The Australian Rugby League Commission has gone against the advice of the game’s most respected stakeholders and on Wednesday night rubber-stamped the decision to go back to one referee in a bid to create more entertaining and free-flowing football.
It comes as Foxtel moved to seek a greater reduction in its broadcast rights extension with the NRL, potentially delaying the announcement of a new deal until next week.
However the main topic of conversation out of Wednesday night’s commission meeting centred on the referees, with the NRL deciding to scrap the two-referee system and in the process save about $2.5 million a season on officiating costs.
The ARL Commission has also decided to introduce the six-again rule, which will allow referees to restart the tackle count for ruck infringements rather than slow the game down by awarding a penalty.
Referees will retain the right to issue a full penalty and place players in the sin bin for persistent ruck infringements and professional fouls.
“The decision shouldn’t been seen as taking one referee out, it should be that we are using three full-time experienced referees controlling the game, which will ensure greater surveillance of the ruck and the wrestle,” commission chairman Peter V’landys said.
“This decision will significantly reduce the number of stoppages in games and showcase more open unstructured play for the benefit of fans. These decisions address the issue of wrestling and slowing the ruck down, which has been the biggest issue in the game.
“It’s clear the current system hasn’t effectively addressed the issue of wrestling in the game. Reverting to one referee together with the new six-again rule gives us a chance to speed up the ruck and create more free-flowing rugby league.”
“Giving the attacking team six more tackles for a ruck infringement will be a significant deterrent to slowing the ruck. No team is going to want to defend multiple sets of tackles without a stoppage in play. This is the greatest disincentive for what has become habitual ruck infringements.”
