Penalty counts in NRL games are in the news yet again. And now more specifically, the referees’ role in reducing them.
Now I haven’t read the relevant laws or guidelines, but I highly doubt whether referees have any discretion not to enforce the laws of the game based on how many penalties they have awarded to each team, the circumstances of the game, the consequence of the infringement or any other factor.
Surely all they can do (and are required to do) is attempt to consistently apply and enforce the rules to their best ability with the inevitable consequence that they (even with the assistance of ‘The Bunker’) will occasionally make mistakes.
Minor infringements (like the defence being only eight metres away or a minor act of foul play) are still infringements and must be penalised.
If the referee ignores minor infringements we descend into the murky territory of how ‘minor’ is ‘minor’.
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It doesn’t matter if a punch or an illegal tackle caused an injury or obstruction – or if an offside player affected the course of the game. These acts are contrary to the rules of the game and must be penalised.
If the result of referees enforcing the rules of the game is that there are too many penalties, then change the rules.
Change the ‘ten-metre rule’ to eight metres or five if you like, but don’t blame the referee for enforcing the current laws of the game.
There are already many breaches of the rules in just about every scrum (and often in the play-the-ball) that presumably referees are instructed to ignore.
If the game’s administrators want scrums (or play-the-balls) the way they are, then change the rules to reflect that! Sometimes the ball barely gets into the scrum.
Blame the players and coaches for not abiding by the rules instead of the referees unless the laws are changed.
Referee errors aside, the players’ actions determine penalty counts.
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