Dickson put in tricky position as RFU appoints referee for Saints' clash with Harlequins

Well, that is the scenario that awaits Saints at Twickenham this weekend following the RFU's decision to appoint former Harlequins scrum-half Karl Dickson as referee for the Big Summer Kick-Off.

Dickson, brother of former Saints No.9 Lee Dickson, spent eight years at Quins as a player before retiring in 2017.

And while no one is suggesting he will be in any way biased because of this, it just seems an extraordinary and completely unnecessary position to put any match official in.

There are plenty of other referees who could have been given this particular gig, yet the RFU chose a man who will be open to extreme criticism no matter what decisions he makes.

Should Quins get tight calls, Dickson is there to be shot at by Saints fans.

Should Saints get marginal decisions, Quins fans could accuse him of overcompensating because of his history with their club.

It is a no-win situation that simply did not need to happen.

And in an era when trying to prevent social media abuse of match officials is high on the agenda, it feels like a bizarre choice that could fan the flames rather than douse them.

But ignoring an official’s history isn’t totally new.

Many years ago, Wayne Barnes, widely known as one of the best referees rugby union has had, was constantly appointed for games between Saints and Leicester Tigers.

There were several controversial East Midlands derbies that Barnes was part of, including when Dylan Hartley was dismissed in the 2013 Premiership final for allegedly labelling Barnes ‘a ******* cheat’, yet he continued to be given the games.

It always felt like something that just didn't need to happen.

Barnes could have been taken out of the spotlight, which would have stopped any history with the official being brought up every time a new flashpoint occurred on derby day.

But he continued to be appointed, leading to more and more criticism, and more and more heated moments, including when Jim Mallinder was so furious with full-time seemingly being called before the 80-minute mark that he followed Barnes down the tunnel to speak to him after a fixture at the Gardens in March 2014.

Sensibly, the next game between the two rivals was given to JP Doyle, as Saints secured a Premiership play-off semi-final win against Tigers in May 2014.

Salesi Ma'afu was rightly sent off that night by Doyle, but the overriding memory from that match was certainly not refereeing calls.

It feels like that may not be the case this weekend.

Though it seems unlikely that whatever happens Saints will vent their frustrations on social media as Nottingham Forest were widely criticised for last weekend when their official X account posted: "Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options."

However, there will most likely be internal conversations surrounding the appointment of Dickson this week, before and after the game.

It is a scenario that just didn’t need to unfold.

And why it has, only those that made the appointment know.