Death threats to NRL referee highlight stress of blowing the whistle
To many he may be the best referee in the game, but Matt Cecchin has revealed he and his family faced death threats after a World Cup game and the NRL "noise" has now become too much.
His Sydney home, his son's home in Adelaide and his mother's in Perth were all placed on high alert after the semi-final between Tonga and England last year.
During the match he had disallowed a try to Tonga prop Andrew Fifita as he lost the ball before regathering and planting it over the try line.
After the game he got a call from New Zealand Police telling him to stay in his hotel.
"[They said] we are monitoring chat sites, there have been death threats, you need to contact your family," Cecchin said.
The 44-year-old said the death threats shook him up but he tried to move on.
"At the time I just brushed it off, it was a nothing thing, you know, I'm fine, I'm right.
"I probably didn't deal with it the way I should have, in retrospect.
"It surprised me … the magnitude and the disproportionate response I got from making a call at the end of the game that thankfully was right — I often sit back and wonder 'wow what if that was wrong?'"
Cecchin has now announced he will hang up his whistle at the end of the year because the intense public criticism was affecting his home life.
"Personally I think I have achieved everything I want to within the NRL, I just don't have that drive to persevere with the noise anymore," he said.
"I still love my 80 minutes … I never suffer when I'm in and around the game; it affects me when I am home, it affects me when I am around my family and friends — and that's where the toll is."
However Cecchin, who was the first NRL official or player since 1995 to publicly come out as gay, said he might head to the Super League in the UK if a job came up.
'We don't have 15 other clubs to go to'
The referee of three NRL grand finals made a plea for full-time sports psychologists to be available to referees, not just players, because the pressure and public backlash could take such a large toll.
"As a group we are focused so much on our physical attributes and knowing the rules — we have done very little with mental health," he said.
"It's one thing I have asked [NRL chief executive] Todd [Greenberg] and [head of football] Brian [Canavan] strongly for — these guys to have a full-time sports psych."
Cecchin said players would never be dropped after one mistake like referees might.
"[And] we don't have 15 other clubs to go to … we have to make it work," he said.
Cecchin says he has younger referees question whether they should take their career higher.
"The noise this year has been quite loud to the point where I have had referees at the level under us really question 'you know what mate, if I got the opportunity I would really have to think twice about taking it', which is sad," he said.
This Sunday Cecchin will become just the seventh referee to reach a milestone of 300 NRL matches when he officiates the Penrith-Canberra match.
"He has had refereeing in his blood and his intelligence and resilience have enabled him to join a very special group," Mr Canavan said.
One of Australia's most notable umpires, Bill Harrigan, said the critical observation referees are now under is unprecedented.
"The more extra slow mos, the more cameras, the referees are under scrutiny more and so it's just put more pressure on them," the former NRL referee said.
"They get a contract from year to year, they've done a lot of work to get there and it's just a short term thing. It doesn't pay off … financially — they're in it for the love and now Matty Cecchin has said, 'I'm not enjoying this anymore'."
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