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NRL fans have been complaining about refereeing more than ever in the last few years, and it is evident that there is strong dissatisfaction within the league community.
It is time that NRL referees stand up and make decisions on their own.
I can understand that being an NRL referee must be a tough gig. However, it’s not the decisions that the referees are making that are annoying me, but more so the amount of opinions at play.
With more opinions you get more conflict, which creates a problem. Two-referees on the field isn’t helping here.
I truly believe that way to fix this is getting the NRL to go back to a one-referee system.
During the past few days I’ve been watching video of old games dating back to the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, particularly because my team is doing poorly at the moment.
I decided to turn back the clock and relive some glory days.
My favourite part of watching these relics though is the flow of games. There’s only one referee, and therefore only one opinion, and that’s the way it goes. No arguing, no questioning, just a decision made on the spot. And the best part about it was that 99 per cent of the calls were the correct ones.
The NRL needs to go back to a one-referee system to give refs more authority. More authority will mean more confidence, more confidence will mean better decisions, better decisions will lead to an overall better game experience.
Referees like Tony Archer, Shayne Hayne, and Bill Harrigan demanded respect from all 34 players and both coaches from each game.
We need referees now to be taught to stand up and make decisions on their own and stick with them. Having more than one officiator contrasts the idea of having decisions made. So many times we see one ref make a decision and then the other barging in.
There is potential for some current referees to start taking responsibility, guys like Gerard Sutton and Ben Cummins have had moments where they have made some pretty admirable decisions, and a majority of the time they have been correct decisions.
While the quality might not be up to NRL standard, I implore you to watch a game of Super League. With one referee, the flow of games is so much better than that of the NRL’s standards. Their officials don’t take any crap from players, and dismiss them almost instantaneously.
If we want a better standard of NRL refereeing, we don’t need more refs, we need one person that can make the decision-making and stick to it. In a sport full of so many variables, two heads is certainly not better than one.
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