Referees have commenced legal proceedings and will consider strike action amid claims a shift to just one whistleblower will result in the NRL saving no more than $20 per minute of game time.
As first revealed by the Sun-Herald, match officials and their union, the Professional Rugby League Match Officials Incorporated (PRLMO) are considering the prospect of industrial action over the NRL’s planned changes to officiating protocols. The PRLMO believes the lack of consultation constitutes a breach of the enterprise bargaining agreement they recently signed with head office and they lodged a dispute notice with the Fair Work Commission. The matter will reach a speedy resolution as the hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Asked if the referees are prepared to strike over the proposed change, PRLMO chairman Silvio Del Vecchio told the Herald on Thursday: “We won’t rule that out. It is definitely something we don’t want to do. We want conciliation rather than confrontation with the NRL.”
The development represents a potential obstacle to the NRL’s plan to resume the competition on May 28. It is also the first serious internal backlash to an idea championed by Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys, who has enjoyed majority stakeholder backing in the game’s broader response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Before the ARLC rubber-stamped the move on Wednesday night, they considered a submission from the PRLMO. The Herald has obtained the document, which claims the cost savings to the NRL would come to less than $300,000. Some media reports have claimed the NRL could save as much as $3.5 million by reverting to one ref.
“The PRLMO are quite sure for 2020 the incremental saving would simply be the payments to casual match officials, which would be less than $300K,” the document states.
Marching orders: Referees are threatening to go on strike.Credit: AAP
“This equates to about $20 per minute of game time. This is not a substantial saving in light of the substantial adverse impacts.”
The submission also pointed to an nrl.com article after last year’s grand final, in which head of football Graham Annesley - one of the figures behind the new rule change - shot down calls for the game to return to a single whistleblower.
In addressing the "six-again" blunder that marred the decider, it quoted Annesley stating: “we’re talking about an incident where they actually got the decision right ... if we’d had one referee tonight we would have got the decision wrong.”
The ARLC on Wednesday night approved the decision to go back to one referee for the first time in more than a decade, as well as introducing a six-again rule that would replace penalties for ruck infringements. Rugby League Central believes the changes will improve the flow of the game while also reducing operating costs
The NRL made the decision against the advice of a panel of experts it convened to pressure-test the proposal. The feedback of a consultation group that included Wayne Pearce, Graham Annesley, Jason King, Trent Robinson, Michael Maguire, Daly Cherry-Evans, Wade Graham, Cooper Cronk, Don Furner, Bernard Sutton, Matt Cecchin and Clint Newton was ignored. The Rugby League Coaches Association had also indicated at least 10 of the 16 head coaches wanted the status quo to remain.
Del Vecchio claimed referees boss Bernard Sutton informed him of plans to scrap the two-referee model via a phone call last Friday at 5.24pm - just six minutes before a Zoom meeting was scheduled to break the news to the referees.
“Which employer in Australia changes the entire structure of the department without consulting the employees?” Del Veccio asked. “These are industrial relations matters.
“People will ask me if this will stall the competition on May 28; no it doesn’t. We aim to have this resolved well and truly before then. We are keen for the game to go ahead as we know it, not some cheapened version of it that has been such a tremendous spectacle over the last decade.
“We are determined that by 28 May … (the game will) go ahead, and will be officiated under the current model that has been tested and successful for more than a decade.
Del Veccio added that the removal of the pocket referee would have safety implications, claiming head knocks and high tackles were more likely to go undetected.
“It is in the best interests of the safety of all players, coaches, the officials, fans, and the integrity of the game itself," he said.