LEADING IRISH REFEREE Chris Busby is set to confirm his shock decision to retire from professional rugby.
The Ulster man is viewed as one of the top prospects in international refereeing but The 42 understands that he will step away from the professional game in the near future.
Busby is listed to be an assistant referee for two upcoming Six Nations matches but it seems highly unlikely he will take up those appointments.
His decision will cause major surprise but it’s believed many of his fellow match officials are not shocked at a high-level referee retiring amid a feeling that they are not shown enough support and respect.
Busby’s decision comes in the wake of the case involving Mack Hansen’s stinging criticism of Busby and his fellow officials following Connacht’s URC defeat to Leinster on 21 December.
Hansen criticised the refereeing of that inter-pro, suggesting it was the latest example of what he perceived as a bias against his province.
Hansen’s independent disciplinary hearing took place yesterday and he was given a three-match ban that means he will be available for the start of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign.
While Busby’s decision to retire is said to be multi-factored, with personal reasons to the fore, it’s thought that this episode involving Hansen has been the tipping point.
The lengthy delay in holding a hearing for Hansen is thought to have been frustrating for match officials – the Connacht wing played for his province against Ulster in the meantime – with the feeling being that referees needed to be shown clearer support by rugby authorities through swift and strong action.
The URC has pointed to the timing of the game just before Christmas, this being an off-field issue, and the challenge of an independent disciplinary panel being appointed as the reasons for the hearing taking place yesterday.
However, there is a sense within the refereeing community that there is a growing lack of respect for match officials from coaches, players, and supporters.
Busby’s decision is also thought to have been influenced by the levels of toxic online abuse that referees and their families have to deal with these days. Social media means fans can directly contact officials and their loved ones, with some of them even facing death threats.
Former Ballyclare player Busby turned professional with the IRFU’s high performance refereeing panel in 2021 after a swift rise from the club game. He was an assistant referee at the 2023 Rugby World Cup and refereed his first all-Tier 1 Test match when he took charge of South Africa’s clash with Wales last year.
He will be a major loss to Irish refereeing given that he has been in charge of high-profile Tests in recent times, including Scotland’s clash with Australia in November, and was seen as a strong contender to go to the 2027 World Cup as one of the main referees.
Busby is due to referee the Champions Cup clash between Bath and Clermont this Sunday but it’s unclear how much longer he will be active at professional level.
The only other Irish match officials set to be involved in the Six Nations are Andrew Brace and Eoghan Cross, underlining how big a blow it is for the IRFU to lose Busby. The URC will also lose one of its top referees.
That is a huge shame. I think anyone with an interest in Irish boxing would have thought he was one of our hopes for an Olympic medal.
Unfortunately if there is a hint of corruption it’s nothing new in boxing. It can have predetermined outcomes as bad as wwe sometimes.
Agreed, he demolished Kenny Egan a few months ago and we had high hopes for him, he still very young though and the lad will come good .
There was always a danger of this.
We saw what happened in Beijing with K Egan against the Chinese opponent. If the UEFA boys are taking backhanders the boxing boys are certainly taking them. Fighting a Turkish fighter in Turkey was always going to be a massive ask as a result. It’s a real pity but he’s young enough to come back for the next Olympics.
Boxing is becoming a farce though with the blatant fixing of fights.
Corruption is so widespread in Turkish sport it even has it’s own Wikipedia entry http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Turkish_sports_corruption_scandal#section_1 And there are few “sports” as corrupt as boxing, there have been numerous examples in the past year alone. So whoever thought it a good idea to hold a boxing tournament in Turkey must’ve been a little on the slow side.
Im betting the judges were Turks as well knowing the ebu
The referee was from Kazakhstan, and the ringside judges from the Philippines, China, Italy, Algeria and Croatia.
Gutted…! Chin up Ward, long career ahead of you yet!
He’s used to hearing chin down :)
Boxing scoring is becoming like Eurovision voting.
And I made a spelling mistake great :O Your’s* don’t I look silly :L
Katie Taylor has one final chance to qualify for the Olympics but its in china probably against a Chinese girl so don’t rule out two of our best medal chances not even being at the games.
Cheers Niall :) and the mighty Joe will be back he’ll put every man he meets on the canvas from now on! That’ll leave no doubt about it!
Off the boxing topic, but it is incredibly annoying when you put some quotes in blue boxes and others not. Make up your mind! Plus if you use quotation marks they go at the beginning and end of a quote. You’re sincerely a stressed out leaving cert English student who struggles to correct all his own grammar etc. as well as the Journal’s! :) rant over.
Thanks Rob, nice to get some feedback on the quote boxes. Didn’t realise they were so off-putting.
As for the quotation marks — if the quote in question continues on over a few paragraphs, it’s accepted style not to use the close marks at the end of every paragraph, just at the end of the entire quote. Although I wouldn’t start doing that for the Leaving Cert, it’ll probably just stress you out even more!
Good luck with the exams.
Yeah@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get a life
Any word on how the protest went?
Gutted for Ward, such a talent.