Refs end central Qld junior boycott - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Refs end central Qld junior boycott

24/06/2009 06:41:58 PM Comments (0)

Referees have agreed to end their boycott of a central Queensland junior rugby league competition following a violent attack on an official - but only if security is present.

All Rockhampton's junior games, involving around 900 players, were cancelled last weekend after referees voted to boycott matches following a "cowardly" attack.

Adam Hudson, 23, was hospitalised with a fractured skull after being hit in the head by a large rock as he was leaving Elizabeth Park following a Rockhampton Tigers' home game against Gracemere.

The Rockhampton Rugby League Referees' Association (RRLRA) had said the boycott of all junior matches would remain in force until the local junior league completed their investigation into the incident.

But the RRLRA agreed to end the boycott after a meeting on Tuesday night decided to have beefed up security at games.

"There'll be two ground controllers at each ground - if they're not there, games will not go ahead," RRLRA president Houshyar Fallah told ABC Radio.

"If they are there and there's any incidents that need to be addressed, the referee will go to the ground official, or the ground official themselves will get on top of it, before it gets out of hand."

Fallah said Hudson had suffered headaches since the attack and had been ruled out of action for "at least six to eight weeks".

"By that stage it will be pretty much the close of our season so we probably won't see him referee again this year," he said.

Hudson admits he could have been killed in the attack.

"I'm one of the older junior referees, I'm 23-years-old," he told ABC Radio.

"We have younger referees about 16-years-old - imagine if one of them was clocked in the back of the head with a rock.

"It could have been a lot worse condition than me, or worse - possibly killed. He had no idea why he was attacked, saying the game he officiated was relatively incident-free.

"Nothing leads me to say that this would happen at the end of the game - I can't say for certain the reason why the person did that," he said.

"I'd love to be able to (find the attacker). It might make it a bit easier to find the person."

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