SUPER LEAGUE referee Marcus Griffiths was “very, very uncomfortable” with the decision to send off Hull FC’s Fa’amanu Brown in the Black and Whites’ defeat to Warrington Wolves a fortnight ago.
Brown was given a red card by Griffiths for an accidental head clash with Warrington’s Ben Currie, much to the chagrin of the entire rugby league fraternity.
The Hull man escaped a ban and a charge from the event and new Head of Match Officials, Phil Bentham, who is currently serving his notice with football’s Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL) before officially beginning work with the RFL, has explained that an alteration of the Head Contact Framework was necessary after the incident.
“They were very, very uncomfortable with the decision,” Bentham said. “We were straight on to it to come to a solution that would suit everybody so we don’t have to go into this weekend with that framework holding us back in terms of making sensible decisions.
“That has been dealt with this week and the referees are a lot more comfortable going into the weekend and are aware of exactly where they can use mitigations within the framework to come out with sensible outcomes.”
The RFL’s Director of Legal and Operations, Robert Hicks, has explained that discussions have not only had to include players and coaches, but referees as well: “I think to be really clear here, the governing bodies aim is to reduce the amount of contact with the head during tackles and and the referees play a hugely important part in making sure that is done appropriately.
“So all these discussions like we had with players and coaches have to be done with match officials as well. I feel confident that this weekend we’ll be able to not have the dramas of of last.”
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