The suspensions of three club rugby men - a team official, a fan and a player - for what, it can be assumed, were some particularly nasty words, send the right sort of message to those sports fans who think it is acceptable to abuse a referee.
It is not.
It is cowardly, it is pointless and it is damaging.
There is no place in sport, particularly at the lower levels where the referees, like the players, are on the field purely for enjoyment, for verbal abuse.
I would have liked the NORFU to have gone even further. In these cases, the names of the offenders should be made public - not left to the media to divulge - as should the specific details of their transgressions
.... and shame them
I believe (hope) it is only a tiny minority of fans who spoil grassroots sport with their moronic and/or vicious outbursts.
But it is still troubling to hear of instances in local sport where referees have been abused, and there have been too many anecdotes to think it is not a problem.
Most of the incidents appear to be occurring in junior grades. Colleagues who coach - and therefore get roped in to referee - children's rugby and football teams regularly report they cop an earful from the sidelines.
It is utterly perplexing. How on earth does perspective get so warped that a ''fan'' becomes so emotionally distorted by children's sport that he or she feels the need or right to attack a voluntary official?
Please, let's all settle down and enjoy club and school sport for what it is: fun, above all.
Winter wildness
The Last Word has never been on skis, does not always remember whether Cardrona or Coronet Peak is the field closest to Wanaka, and still gets confused (he may not be alone) at the descriptions of freeskiing tricks.
But this column extends a warm welcome to all those in the area for the Winter Games, starting on Thursday.
The third edition of the Games promises to be spectacular, and with the Winter Olympics just around the corner, the event carries extra significance.
Another old boy
Our big spread on Otago Boys' High School sportsmen last week was never going to mention EVERY top performer to have been produced by the school - 150 years is a long time.
But we were certainly remiss in leaving out Black Caps boss Mike Hesson, who wouldn't have made our OBHS Greatest XI as a player but would slot in nicely as its coach.
Praying for a miracle
New Everton manager Roberto Martinez goes to church to confess on the eve of the new Premier League season.
Roberto: ''Forgive me father, for I have sinned.''
Priest: ''Come forth, my child, come forth.''
Roberto: ''Fourth? We'll be lucky if we come 10th!''
Shed no tears ...
A stadium worth $250 million - and it has no press box.
Yes, the powers-that-be at the Glasshouse have officially given the members of the written press notice, after two years, that they need to vacate their plush (well, if a bench plus a few chairs may be described as such) surroundings in the South stand.
The designers of New Zealand's finest sports venue did actually take the scribes into account when they cooked up the blueprint. We originally had a reasonably spacious box, with two tiers of seating, from which to observe proceedings.
But it wasn't long before the tinkering started. First, it was decided the television match official was to be housed within the press box, inside a hastily-assembled plywood booth.
Now, the word has come down that the pen-pushers and key-tappers are to be kicked ''outside'' because the coaches (of the Highlanders and Otago, presumably) need more space.
Next stop: a container dumped on the concrete pad, in front of which fans will be welcome to walk. Just like the good old days at Carisbrook
.... for the press
Really, the reporters should consider themselves lucky to be allowed in the stadium at all. They are, after all, right at the bottom of just about all of those ''most respected professions'' lists.
Barney Ronay, the spectacularly gifted writer for the Guardian, had a nice take on the press during the Ashes test, after notoriously press-wary English batsman Kevin Pietersen sulked his way through a media conference.
''The public are largely on KP's side here. They also hate the press. Let's face it, everybody hates the press. Athletes hate the press. Press officers hate the press. So despised are the press that pretty soon it may even become hip not to hate the press, but instead to locate in the press an overlooked sense of underdog cool.''
Well said, that man.
Master tipster
Oamaru is officially New Zealand's sharpest town, and now it has produced one of New Zealand's sharpest rugby brains.
My old mate Nigel Harris - he was the big bloke standing guard outside the Criterion on Seven Sharp on Monday night - went to the wrong school but we mustn't hold that against him.
Nigel finished third out of more than 13,000 punters in the Sky Sport virtual Super rugby tipping competition. Nice work, big fella.
Power play
Watch this space next week for the fourth annual Otago Daily Times New Zealand sport power rankings.
Will Richie McCaw hold on to top spot? Will Lauren Boyle splash into the top 20? Is there any hope for Ma'a Nonu?All will be revealed next Saturday.
Birthday of the week
Well, there's no easy way to say this. Hayden Meikle is 36 today.
He was no sporting superstar but he did once score two tries in a game of under-8 rugby, he was a North Otago junior tennis representative and captain of the Waitaki Boys' table tennis team, and he had an indoor football team named after him.
He shares his special day with the great Arthur Porritt (would have been 113), former NBA coach Red Holzman (would have been 93), former Knicks guard John Starks (48) and former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane (42).
