Give video officials' job to technology specialists instead of referees and umpires

MOST sports are still struggling with video-review technology but Mike Colman has a unique solution ... take it out of the referees' hands.

Flick the switch on video refs

THE use of technology in sport has become a case of ``be careful what you wish for''.

Before we had it we pleaded with officialdom to introduce it, believing it would put an end to refereeing bloopers once and for all.

Now we have it, not only have things not improved, it seems to me they have become worse.

The challenge system has turned the Ashes series into a debacle and, if anyone thinks the video ref is always right in the NRL, they didn't see Sunday's Penrith-Newcastle match.

How the ``men upstairs'', with all their replays, angles and slow-motions, could have judged that Panthers winger Dean Whare scored a try is beyond comprehension.

So what's the solution? Video is here to stay, so perhaps it is the refs and umpires who must step out of the picture. Let them make sure the rules are being followed and count the number of balls bowled and tackles made, but leave it up to technology to decide on tries and dismissals.

It would take the pressure off the on-field officials, elevate the video official to a specialised position and, most crucial of all, stop Shane Watson from using all our challenges in the first over.

2 IT IS hard to believe but this whole ASADA shemozzle is getting worse. What sort of government department makes a deal with one sporting association and leaves another out in the cold?

What sort of major sport boss tells counterparts ``we're all in this together'', then goes behind their backs? By giving preferential treatment to the AFL the people running the ASADA inquiry have proved that they're making it up as they go along.

By saying one thing to the NRL and doing another, Andrew Demetriou has shown he will stop at nothing to protect his code, which makes him the type of person you wish was running the NRL.

3 ONE of the great joys in life, watching Brits get beaten at sport, has been in short supply.

Ever since Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France it is as though they have become us. Or what we used to be anyway.

They've blitzed the Olympics and won Wimbledon, a Lions series and a second Tour, all things they are not supposed to do.

Let's not even talk about the Ashes. If it were not for Lee Westwood fading in the last round of the British Open you would swear God was an Englishman.

But, seriously, how did they get so good and we became so ordinary? About 20 years ago they started a national lottery to fund sport.

Between 2012 and 2017 about $1.5billion of lottery money will be invested from grass roots up.

It's big dough, but that's what it costs to buy bragging rights on the world's big sports stages.

4 WHEN the ripples of support for a Darren Lockyer statue at Suncorp Stadium started to grow to a tidal wave, I was one of the nay-sayers.

My argument was that the Wally Lewis statue was a one-off. eIf we immortalised Locky in bronze, where would it end?

Now we know: it won't. Standing on the opposite side of the pathway to Lockyer's statue is a bronze Arthur Beetson and now there are calls for Big Mal Meninga to be the next one honoured.

Fair enough, too, but let's not forget those who came before. I'm talking about the pre-Origin greats.

The stadium is a big place. Surely a section can be found to honour the likes of Barry Muir, Noel Kelly, Duncan Hall, Brian Davies, Peter Gallagher and George Treweek.

5 IF THE Reds' loss to the Crusaders on Saturday showed us anything, it's that replacing Robbie Deans with Ewen McKenzie isn't going to be enough to elevate the Wallabies to world class.

It's a cruel truth that Darren Lehmann's supporters are finding Boof's dream start as Aussie cricket coach is degenerating into a nightmare. Both coaches have a long road ahead before they get the results they hope for, but they are made of similar stuff.

####