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We have statistic for just about every facet of our lives: GDP, CPI, crowd attendance, road fatalities and so on.
This is also true in sport. Cricket can’t help themselves, with everything measured through statistical analyse.
This is equally true in rugby nowadays. There are measurements for metres gained, kick metres gained, lineout wins against the feed, tightheads won, time in opposition half, games played and many more.
Statistics we don’t see are ones covering those in charge of the game – the on-field officials.
With AFL offering near non-stop action, league doing likewise and football moving along nicely, except when one of the princesses hit the ground after what is nothing more than a slight bump.
In the crowded winter sport market of Australia, will the performance of the referees come under scrutiny (not the consistency as this an entirely different question)?
I wonder if those who should actually measure the number of times a referee re-sets a scrum (Jonathan Kaplan seems to win this race), the number of times the TMO is called upon to review what the ref’ and/or his assistants should catch, the time allowed for a team to set and eventually throw a lineout or what appears to me the inordinate time taken for a shot at goal to occur.
The Kiwi officials seem to have it down to an art. The South Africans are ahead of us but not by a lot.
I am not asking that we allow our officials to circumvent the laws of the game, just step up and enforce them. If a team is not setting a scrum correctly, sort it out early. Dry weather should not see 10 or more re-sets.
If a team is slow getting to a line out, they will wake up after the second sanction.
And get the bloody kickers moving along – penalties and conversions seem to take an eternity.
As we have such a small pool of Australians refs I guess their mums have seen them on the TV enough by now. Defer to the TMO for big decisions not trivial ones – make a decision and get on with play.
How many times does a TMO need to see the same replay that Phil Kearns, et al, has correctly judged upon?
At one stage we had the premiere referees in the world – Kerry Fitzgerald and, in my opinion, Peter Marshall.
Admittedly, off field referral was not around then but I hope I still make the point. At the moment we are running well back in the on-field official pack.
If Rugby is to compete as a marketable item – and it absolutely kills me to admit it is at the Super Rugby level and above – we need it to be a fast moving one in order for it to be a spectacle.
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.