inserted upon hierarchical insistence. It was termed a "column" for want of another name.

Readers may have noticed that in the past few weeks the "column" has become a "notebook" with a new and improved, more modern layout. Editor Gavin Stewart and Features Editor Tanya Jonker-Bryce democratically involved me in the changes. Tanya explained: "We wanted all the feature columns to have the same basic appearance, the same identity. The Glyn Williams Column was a bit problematic in that it did not have a specific name, and therefore differed slightly from the general format we had decided on.

"The solution was to have your logo slightly different, or to change the name. As the whole idea was to have all the logos standardised, it seemed a good idea to give the column a bit of a face lift with a new name and logo."

Pilot error

CURRIE Taljard, who did so much for soccer in the Border as player, referee (a good one) and adminstrator, sent me this from Cape Town, where he is now living with wife Barbara and family. Is it true, or urban legend?

A blind man and his dog regularly flew on a specific route and the pilot and crew got to know him well.

One day, the plane experienced some trouble and the flight captain announced that an unscheduled stopover would have to be made. The passengers could get off and stretch their legs at the airport where they had to touch down.

The blind man declined to take a walk and the captain offered to take his dog for a stroll. The flight captain, wearing his sunglasses as usual, walked from the plane and into the airport lounge with the guide dog.

Which led to a wholesale cancellation of flights and transfers to another airline. Or so it is said.