Treiziste Diary: Should international referees be neutral?

[Rugby League World]

Why is it that in rugby league, unlike many other sports, international referees can be and often are selected from one of the competing countries? ...

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[Father Gascoigne]

Yes, they should. And at the same time, it doesn't matter. 

If it's cost-effective and there's an opportunity to appoint a neutral ref, do it. Otherwise, I don't believe--at least not in rugby league--that it puts into question the integrity of the man with the whistle or the game being played. If anything, refs who are working on a game in which their country is playing are probably going to swing to the other extreme in an attempt to look even more impartial. That's probably the biggest fear. 

For some reason it's hard for many to comprehend that these are professionals who are doing their job. Unless they're on the take with bookies--and there's no reason to believe that's a problem in international rugby league--the best course of action is to select the best referees full-stop, irrespective of their nationality and the teams involved. 

[Damien]

Of course they should.

[JohnM]

pH7 for me, all the way, but we don't have enough free hydrogen ions and free hydroxyl ions to go round, so it's fine as it is, in my view.

Edited November 13 by JohnM

[dkw]

We had this in the past, and all we got from the Aussies was whining because the neutral refs weren't "up to standard". If only there was a way to get them up to standard, maybe by using them as neutral refs in international games...

Edited November 13 by dkw

[Eddie]

Yes they should, but if England are playing France for example, are they really going to pay to fly someone in from Australia, and the same if Aus are playing NZ who are they going to get to do it? 

[sam4731]

Of course they SHOULD but there has to be higher priorities at the moment, such as staging any sort of international rugby league to need referees for.

[Father Gascoigne]

36 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Yes they should, but if England are playing France for example, are they really going to pay to fly someone in from Australia, and the same if Aus are playing NZ who are they going to get to do it? 

The game is wealthy enough to pay for flights and match fee for a top ref in both instances. If the will is there, it shouldn't be a problem.

The easier option is often taken because I don't think there are any questions over the integrity of the 'home' referees. It's just not the kind of problem that it would be in football, where you see shadiness all the time, such is that sport's relationship with gambling and bribery. 

[Big Picture]

Absolutely they should be, and not only the central ref but the whole officiating crew.  That's how it's done in serious International sports where there isn't even one official from either country.

[Damien]

3 hours ago, Eddie said:

Yes they should, but if England are playing France for example, are they really going to pay to fly someone in from Australia, and the same if Aus are playing NZ who are they going to get to do it? 

We did exactly that a couple of decades ago.

Edited November 13 by Damien

[Eddie]

46 minutes ago, Damien said:

We did exactly a couple of decades ago.

True, but the international game is absolutely skint. 

[Tommygilf]

The French Referee in the Wheelchair world cup final didn't really help the case for non neutral refs ...

[MatthewWoody]

Where do you get them from? 

[Just Browny]

Yes.

Bit of a leftfield one, but snooker is a game which is played to a high level in no more countries than ours, and has some highly intricate rules, but seems to have a roster of referees from all over the world. How did they do it? Can we have the same. You only need to find half a dozen willing and able people and train them up.

[Dunbar]

The only thing I can think of is that it is a deliberate policy to raise social media engagement as fans can bang on about how bias the ref was after a 5-4 penalty count.

I suppose it beats actually talking about the game. 

[MatthewWoody]

I'd prefer a referee from a professional top level league, regardless of the country