Editorial: Club refs would benefit from technology back-up

International referees can make mistakes, and players can influence them to review their decisions, and ultimately reverse them. But this doesn't happen at club level.

If you're playing a game that needs a referee or umpire, there's no need to abuse the referee.

I got 10 minutes in the bin once during a social rugby match for telling a referee "It hit me in the head!" Or words to that effect - there may have been an obscenity in there somewhere. He had made a wrong decision but he made the right one to send me off.

An Advocate reader phoned this week, after watching referee Romain Poite reverse his decision to award a potentially match-winning penalty to the All Blacks on Saturday night.

In the late 1940s, there was game played in Whangarei and the ref accidentally awarded a try after a player grounded the ball on the 22m line (back then it was 25m).

The rules back then were such that the referee couldn't reverse his own blunder - the try stood. That's how most club players in many codes have played their various sports for years.

There's no point moaning, the ref or umpire is not going to change their minds. Except that in the case of rugby, and cricket, and league, the ref can.

The advent of technology has seen rugby bring more technology into decision making.

To the point that a player can now influence a ref to "go upstairs" and check something.
And change something.

If international officials are being shown to get it wrong, what hope for our club refs and umpires. They can't go upstairs. Which means players have to suck it up and deal with it. And if they don't they lose it.

Clearly, the player banned for 18 months this week lost it.

The case has also opened an argument for multi-code co-operation.

If a player, as this one was, is deemed unfit to play rugby league for two years, is it OK for them to change codes and take the rugby field? No.

If you're banned from playing league - or indeed rugby - then you should not be allowed to put players and officials at risk in another code.

Perhaps the next meeting that takes place could result in rugby and league officials forging a multi-code agreement?

In the meantime though, the message is loud and clear - don't mess with the ref.