Waikato rugby player banned for life

Roly Bolton loves rugby so much he says he will carry on refereeing despite the second assault on him in three years.

Frankton's Taylor Sione, 20, was last night banned for life by the Waikato Rugby Union judiciary for hitting Bolton in the face as he was being red-carded for knocking out an opposition player during a senior B match against Te Rapa in Hamilton last Saturday.

Sione had to be subdued by other players after he tried to attack Bolton a second time.

"It was a pretty stressful thing to have to go through and there is still a court case coming up," said Bolton, who has lodged a complaint with the police.

"But the key piece of the whole thing for me is that because I love rugby so much, when everything had settled down I called the players together and said if they wanted to play rugby then I was willing to carry on. They did and so we played on and, while I was a little bit shaken, it was a great game of rugby."

Bolton, who has been refereeing for 14 years, was also hit by a player three years ago in a senior B final when he tried to break up an all-in brawl and was mistaken for another player. That player was suspended for three years.

"I didn't ref for a couple of weeks after that, because it was the first time anything like that had happened to me but this time I think it was the better thing to do to carry on with the game and I also reffed three or four games the next day at a (school) first XV tournament."

He is down to control a first XV match tomorrow and will also be following his three sons, who all play rugby at various levels from school first XV to senior level, while helping coach the Cambridge High School second XV.

"I'll keep refereeing as long as I can. I've always been a volunteer-type person and always been involved with my boys. That's just me really."

Waikato Rugby Union chief executive Graham Bowen, himself a referee, said such attacks on referees in the province were very rare.

"We take a very dim view of any assault on our officials and I think the judicial decision reflects that," Bowen said. "There is normally such a good relationship between the players and referees in Waikato and the clubs are very supportive of the refs."

- © Fairfax NZ News