SOM Talks Referees | Ep#4 Rob Hicks

RFL director and former elite referee Rob Hicks admits that rugby league may be attracting “the most resilient people” rather than “the best quality referees” because of the amount of personal abuse that comes with the job.

In the fourth episode of an exclusive podcast series from the mental fitness charity State of Mind Sport, Hicks reveals the scale of abuse suffered by both himself and his colleagues as well as his belief of how damaging it has been to the recruitment and retention of top match officials.

Hicks is now the Rugby Football League’s Director of Operations and Legal, having taken charge of two Challenge Cup Finals, two Grand Finals and two World Club Challenges as well as numerous internationals during his career as an elite match official.

And opening up on the SOM Talks: Referees podcast, Hicks describes his horror at seeing recent abuse of referees from young children, outlines the difficulties in keeping hold of referees as abuse escalates, and opens up on his own learnings from a career at the very top of the profession.

“The reality is that we lose a lot more referees than we recruit because they get fed up of the abuse,” Hicks tells host George Riley.

“They turn up for their first game at under-12s and people think that they should be Chris Kendall in the middle of that field. Until we get to a stage specifically at junior and community rugby league where people accept that referees at that level are learning as well, we will always struggle.

“It is not easy being a referee anyway, then adding that real horrid nature of personal abuse, threats, social media, why would people do it? Perhaps all you ever do is get the most resilient people rising to the top rather than the best quality referees. Abuse is the biggest factor for holding back recruitment and retention.”

Hicks also discusses how social media has transformed the volume of abuse directed at referees in all sports and has urged those in power to do more to stop it. It is a theme detailed emotionally by top ref Chris Kendall in episode 3 of SOM Talks: Referees.

“Abuse used to happen in the stands and there would be the odd chant and criticism around but it would end in 80 minutes. Now it seems to go on forever and Chris articulated that really well in his episode with you. I have witnessed first-hand some of the messages he has had, that Marcus (Griffiths) has had, that I have had, or others have had.

“It is difficult when it gets personal, some of the things that have been said are downright wrong and abhorrent. To hear Chris talk about a picture of his newborn son and somebody in their right mind thinking they would wish death of an infant for being the son of a referee I think is beyond words if I’m honest. Social media needs to have a look at itself as companies to decide what is and isn’t acceptable. The online harms bill that is going through parliament does some of that but it needs to go a lot further."

SOM Talks: Referees is the brand new series from award-winning mental health and fitness charity State of Mind Sport.
Hosted by George Riley, each episode explores themes in line with the unique challenges faced by our match officials both on and off the field.

Our previous series – SOM Talks: Transitions, featured six powerful tales of mental health challenges associated with major life and career changes and remains available to listen to.

SOM Talks is available on all major podcast platforms.