Five times controversial officiating marred Kiwi sporting events

A close look at times when Kiwi sports teams haven't got the rub of the green in big occasions.

All Blacks v France - 2007 Rugby World Cup

We start with the most obvious of these instances; 15 years on, it's still a great way to fire up an All Blacks fan. One of those 'wait, what?' moments in a game where you find yourself waiting for the referee to put an end to the team's jubilation due to an infringement, then you're left confused when the call doesn't come.

After the All Blacks took a 13-0 lead, France clawed their way back into the game after Luke McAlister was yellow carded in the 46th minute. The All Blacks held a slender 18-13 lead with less than 20 minutes remaining in the match, but a French set play for a scrum caught the All Blacks short-handed and opened up space in the line. Fullback Damien Traille looked to exploit this but upon being dragged down by Richie McCaw, offloaded the ball to Frédéric Michalak on his outside. Michalak went through a gap and eventually linked up with Yannick Jauzion for the match-winning try.

It was a well-worked try, but was branded into the minds of Kiwi fans as Traille's offload to Michalak was forward, but went uncalled by referee Wayne Barnes. France went on to win 20-18, handing the All Blacks their worst-ever World Cup finish.

In interviews years later, Barnes has been quoted as referring to the moment as "the most high profile mistake" of his career.

New Zealand v Australia - 1987 Boxing Day test

Danny Morrison. Photo / Photosport

It could have been a memorable test win against Australia for the New Zealand side. With eight balls remaining in the match and in need of a sole wicket to claim the victory, Danny Morrison caught Australian counterpart Craig McDermott on the pads in a dangerous position.

Morrison and the rest of the Kiwi outfit screamed in appeal for LBW, but umpire Dick French turned their appeal down. With no review process in those days, they had to take it on the chin. Ultimately, the match was drawn.

It wasn't until 2019 that French addressed the decision publicly, telling media he stood by his decision, acknowledging the ball nipping back towards leg stump made for a tight call, but he had to give the benefit of the doubt to the batsman.

All Whites 2022 World Cup qualifier in Doha

The All Whites questioned a few calls during their 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica in their World Cup qualification match. Photo / Photosport

In case you missed yesterday morning's match and haven't read the plentiful takes on the officiating online or in your morning paper, one moment in the All Whites' loss to Costa Rica gave Kiwi fans the right to feel aggrieved.

After falling down 1-0 within five minutes to a soft goal, the All Whites equalised through Chris Wood just before half time. Watching the play live, any football fan would have struggled to see an issue with the goal and when the VAR asked referee Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed to take a look at the play, the assumption might have been he was checking Wood was onside.

Instead, Mohamed was looking at replays of a 50/50 challenge in which he deemed contact by Matthew Garbett in the lead-up to the goal was enough to award a free kick, ruling the goal out.

There were several other calls that didn't go the way of the New Zealanders – though to be fair, no one can have too much on an issue with Kosta Barbarouses' yellow card for a studs-up challenge upgraded to a red after a VAR check – but the inconsistency of VAR usage in itself had plenty of fans fired up.

"With what is at stake, it's not acceptable from Fifa," All Whites coach Danny Hay told the Herald of the officiating after the match.

NZ Warriors v the World

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in discussions with a referee during a Warriors NRL match. Photo / Photosport

Take your pick. The Herald has looked at this particular example several times, but a few can be found here, here and here.

Kevin Barry defeats Evander Holyfield - 1984 Summer Olympics

Kevin Barry beat Evander Holyfield at the 1984 Olympics via disqualification. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwis aren't always on the wrong side of controversial decisions. At the 1984 Summer Olympics, Kevin Barry was awarded victory from the jaws of defeat in his bout against American Evander Holyfield.

It was the semifinal of the light heavyweight men's boxing draw, and Barry had the task of taking on everyone's pick to win the gold medal. Holyfield had come into the contest demolishing everyone who stood in front of him, for the most part.

Holyfield did have a bit of a habit of punching after the referee called break, however, and ultimately that cost him. In a fight he was clearly winning and had seen Barry docked two points from his scorecards already, Holyfield clocked his Kiwi adversary with a left hook with just seconds left in the second round.

The shot came after Yugoslav referee Gligorije Novicic had called for a break from the clinch, and because Barry wasn't able to answer the count as a result, Novicic disqualified Holyfield – much to the dismay of the Los Angeles crowd.

Subsequent appeals by the United States team were dismissed, and the result stood. It fuelled conspiracy theories too. Because Barry's loss was ruled a knockout, he was not allowed to fight for another 28 days – meaning he could not take part in the gold-medal bout.

Without having to step in the ring for the final, the gold was awarded to Anton Josipovic from Yugoslavia - which you may recall was the same country Novicic hailed from.

Read more about this bout here.

Holyfield went on to become arguably the greatest professional cruiserweight boxer the world has seen (so far) - claiming the title of undisputed world champion in the weight class and then again at heavyweight. He was also a four-time heavyweight champion, winning his first heavyweight title in 1990 and his fourth in 2000. So yeah, he did OK.