Rugby League: Orang-utan would be a better ref

By Chris Rattue

New Zealand Rugby League chairman Gerald Ryan took another swipe at Australian referees yesterday - but admitted one will probably control the Anzac test in Sydney on April 25.

Ryan said he had told Australian Rugby League chief executive David Barnhill, and David Gallop from the international board that an "orang-utan could have done a better job" than Sean Hampstead, who controlled the Warriors match against Sydney City at Ericsson Stadium on Sunday.

Ryan has already raised the ire of Australian officials by claiming "106-year-old blind people at the bottom of the South Island" could do a better job than some of the current referees.

After yesterday's phone call to Sydney he said: "I told them an orang-utan from Borneo could have done a better job. Even a pukeko from the Waikato swamp.

"When they asked me why I'd say that, I said the orang-utan would even be better looking. I'm not saying he was biased. He just wasn't competent. He didn't have a 10-metre rule."

Ryan's outburst followed an ARL suggestion that New Zealand be offered a panel from which to pick the referee for the match in Sydney.

But the NZRL chairman had to admit it was unlikely that a referee from a third country would control the Anzac test.