‘Something to be answered’ – Ex-England stars slam ‘optics’ of Karl Dickson-Danny Care controversy
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Former England internationals Ben Kay and Lawrence Dallaglio have weighed in on the controversy during the Harlequins and Northampton Saints’ Premiership match on Saturday.
The two 2003 World Cup winners questioned whether Karl Dickson should have been in charge of the fixture to begin with considering the official represented Harlequins during his playing career.
This comes after he controversially failed to issue Quins scrum-half Danny Care with his marching orders for what could have been a second yellow cardable offence.
The pair agreed that the ‘optics’ were not good on the Premiership and the Professional Game board that appoints the referees to matches.
Karl Dickson is a professional
Ex-England lock Kay said in midweek that he had no issue with Dickson officiating Harlequins but that after the controversial decision, he feels it is not a good look for the league.
“There was a lot of discussion about Karl Dickson going into the game and whether he should be refereeing his old team during the week, I didn’t think it was a big problem,” Kay told TNT Sports.
“I’ve got no doubt that Karl Dickson wasn’t biased towards his old team. He’s a professional, Ellis Genge was playing against Leicester yesterday, no one questioned that he could change his allegiance.
“When you’re a professional and particularly when you sort of have to answer to your coach, your assessor, you’re not going to jeopardise things, but it did leave him liable that if there was a controversial decision for the optics of that to look really bad to the Northampton fans and the wider rugby public.
‘Outrageous decision’ – Referee slammed as Danny Care avoids a red card from ‘old teammate’
Should have been red
While RFU match officials boss Paul Hull released a statement confirming why Dickson opted not to give Care a second yellow card for pushing James Ramm in the second half of the match, Kay disagreed.
RFU referee boss issues statement on Karl Dickson-Danny Care controversy
“Yes, absolutely [should have been red carded],” he added.
“It’s a cast iron yellow card, and not necessarily because of the breakdown and the tackle area; for me, it’s the push [on James Ramm].
“The push is a cast iron yellow because there’s a line break, it is a deliberate act of foul play. The push is after a line break and it affects the next phase of play because if Ramm is not pushed there, he goes into the breakdown. He seals it off, then it is a breakdown or a ruck, and Danny Care can’t come through and dive over the top.
“But for me, it’s much more cynical to push someone than it is to go off your feet at a breakdown trying to compete. It’s a yellow card for me and it should have been the second.”
“No one would have complained”
Kay’s 2003 World Cup teammate, Dallaglio, agreed that Care should have been given his marching orders.
“Because of the line break and the nature of where Northampton were with Quin’s players retreating, pushing James Ramm off the ball, it’s absolutely a yellow card, and normally we apply the laws, but common sense would suggest that if Danny Care been yellow carded and subsequently red carded, no one would have complained with that decision,” the ex-number eight said.
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“I agree with Ben; there’s a conversation to be had around, not around integrity or bias, but if you are refereeing players that you still played with, it just opens you up [to criticism] if there are incidents in the game like we saw yesterday.
“The fact that Harlequins’ coaching team substituted Danny Care immediately afterwards is an admission of guilty. Had they given a yellow card and a subsequent red, no one would have complained, but as it’s turned out, there are a few people wondering whether it was the right one.”
Kay added that it is entirely fair to disagree with a referee’s decision and that sometimes they are wrong, which they will admit to. But he adds that because of Dickson officiating the game, there was an unnecessary controversy.
“Referees make their own decisions sometimes we agree with them, sometimes we disagree with them, no problem with that,” he added.
“Sometimes referees will make mistakes and will admit they make mistakes, but having him on that game with his history with Harlequins, means now there are people pointing fingers about whether that was just him looking after his mates or not and it wasn’t but they’ve put him in a really difficult position and I don’t think they should have been doing it.”