Check this, check that. No, this is getting too much. The television match official (TMO) involvement in top-flight rugby is ruining the experience for the spectators.
Everybody wants the correct refereeing decisions to be made in modern rugby. There is just too much at stake for mistakes to be made.
On this we should all agree, but these days the TMO’s role is getting too big and the time being wasted in trying to get to the correct decision is dragging matches out too long and rugby is losing its entertainment level.
Just the other day, when Marius Jonker, who else, was trying to make a decision as the TMO, my buddy, Gary decided to have a beer in the meantime.
When Gary was closing in on finishing a six-pack, old Marius and the on field referee were still having a discussion about checking this and checking that.
Understandably, Gary wasn’t too keen to continue watching the match when the action resumed after old Marius and company eventually made a (correct?) decision.
The expansion of the TMO’s powers initially looked like a good thing. It was just ridiculous not to use the TMO to make a decision when he or she was in a position to help the on field referee out.
More than a decade ago, the TMO’s were only called on to rule on a try being scored or if there was total uncertainty about a situation.
Somewhere a balance has to be found because it is clear that some referees go onto the field with the attitude of when I miss something, it doesn’t matter because the TMO can be called to correct mistakes.
With this mind-set, referees actually make more mistakes. Referees are second-guessing themselves in their efforts to get to the correct decision.
And what about those assistant-referees on the side-lines? They are seldom confident to assist in making a decision, even some obvious ones, and rather leave it for the TMO.
It seems the assistant-referees are there just to irritate the hookers because the only time they have something to say is when they tell the hooker where to stand and how to throw the ball into the lineout.
The best a referee could do is to follow and rule on the laws of the game. The laws can be simplified of course, all in the effort to speed things up a bit and not give my buddy, Gary, extra time to crack open another cold one.
A lot of time gets wasted, not only with TMO decisions, but also at scrum and lineout time and when a referee decides to give a headmaster-like speech to the players.
The second half is also turning into a stop-start affair with one substitution after another. The lawmakers should probably rethink the numbers of substitutions to speed things up.
Let’s hope the Eastern Province Elephants are ready to speed things up in their next match. We are looking forward to that one, an away encounter against the Boland Cavaliers on Saturday.
