I agree with you that one referee and two touch judges should be enough to police a game. I do feel that it is more psychological effect on the players knowing that there is another ref specifically policing the tackle and play the ball that will have a positive effect. In the professional game in particular, there is a hand on the ball in almost every tackle, sometimes they get away and sometimes not... that may be reduced with two refs (I think it is worth a trial anyway)

Plus we have the annoying inconsistency between the Northern and Southern hemispheres – which I agree is not a reason in itself to change but I think we need to consider the international effect

p.s. I always smile when I see the name Roy Haggerty and the picture of Sir Humphrey Appleby... two very different people

So long as we don't get Thaler and Childs in the same game

Yes!!







One a proper qualified referee and the other one of the many "experts" from these forums!!!!

We are all expert refs AND coaches.



I remember a quote from Tommy Docherty many years ago when he managed Manchester United.
"There are 60,000 managers here every home game,and only one doesn`t know what he is doing."

yes of course,they [ushould[/u be picked up by the touch judges but they aren't !!! that's the problem !

witness the two blatant FPs given against Saints - fortunately the Leeds one didn't matter but the W***n one did - it's not that difficult to spot is it ?

or maybe the simple solution would be to allow the VR to judge the FPs ? the technology is available - just as it is for the goal-line technology in football.

tell you what mate,try being a Greenkeeper ! if a golf club has 500 members then you have 501 Greenkeepers ,500 of whom,know better than you - must be more demoralising than being a referee or lino ?

Hell no make all players wear the shock collars from total recall and have a microwave beam running across the pitch where the 10m line is. that should make offsides rapidly a thing of the past

Yes I am all for giving it a trial run,what harm can it do and it may improve performances.

Tbf to the refs they are generally OK but the assistants on the touch line leave a lot to be desired especially where forward passes are concerned.

not trying to speak or everyone so apologies in advance but it seems that most fans realise the officials can't get every forward pass decision correct - it's just the blatantly obvious ones clearly visible from the terraces that are missed that upsets so many people.How is it possible to get it SO wrong ?

the Video Ref should intervene in such blatant cases - the technology is available...

In-Goals and Reserve refs aren't wired up.

Interesting debate though - don't think it will be long before the Aussies want it for internationals so we might as well try it just in case

Look i've never ever understood the way they ref superleague games. It seems far to easy to fix.

You have the linesmen take the defensive line back the 10 meters, and THEY call the penalties for offside exactly the same as football. You have the referee take up a position at a diagonal behind the play of the ball to watch exactly what goes on. It's not rocket science. The ref knows what goes on, and doesn't have to watch the defensive line aswell as the play of the ball.

Also someone give the linesmen a god damn backbone to make decisions. Stop throwing 16 year olds on the line that have never played a competative game of rugby before. Make them call forward passes too for a change.

I've voted yes, but i'm not sure it's possible. As Spongolium say's a lot of the touch judges are young lads, but surely this indicates that the resources aren't available to man each match with experienced officials.

I think that with ref's being pro's, they should be assessed/ rated on how they perform in each game. It could be done by each coach and a seperate ref who asseses it from a video. I know people will say this will put too much pressure on them, but, knowing that they are hardly ever punished for poor performances is bound to make them too relaxed.

These are usually called overseas passport exempt players

No, trial it in the Championships and see if it works first, if so roll it out to SL.

They are

I'm sure there is a report done by the coaches, but is there a technical assessment done where somebody looks at the decisions made during each game and analyses whether the decision was correct or not?

I'm sure it would probably only take about 15 hours a week.

totally agree. instead get the 5 we already have at each game to actually pay attention to what is going on.

Yep thats done as well

We don't have enough competent officials as it is without having to find twice as many.

I'm unsure. I know there are alot of benefits to it, but I can't help thinking how bad it would be if you had two officials with egos as big as Ganson & Silverwood on the same pitch. Or two as poor as Child & Bentham.

The trouble is you have another 26 incompetants already on the field and another 4 who can replace some of these. Their EGOS are already inflated by how "perfect" they are , cos they never EVER do anything wrong, especially if they play for your team (strange that) and yet if your team lose it wasn't their fault (even stranger).

What i'm waiting to read on these forums is people bagging their own players constantly with the same vitriol they give match officials.

Why do I think I'm for a long wait?

Go on our board and read posts about Sibbit & Sykes. Or Worrincy and Sheriffe (last year).

Or read bulls4champs posts about Donaldson & Herbert.

Why not have the VR play an active part in policing the game when there is a VR present ? He will usually have a very good view of what is going on . He is wired up to talk to the ref , so his input will be almost instant . He is also usually ( always? ) a top level ref himself , so any decisions he makes should be considered valid .

Until we reach point (like the NRL) where a VR is present at every game, all this will lead to is inconsistency in approach – not just in the way that try decisions are awarded as now but also in general game management. Somehow, I think this will make the situation worse, not better

We could at least trial it at the games where a VR is present . Or maybe it would be interesting to hear from a VR how many times in a game he has wanted to be allowed to involve himself .