The good, the bad and the referee

In the latest installment in our series of refereeing features, our guest columnist addresses some common misconceptions.

In the latest installment in our series of refereeing features, our guest columnist addresses some common misconceptions about the laws of the game.

This week, in the absence of any controversy, we will look at some of the myths that supporters, players, coaches and even sometimes new referees believe are law.

Surprisingly there are quite a lot of them so I have tried to choose the most common.

1. You must let a player on the ground up

We have all heard the fans who think that players should 'let him up'; it's expected that if a player falls to the ground on a ball, they are entitled to get up. In fact, they have no entitlements at all, as when on the ground they are out the game. He does have three options though. 1) Release the ball, 2) Pass the ball, 3) Get up. Whatever the player chooses to do must be done straight away.

An arriving player does not have to let the player on the ground get up, they are perfectly entitled to compete for the ball. So they should try and pick up the ball, if the player on the ground stops them, it's a penalty. What the arriving player cannot do is stop the player on the ground getting to their feet by holding them down or falling on them.

2. Can't take the second penalty quickly.

There is nothing in law that states this, all the law requires is for the referee to make a mark before they can tap and go. Referees are taught to slow this area of the game down (to avoid flare ups) by walking from the first mark to the second, however if the defending team cannot organize themselves in the time it takes a referee to walk 10m, that's their problem, the game should not wait for them.

3. Player on their feet in a ruck can play the ball with their hands.

Not true, no player can play the ball with their hands in a ruck, however referees do allow the player at half back to dig it out when the ball has been won in order to keep the game flowing, digging out before it's won will normally see a penalty being given.

4. The referee must stop the game for injuries.

Most games in most leagues will have some sort of medical staff, be it a physio, doctor or first aider. These persons are normally told by the ref before the game that if there is an injury to come straight on and deal with it.

If the injured payer is not in the way of play, then there is no need to stop the game, the team concerned has the option to replace the player at the next stoppage, the referee will normally stop the game if play moves to close to the injured player, for their safety. The same is true for an injured player that can walk, if the game has been stopped, then they can walk off the pitch and be treated so the game can carry on.

5. The ball is out when the player has their hands on it.

Whether it be a scrum, ruck or maul this simply is not true. The ball is out when the ball is clear of the last players' feet, what the player cannot do is dummy to deceive the defending team into thinking it's out (free Kick).

6. A Kick-off or restart must travel 10m in the air.

Nope, the ball must travel 10m before touching another player of the kickers team. Simple as that, if it bobbles around at 9.9m and both teams stand around it waiting for the ref to blow and it then touches the 10m line, it's play on!

7. You can ruck a player providing the studs are going backwards

No you can't, you are not permitted to deliberately place boots on a person, you can however ruck the ball, which can be seen being done by scrum-halves quite often in high level games.

If you have any questions about the above, or a myth that I've not listed, feel free to post them below and I shall try and answer as many as possible, I will not get into a debate about them, I will simply give you what the law is, and how most referees interpret it.

By Robert Burns

Read more about what Robert & other referees have to say at www.RugbyRefs.com or follow Robert on twitter @RugbyRefscom.