NRL: How two referees work together
Just how do two referees work on a footy field? It hasn’t always been perfect, but it’s not the rocket science some think it is.
As the debates over one referee or two rages, it has become increasingly clear that few people know how the two referee system works.
Some, mainly in Facebook comment threads, mind you, seem to think nothing has changed since 2009.
Shock: That isn’t true.
Strangely enough, others are willing to concede two referees is the way forward if the lead referee controls the game while the assistant referee monitors the ruck.
Another shock: That’s pretty much what they do for most of the match already.
The two referee system started in 2009 with a 50/50 split. They effectively refereed a team each and swapped over as they went. As tries were scored or scrums called, referees switched sides on the fly.
In doubling the number of referees required, it wasn’t long before young referees that otherwise wouldn’t be refereeing in first-grade were promoted to make up the numbers. That’s where the splits changed.
In Round 11 of the 2009 season, a young Matt Cecchin whistled a questionable penalty — as an assistant referee to Tony Archer — late in the Titans’ 18–17 win over the Sea Eagles.
Des Hasler blew up deluxe, telling the ABC:
“The (game) was not decided by the players. It was ahead of a large TV audience, 17,000 fans at the ground and it was again a junior referee who decided the issue with, in my opinion, a dreadful error under pressure.”
Even John Cartwright chimed in despite being on the right side of the decision:
“I think you can have two on the field and I think you can have one controlling the game and put the younger fellow there with a bit of experience just learning to deal with the players, hear what goes on, keep an eye on the ruck.”
Changes started to be made as junior referees began to control roughly 30% of the game while lead referees took over the remaining 70%. Still, it wasn’t a consistent split. If two senior referees were named for the same game, the split was closer to 50/50.
Splits were decided by the referee’s coach each week — a nightmare for players and coaches.
With confusion over which referee is the lead referee still not clear after the 2014 season, an arm-band was introduced (they now have black sleeves). The lead referee wore an arm-band and was expected to be in charge for at least 80% of the game.
“There is a team leader appointed each week, who will referee a minimum of 80 percent of the game. The lead referee will have an arm-band similar to a soccer captain and that is how he will be recognised as the leader.”
Fast-forward to the 2019 season, and it’s a combination of both systems; there isn’t an official split.
There is still a lead referee and an assistant referee.
The lead referee controls the start to ‘set up’ the match. Lines and expectations are set for the match and made clear in the first 15–20 minutes by the lead referee.
It’s known as “one-ref mode”.
They might not be marking the 10-metre line, but the lead referee makes every refereeing decision.
With the match set up, the lead referee can hand over some control to the assistant referee. Referees employ closer to a 50/50 split until around 10 minutes to go in the half. Although, the lead referee will always retake control of the 10-metre line following a penalty and repeat set.
The second half starts similar to the first, sometimes with a shorter set up period before moving to two-ref mode. However, the time the assistant referee is in control in the second half runs close to the first as the lead referee calls for one-ref mode earlier — particularly during close games.
Two-ref mode doesn’t see the head referee release all of their seniority either. They will always take back control for a more extended period — if they’ve temporarily released it to the assistant referee — when a team gives away multiple penalties, an incident occurs, or the match begins to get away from the referees.
It’s not the perfect system but the introduction of a second referee was to help officials keep up with the increasing speed of the game. Players aren’t getting any slower.
One argument is to assign one referee as the control referee for the full 80 minutes. While ideal, in theory, it defeats the initial purpose of adding the second referee.
Claiming that the second referee was introduced to eradicate the wrestle and should, therefore, be scrapped doesn’t wash either. New South Wales Rugby League referees were told to call “held” and “play the ball” to help stop wrestling in 1941. Do we stop that, too?
The debate around one referee or two goes around in circles for the most part — it’s usually a dead conversation from the start. A lot of that is due to the confusion many have with how the two referee system works.
Before you go one way or the other, let Kasey and Gavin Badger explain the two referee system best in their podcast:
Random Stats
- Seven 2017 Rugby League World Cup matches ended with an average play the ball speed of four seconds or slower while not one of the 201 NRL matches crossed the four-second barrier.
- Just 21% of RLWC matches were played with an average play the ball speed of 3.5 seconds or faster compared to the NRL’s 59.7%.
- There was an average of 12.75 penalties blown in the World Cup compared to 12.9 throughout the 2017 NRL season.
- 17% of NRL matches had fewer than 10 penalties blown compared to 25% in the RLWC.
- 33% of NRL matches had 15 or more penalties blown compared to 28% in the RWLC.
