Keebra Park Schoolgirls hair-pull sparks debate over who to blame
A hair-pulling incident during a Schoolgirls Cup clash has sparked a furious debate - with a leading referee saying blame is not as clear-cut as you might think. Have your say >>
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A leading NRLW referee has warned female players put their own safety at risk if they want to wear their hair down on the football field.
A late match hair-pulling incident marred Keebra Park State High School’s Tuesday NRL Schoolgirls Cup win over Brisbane’s St James College, when Keebra winger Matilda Vial was pulled down from behind to deny her fourth try of the match.
The pull was penalised and the Gold Coasters scored on the following set to win 58-0.
The team’s coach, veteran NRLW referee Daniel Schwass, said the hair-pulling looked to have been accidental and opposing players were not always to blame.
“It’s always a risk with the girls having their hair out and things like that. They are aware of the risks with having their hair out and they still choose to have it out,” Schwass said.
“The biggest thing for me is I tell them if it gets pulled it’s not so much the defender’s fault, as much as it sometimes is. If they (the defender) are going for a jersey grab and they manage to get your hair, then it’s about how we react to it, that we stay controlled in our approach and don’t react to it.
“Obviously a hair-pull is an unfortunate accident in most cases, and like you’ve seen in the NRLW, sometimes you get a handful and that sort of flares up a little bit.
“I’m really big on making sure we control our responses and keep a level head no matter what happens on the field.”
Schwass said a penalty was the appropriate punishment for the minor, accidental hair-pull – one of several he spotted during the game – and it was up to the referee to elevate sanctions to a sin bin (10 minutes off the field) or a send-off (ejected from the game).
“I think it depends purely on the severity,” said Schwass, the sixth-most experienced NRLW referee in competition history who has also adjudicated women’s international test matches.
“If it’s a deliberate hair-pull I think you’d probably want them put in the bin.
“Looking at the video, I don’t think any of them were deliberate enough to warrant anything further than a penalty.”
The coach said hat-trick hero Vial was uninjured by the hair-pull and brushed it off quickly.
“She is fine,” he said. “She’s never really played rugby league before and as much as she lets on that she’s not tough, she’s probably as tough as they come.
“I think Tilly’s was one of those unfortunate ones where she gets around them, they try and tackle her from behind and accidentally grab the hair.”
Schwass said coaches had a responsibility to teach players techniques for tackling from behind without resorting to hair-pulling but did not see it as a wider issue in the game.
“I think it’s just an isolated incident,” he said.
“You could go through five or six games in a week and you’d maybe only get one or two accidental hair-pulls in a week, so I think it’s all isolated and situational-based.
“Very rarely I think there’s actually a deliberate hair-pull. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one where I thought she’s done that on purpose.
“I always just say it’s a risk they run with having their hair out or having long hair, I suppose.”
Schwass said he had never cautioned players to wear their hair up but has made a point of educating players of the risk long hair can bring on the field.
“It’s the same as concussions, injuries, those sort of things,” he said.
“It’s part of the risk of contact sport. If you’ve got a game where players are grabbing jerseys and accidentally grab a clod of hair, for me, it’s accidental more than intentional 100 per cent.
“I’ll commend the girls on that: it happens, it was dealt with on the field at the time, and we just go back into our process instead of worrying about the potential outcome was going to be.”
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