- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The IRB International Referee Panel has been published. And if we ignore Steve Walsh, there is not one Australian referee on it.
The panel for the 2012 junior world championships has no Australian refs on it at all.
The SANZAR merit panel for Super Rugby shows that from 10 spots, there is only one Australian – again, Walsh. There was not one Australian ref (Walsh excluded) who reffed at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
What a telling indictment on the quality of ref, ref coaching and appointments in Australia that is.
As for Walsh, as most will know, he learned his reffing in New Zealand and came to ref here a few years ago, after his well documented alcohol problem.
But the fact remains he is not an Australian produced international ref. Therefore it can actually be said there are no Australian refs whistling on the international stage.
As a general rule, refs are ignored if they do a good job and lambasted if they do not. But the fact remains, if a country has good refs, the players play better rugby.
I remember speaking to a number of Wallabies after the 1991 World Cup and that was the general impression – one of them even being so generous as to say if it weren’t for the contribution of Australian refs to the Australian style of play, maybe they wouldn’t have won it.
Possibly that remark was a little too generous and 14 or 15 less Bundies might not have elicited it, but you get the gist – good reffing makes a better game.
It seems to me Australian rugby needs all the help it can get to bring back Bill once again.
Perhaps the ARU needs put some effort into changing its systems for identifying and promoting refs.
Clearly the current system is not working.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.