Opinion
There is one place which is undeniably the best spot to watch rugby league.
Fans of rugby league often discuss where the best place to watch the game is. Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium is often presented as the best full-day experience venue. Being interlocked with bars and restaurants makes it very appealing, along with its well designed seating plan and leg room.
Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval is another venue often suggested as a great place to watch a game. Rugby league fans who have been to the suburban ground, and who have romantically walked the small inner-city streets to get there, will wax lyrical about the wonderful experience later at the Orange Grove Hotel.
There are grounds in the ideological middle ground of these two, such as Wollongong’s WIN Stadium. These venues attract fans by being both easily accessible to the hustle and bustle of the town they are in, but small enough to feel intimately close to the action.
Although these spaces are great to watch rugby league, there is a better place.
In fact, there is no better place in the world to watch rugby league: the sideline. And the only way you can get an uninterrupted view from the sideline is by being the game’s touch judge.
(Image: Joe Frost)
Watching a game as a child at the ground, in between playing your own game on the hill, was challenging. The best way to try and keep up with the play was to slowly traverse the walkway up and down the field following the ball. Inadvertently this movement is the exact movement of the touch judge. It is their duty and privilege to watch the game as closely as you can without being a part of it.
This is an important distinction. In rugby league, referees are not passive arbiters like umpires and officials in other sports. A rugby league referee’s discretion impacts every play. Both mentally and physically, they are continuously active in the play.
The touch judge is not. Their role is to follow, side-galloping, walking, patiently stalking the play. They are quiet and supportive. Their job is just to watch the game and give a short and decisive opinion when asked.
They are in the position that every spectator dearly wants to be in: the best position to watch the game, having their opinion on the forward pass heard. It is the best place to watch rugby league.
For anyone keen to take the offer, they’ll pay you to do it. Not only will you be in the best space to watch the game, they pay you to do it. Get in contact with your local club and find out how you can get your flag, and your spot on the sideline.
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