Wiremu Te Iringa pictured during his league playing days, turning out for Hokianga.
Wiremu Te Iringa pictured during his league playing days, turning out for Hokianga.
A Hora Hora Rugby Club premier reserves' player has been booted out of the game for 77 weeks for "threatening a referee" - he was already on a two-year ban from playing league.
Code-switcher Wiremu Te Iringa has received the longest ban the Northland Rugby Union's (NRU) judiciary has dealt out this year.
The Northern Advocate has learned Mr Te Iringa had already been banned for two years in August 2015 by Rugby League Northland.
Mr Te Iringa played centre for the Northern Swords and for Hokianga Pioneers in the regional rugby league competition but was last seen on a league field in 2015.
Duane Fyfe, from Rugby League Northland, confirmed Mr Te Iringa was sidelined for two years following an incident late in that season but he did not have details on what the infringement was.
Northland union operations manager Kyal Collins has been dealing with multiple incidents involving referees.
He said Rugby League Northland supported decisions by any code's judiciary that reinforced match officials' safety and clean sport.
NRU operations manager Kyal Collins said the ban Mr Te Iringa received on Tuesday "is up there. It's one of the higher length bans we've given this year."
Mr Collins was not prepared to say whether it was one of the longest bans ever in Northland rugby. He said he did not have data ''in front of him'' to confirm that.
But, the year-and-a-half ban reflected the seriousness of the player's behaviour, he said.
"The sanction handed out shows how seriously the NRU takes players, or anyone, verbally abusing the referee. This should send a strong message it will not be tolerated."
Mr Te Iringa, who played as a prop, was first given a yellow card - 10 minutes in the sin bin - for abusing the referee, then red-carded out of the game for serving up a serious threat against the ref's safety.
After the Hora Hora captain argued the decision, the referee blew the whistle to end the game altogether at the club's home ground late last month.
Mr Collins would not specify what Mr Te Iringa said to the referee during the match; nor would the NRU make a summary report of the hearing publicly available.
The hearing was held before the NRU's judiciary panel on Tuesday evening. The panel comprised a chairman, delegates from the region's sub-unions and a lawyer.
Mr Te Iringa was also present, along with officials from the Hora Hora club.
Hora Hora president Carl Milne was unavailable yesterday for comment on the hefty penalty.
Mr Te Iringa's burst of abuse came after a string of other on-field or sideline incidents rugby officials had dealt with internally this season.
They included a spectator being banned for five weeks for verbally abusing the referee during a Mid Northern premier match, and Mid Northern coaching staff being told to move off the sidelines after they badgered the referee to the point where it turned into abuse.
Last month a supporter at a Hora Hora rugby match was given a one-week ban for confronting the referee in the clubrooms post match.
Earlier this week Mr Milne said the club had acted proactively to deal with individuals and recent "unfortunate" incidents.
Mr Collins said the judiciary heard an average of 10 hearings a year on serious infringements, and reviewed many red-card reports.
Northland Rugby Referees' Association committee member Gavin Benney said that while the group had laid complaints with the NRU, it was not appropriate to comment on judiciary panel's decisions.
