Referee “merit” selection policy places refs in lose-lose situation
ByThis year’s Super 14 refereeing appointments are being handled differently from previous years with merit being used instead of nationality to determine who control which fixtures. On the surface this seems like an excellent idea with the best referees possible in charge, it has become apparent after two round that this noble experiment is already doomed to failure.
The reason for that doom is simple: If referees are now not from a neutral country, then it becomes far too easy to question their motives for decisions rather than the decisions themselves.
Take a look at Friday night’s game between the Waratahs and Chiefs in Sydney, controlled by Sydney based referee Stuart Dickinson. Early on in the game Dickinson gave a close knock on decision against the Chiefs and immediately former Wallaby Rod Kafer pointed out that Dickinson resides in Sydney, with the clear implication that it was a home town decision.
That is not to say I’m accusing the referees of bias, far from it. As a former referee myself I know how hard their job is and what a tightrope it is to walk when there is a team involved who you have some connection with. Often neither team will be happy with this situation as the team you are connected with will feel you are being too hard on them to show you are not biased, while the opponents will think the opposite.
One referee who I think clearly fell into this trap at the weekend was Bryce Lawrence. Coming form fantastic refereeing blood, his father Keith was an international referee, Lawrence is a fine official but controlling the Brumbies and Crusaders he allowed the Brumbies far more leeway at the breakdown, and while this did not effect the outcome of the game, it did show up the holes in the new appointment system.
The referees are an easy target out there on the field, making an estimated 3000-4000 decisions a game, and even if they get 99% right, the rugby public would find 30 mistakes a game unacceptable. This current system has the referees in a position where they must not only defend their decisions on the field, but also their integrity on which they base those decisions.
Australian rugby writer Spiro Zarvos called for the system to be scrapped before round five of the competition, but for mine changing a system, no matter how flawed, in the middle of a season will disadvantage some teams. Here’s hoping we’re back to neutral referees for the 2010 season.
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The Referee “merit” selection policy places refs in lose-lose situation by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
