Elitism Amongst Referees

By The Man in the Middle
January 9 2006

Just to prove we do get feedback to some of our articles on the site, one of the questions raised following our referee interviews was "what does it mean to be on the Elite Panel"? Here, one of our refereeing contributors talks us through the current set up.

"To reach and stay on the Elite Referee's Panel (ERP), takes a great deal of determination, sacrifice and hard work and here are some of the key performance indicators we adhere to .

We must be physically fit. (Three fitness testing sessions a season, where certain levels must be reached. On top of that, train 3/4 times a week,either early morning or late evening).

We must be technically competent (Every GP match is filmed and watched each week by the ERU (Elite Referee Unit) management,which consists of 3 ex International referees, one of whom refereed a World Cup Final and the other two controlled over 30 Test matches.  On top of that they also see "live" as many matches as they can and as well as them there are 4 assessors who report on us, and if no management or assessor in attendance then probably our coach/mentor.  All of these people have officiated at the highest level in the past.  If they feel our performance is below standard a number of criteria can be levied and they range from the following.

1) Phone call to clarify decisions
2) Meet with ERU management and go through DVD
3) Meeting with DoR to justify decisions

Those are just some of the actions that can happen after a poor performance, we might also go through DVD with our "mentor/coach".

EVery Monday morning there is a conference call between management and referee's to discuss the weekend's matches.  After that the management contact all 12 DoR's and discuss any issues they have with the match officials performance.

If an official is consistently being a "disgrace", a phrase we are sometimes accused of being, then action is taken - believe me, with the amount of money being at stake, management would not be doing their job if they ignored it.

The naivety of such statements as "more heat should be put on the refs" is frankly breathtaking, but to be honest looking at a lot of supporters postings, whilst passionate in the extreme, they are sometimes trying to pass comment on a subject of which they have zero knowledge.  Standards have never been higher, and I've yet to meet a local reporter who rates a referee in his "match ratings"!

Currently we have 6 FTR's (full time refs),they are not necessarily the best 6, and 4 others. As a back up we have the 4 next best referees in the country who we are looking to blood in the GP at sometime in the future. That is the make up of the ERP.

To reach this level, a referee will have gone through a similar process, but on not such a detailed scale while on the National Panel of Referee's, those who are good enough are promoted to the ERU, and when a referee or TJ is too old or not good enough, the ERP get rid of him."

So there you are.  One of the things always said to me by the referees I know is that supporters need to see the game with two eyes rather than one, and the referees need eyes in the back of the heads sometimes.  Perhaps a little leeway is needed both ways; we as supporters see what we want to see, the referees have to judge on what they do see.  They don't always correspond...

(Thanks to our refereeing friend for providing this insight.)