Warriors super fan’s Givealittle page for coach Andrew Webster pulled

By Bonnie Jansen

The Givealittle page created to pre-emptively cover any fines received by Warriors coach Andrew Webster for talking to match officials has been pulled.

Warriors super fan Connor Hathaway, who created the page, said he was told via email the crowdfunding organisation did not allow groups fundraising on behalf of the Warriors or Webster.

A Givealittle page titled ‘Cover the cost of Webby’s NRL fine’ was created with the goal of raising $10,000. It raised $864 from 42 donors before it was cancelled.

Warriors head coach Webster told media after their NRL Magic round defeat to Penrith Panthers, that he would indeed talk to match officials post-game if there were no fines: “I get asked this every week, I’m going to take a hat around and get you guys to pay for my fine — if you all want to chip in I’ll give you whatever you want.”

The super fan took Webster’s comment quite literally, going on to launch a page to cover costs.

Hathaway told the Herald the fact that Webster is holding back “shows the type of person he is — a real professional”.

“[Webster] is a better man than a lot of us, to be honest,” said the fan. “He doesn’t blow up, just puts [results] on needing to be better every week.”

Hathaway said Webster’s calm approach doesn’t take away how “unfortunate” some of the referee’s calls have been against the Warriors in recent matches.

Webster wasn’t happy after Demitric Sifakula was sent to the sin bin for a shove on Nathan Cleary while the Panthers went unpunished for hits that left Dallin Watene-Zelezniak needing a head injury assessment.

Hathaway said on the officials: “I wouldn’t really say cheating — I would just say it’s a bit of unconscious bias with us being the only New Zealand team in the competition.

“There’s going to be a tendency to favour Australian sides.

“There’s not much we can do ... The whole idea of this [Givealittle page] was to just let everyone know that it was like time to stand up. We wanted a sorry — a standard to be set for officials. If they can’t meet that standard every week of fair, unbiased calls, they should get what a player gets if they make a hit high tackle.

“I guess they do make mistakes, but at the end of the day, it should be fair calls 50-50.”

While he was “a little disappointed” that the page was cancelled, he’s grateful to be able to redirect the funds to a better cause: Mike King’s I Am Hope charity .

Hathaway wanted to “bring more awareness” to the charity and “get more support for our young Kiwi kids who really need the help”.

One NZ chief executive Jason Paris described decisions against the Warriors as “cheating of the highest order” on social media during the side’s 18-6 loss to the Panthers.

The NRL said it is aware of the comments by Paris and will be reviewing them closely, with league boss Andrew Abdo saying: “Questioning their integrity is completely unacceptable.

“We will do everything possible to protect our match officials and the game.

“We are currently exploring all our options and will take whatever steps we believe are necessary to defend them.”

In his assessment of the officiating, Paris wrote on Twitter: “Are you kidding me? How biased are the @NRL bunker and referees against the @NZWarriors? Have they got money on them to lose? It’s like we are permanently against 14 on the field and they want us to play with 12.”

In response to a fan who expressed similar sentiments, he added: “It’s absolutely outrageous and so incredibly frustrating. Imagine how the team feel - three games in 11 days and then this rubbish. Cheating of the highest order.”

On Monday, Paris took to Twitter to clarify his initial tweet, saying he doesn’t believe NRL referees are cheating but still thinks there is “unconscious bias” against the Warriors.

“A bit of interest in my support for the mighty @NZWarriors. Just to clear things up - I do not think the @NRL referees are cheating. They come to work everyday to do their best job for the game. My comments were made in the heat of the moment as a passionate fan.

“However, I do believe that there is unconscious bias happening every week against the Warriors & it needs to be addressed. All we want is consistency, but we are not getting it. Take opinions out of it & analyse the video footage from past games & compare our decisions vrs other teams. I think it will find that we are being disadvantaged - then we can work out why & take steps to fix it.

“We will always back our team.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission