Australian politician launches bizarre rant about female rugby referees

Bob Katter is an Australian politician and the kind of man who undoubtedly takes pride in being considered something of a “character”.

Everything you need to know about the man is neatly encapsulated by the fact that in 1964, during a Beatles tour of Australia, Katter pelted the band with eggs as “an intellectual reaction against Beatlemania”. He was a university student at the time.

The politician does not support same-sex marriage and is frequently described as a “maverick” by the media. This week he was invited onto the Today Showand asked about the first female Australian rugby league referee, Belinda Sharpe, making her debut. He began by relating a story about attending a game in 2014 where he was disappointed with the man in the middle’s performance:

He was a sheila, there was no doubt about it. I kept shouting from the stands , 'You sheila, you bloody sheila.'

Katter continued to baffle the television hosts when he started to talk about his own time playing the game:

I can't help but make the comment if you looked at photos of me when I was much younger I was very handsome but now my nose droops and goes sideways and one of my eyebrows droops.

We don't want women playing football because they'll have a nose like mine - and if you're not playing football it's a bit hard to see how you could referee properly.

The presenter, Allison Langdon, clearly stunned, simply replied: “I’m just going to say OK.” She left it there and so will we.

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