THE RFL’s match officials department is under the temporary control of its senior coach Dave Elliott after Steve Ganson was stood down as the governing body conducts an ‘internal review’.
Former Super League referee Ganson is head of match officials, having been involved with the department since hanging up his whistle in 2013 to become match officials coach and technical director. He took on his current role seven years ago.
The 53-year-old from St Helens made his senior debut as a referee at a match between Barrow and Carlisle on August 27, 1995.
He took his first Super League game, Castleford versus Paris St Germain, the following August and in total, took charge of more than 300 matches at club and international level, refereeing in both the 2000 and 2008 World Cups.
In a statement, the RFL said: “Steve Ganson will not be carrying out his role as head of match officials at the current time, pending the completion of an internal review.
“Currently, it is expected that this will be temporary and the RFL will make no further comment until that review is complete.
“Dave Elliott, the former Warrington and Cumbria player who has been the match officials senior coach since early 2021 having previously worked in the England performance unit, will lead the match officials department while the review is ongoing and will be supported in his role by the RFL’s chief on-field officer Dave Rotheram.”
Former Super League referee James Child recently told Forty-20 magazine he felt his confidence as an official had been “eroded internally”.
He said: “What I’ve always found difficult about refereeing are not the external pressures, that is a given.
“The internal pressure and criticism, all the threats, swearing and shouting however, that grows tiresome and sport – including officiating – relies heavily on confidence.
“If you’ve got 26 players and 10,000 people in a stadium questioning your decisions, you’ve got to have confidence in what you are doing.
“If you feel as though that’s being eroded internally as well, you do start to wonder who has got your back.”
This article comes from this week’s issue of League Express. You can take out a subscription by going to https://www.totalrl.com/league-express/