Ivan Cleary fine for referee spray revealed as NRL comes down hard
Peter V’landys and the NRL have come down hard on Panthers coach Ivan Cleary for his comments about the refs on the weekend, hitting the Penrith coach with a massive fine.
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A furious Peter V’landys tore strips off Ivan Cleary and the NRL has followed in, issuing the Penrith coach with a breach notice and a $20,000 fine.
“I am disappointed that a person in a leadership position within our game has made comments that question the integrity of our officials,” the NRL’s acting chief executive Andrew Abdo said.
“Our leaders should be professional and set the standard for our game. Comments like this will not be tolerated. The foundation of our competition is its integrity and Ivan’s comments undermined that.
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“At times our officials, like players, will make errors during games. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on those individual decisions, but we will not accept the integrity of our officials being questioned.
“Every Monday we live stream a football briefing explaining every contentious decision. Our officiating is as open and transparent as it can possibly be. Ivan’s comments were disappointing, not aligned to the standards we uphold and will not be tolerated.”
Earlier, V’landys labelled Cleary’s post-match swipe at match officials “deplorable” as the NRL boss went into bat for the refs.
In a stunning response to what many had considered to be a subtle accusation from Cleary that Canberra had been “managed” back into the game on Saturday night by a couple of questionable calls, V’landys let rip: “He is an elite coach and accordingly a role model to everybody.
“How do you defend when a parent sees that and starts yelling abuse at junior referees?
“It gives them a licence because an elite coach has said it.
“And does he consider that the referee is a human being like the rest of us, and the hurt he would cause by questioning his integrity?
“I’m sure if the shoe was on the other foot, he would not like that if someone questioned his integrity.
“To say he has ‘managed’ it to get them back in the game is a deplorable statement.”
Although V’landys’ response seems extreme, it’s worth remembering that he vowed he would have the referees’ backs when the comp got back up and running.
At the time there was talk of strike action because of the change to one ref and the introduction of the six-again call. But instead the refs voted to support V’landys.
In turn, V’landys said the referees should not fear being hung out to dry if there was criticism from coaches or critics, which may explain why he has gone as heavily as he has now.
Asked if Cleary should be fined, V’landys added: “I don’t want to pre-empt that. (But) he should be.”
It’s always been an absolute no-no for coaches or players to so much as hint at questioning the integrity of refs, but the way Cleary did it was very subtle.
Penrith had led 24-0 at halftime but ended up winning 28-12.
Cleary was asked about a couple of so-called “dodgy” calls and agreed.
“It felt like they were being managed back into the game,” Cleary said.
“I don’t know, that’s all I can say.
“Some really strange calls.
“But I guess that gave us the opportunity to continue through the 80 minutes because we had to.
“In the end that will only serve us well down the track.”
But while there was debate on Sunday if Cleary’s comments even warranted a reprimand, V’landys put that to bed with one of the fiercest sprays issued to a coach from a governing body official.
In the past Ricky Stuart has paid a small fortune his post-match sprays, while former Canterbury coach Dean Pay was slugged $25,000 in 2018 for spraying the referees.
That fine was later reduced, with $10,000 of it suspended, but the point is, you can’t do it.
While Cleary spoke calmly and was only responding to a question, there is no doubt what he said was a direct violation of the NRL guidelines.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley had said earlier on Sunday it was a matter for the NRL integrity unit who would investigate it on Monday.
But that was before V’landys made his feelings known.
“Just because you are an elite coach doesn’t give you the licence to question a referee’s integrity,” V’landys added.
“But the point that I want to make the most is that he is a role model. He is an elite coach. What message does that send to junior league coaches and parents that sit on the sideline, what message does that send?
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“And they are role models.
“These vicious, unwarranted attacks only do bad things. They don’t do any good.”
Cleary was specifically asked about the moment when Nathan Cleary shoved Jordan Rapana into touch incident and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad’s first try.
Referee Gerard Sutton sent Nicholl-Klokstad’s try to the bunker despite the Canberra fullback not appearing to ground the ball with his first effort.
With defenders restricting the bunker’s view, there was no clear evidence for the bunker to overturn the onfield call which was for a try.
In the Rapana’s case, Penrith was penalised for Liam Martin’s supposed flop.
Originally published as Ivan Cleary fine for referee spray revealed as NRL comes down hard