Comment: Two (referees) is company, three’s a crowd

Did you see the story coming out of Australia last week suggesting that the NRL is contemplating having three referees on the pitch?

Have you heard a crazier idea? How many officials do they want?

We are going to get a situation one day in Rugby League where the officials will outnumber the players.

And does it do any good? Not in my opinion!

We seem to be searching for the ultimate mistake-free game, which is something that is unattainable.

This article originally appeared in Monday’s edition of League Express newspaper. Click here to download the digital version to your computer, phone or tablet

Last Thursday, for example, video referee Phil Bentham awarded a try at Warrington to the Wolves’ Ben Harrison that almost no-one in the ground thought shoul’ve been given.

It was a very tight decision, but I couldn’t see any firm evidence that Ben reached the line when he put the ball down.

I was then besieged by tweets and emails from Huddersfield supporters claiming that there was a conspiracy against them.

Nowadays whenever I receive such correspondence, a fair proportion of people tell me they are giving up on Rugby League. An awful lot of people seem disenchanted.

And there really is nothing more maddening than a decision that looks to be the wrong one when a video-referee spends ages looking at it.

For goodness sake, let’s stop trying to be perfect.