BEING a referee is no easy job – in fact it is probably up there with being one of the most difficult tasks in sport.
Alone out on the field with a whistle and thousands of fans berating you can be a daunting task but without referees there would be no sport – which is sometimes easily forgotten.
For rugby league referees, the situation is starker when considering the level of scrutiny needed throughout an 80-minute game.
Within ten seconds of a kick-off return, a referee has to process a number of thoughts: were all the chasers onside? Was the tackle clean? Was the ruck clean? Is the defensive team onside? Was there a knock-on or a forward pass at the play-the-ball?
Not only are these questions constant throughout a game, but an official also has to count six tackles per set for every set.
Yes, a critic could argue that counting to six is not exactly difficult, but whilst having to process numerous other thoughts and with thousands of fans screaming around a venue, it really is.
To ease the burden on referees, should Super League introduce two referees instead of one?
The NRL introduced this policy back in 2009, and it stayed in place until 2020 when it was halted as a way of cutting costs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The two-referee ruling has never returned but there has been major support for its reintroduction, not least from former NRL official Gavin Badger as well as NRL bosses Craig Bellamy, Ricky Stuart and Todd Payten.
But whilst this was once a main feature of the NRL, Super League has always stuck with one referee.
With the onset of the six again ruling and the speed of the game, it is, however, becoming increasingly difficult for just one person to be in the middle of the field and be consistently accurate.
A second official would undoubtedly help in this respect, giving two peoples’ views instead of one and allowing one official to concentrate on the ruck area and the other to focus on the defensive line.
Of course, a second referee could well put doubt into the mind of the first referee which would mean decisions being changed on the advice of one or the other. That is something which the sport needs to stay away from.
Add into the mix the potential cost of putting two referees in a game instead of one as well as the potential shortage of match officials and then that could explain why two referees has never been a policy in Super League.
Looking to the future, however, could it be one that may be considered?
