The action that brought Kelter’s red card has caused a storm of comment around the world of rugby.
The Disciplinary Committee has reached its verdict: a three-match ban.
This reflects a widespread concern that the outcome would be far less than the action deserved. You can read the full version of the deliberations at: https://www.world.rugby/news/1000102/disciplinary-update-alev-kelter-usa.
The three members of the committee have to take a purely legal approach to the issue, as based on the Laws of Rugby. Even so, I find the comment “Taking all considerations into account, including the player’s disciplinary record” hardly seems to consider a previous indiscretion by Kelter which brought her before another disciplinary committee. It’s as if previous misdoings are deemed irrelevant.
At one extreme, some voices had suggested she might miss the whole of the World Cup, still two months away. In the event the three matches she will be ineligible for are the final Pacific-Four match against New Zealand – one the Eagles are highly unlikely to win – and two WER Bay Breakers matches, against Chicago Tempest and Denver Onyx.
I may not be alone in judging this punishment as extraordinarily lenient. As you can read, the panel found the action of stamping on the head far less grievous than had appeared at first glance. The blows with the studs were merely glancing blows, it decided; the player hadn’t looked down to see where her boot was landing. She wasn’t aware that she was making contact with a player’s head. That takes some believing. If not the head, what else? Some other part of her anatomy or the pitch itself?
It’s reminiscent of a long-ago incident on a Lions’ tour of New Zealand. When an All Blacks loose forward was asked why he had kicked JPR Williams’ head in a ruck, he replied: “I thought it was the ball”.
So what Aimee Barrett-Theron at once termed “thuggery” is reduced to an inadvertent glancing or grazing blow. “Full mitigation” is the last outcome I had expected.
In General
We have grown used to red cards, but few if any in the women’s game have involved any deliberate action by the accused. Mostly it has been a badly executed tackle, finishing with contact to the head.
This case was quite different. The only heads in question were Georgie Friedrich’s under Kelter’s studs and the contents of the aggressor’s skull. The phrase “brain-dead” was used as a headline in several (mainly Australian) media to describe Kelter’s action. That was an unfortunate choice, considering the possible effects on Friedrichs’ brain.
In the women’s game I can’t remember a similar case, certainly not involving the misuse of a boot, though my memory is far from faultless.
Before the incident took place in the 79th minute, Kelter had already caused Aimee Barrett-Theron some disquiet. By the way, it was highly fortunate that the game was in the hands of the most experienced female referee in world rugby. Amongst other decisions, Kelter had been marched back ten metres.
Few referees expect to be faced with such a decision. It’s not as if the incident took place close to the ball. ABT might well have missed it, if she had been following its progress. Instead, she observed and blew at once. Siokapesi Palu, the Aussie captain, happened to be close by, and gave Kelter a push. But any scuffling was minimal, in itself a relief. Kelter turned away and walked off. She didn’t appear to offer any apology. Indeed it is claimed she didn’t afterwards. Sione Fukofaka took it upon himself to apologise to the Australians and Jo Yapp.
Despite the rarity and apparent enormity of the event ABT kept her cool and went through due processes. But that word “thuggery” passed her lips and was picked up for the public to hear. It is a word rarely heard in modern rugby, though incidents of it have been known through the ages. In this context it was unparalleled.
In an attempt at Kelter’s defence: Friedrichs had clung on to her leg after a tackle, but that is something that happens a million times in a player’s career.
The timing of this action takes some explaining. It happened with one minute left on the clock, and the game already decided.
I suspect this case may yet have repercussions. I doubt if my reactions will be as cool as others from people closer to the action.
