Our friend Nigel Wray says that the PRL should now employ referees so that the game is refereed the way that clubs want
Premiership clubs should employ referees - Saracens chairman
Saracens chairman Nigel Wray believes Premiership referees should be employed by the competition's clubs, rather than the Rugby Football Union.
Officials for top-flight matches are appointed from the RFU's pool of 15 professional referees.
"The club game needs to employ its own referees," Wray told BBC Sport.
"Their decisions influence the game enormously. We need to tell them the sort of game we want played - which has to be attractive to the customer."
Wray says he is not questioning the quality of the RFU's referees but believes the same officials, employed by the Premiership's 12 clubs, would be able to help deliver a more appealing product.
He added spectators can be put off by complicated rules, particularly around the scrum.
"Rugby will only get bigger and grow if people understand what's happening," he said.
"If we confuse them, don't expect them to turn up.
"At the end of the day, we're in the entertainment business. We're trying to get the audience who have not yet come - if they don't have a clue about any of the decisions, how are we going to persuade them to watch?"
Premiership officials are appointed from the RFU's Professional Referee Unit, which is the highest level referees can reach after coming through the regional game.
"They can be the same referees, but we need to employ them," Wray said.
"During the week the referees could go into schools, teach, encourage other referees and become full pros."
Maybe there's a few old wrestling referees out there who need a job?
No biting, scratching, gouging or punching ....... except when the game goes a bit dull and the spectators need wakened up, then we'll turn a blind eye .... oops, possibly the wrong term to use there.
It strikes me that the PRL need to feck off. If they want to be rugby clubs then they need to agree to follow the structure, laws and constraints of the IRB and the eRFU and accept that the degree to which they can influence those will be restricted because they are just one small part of an international game that is much bigger than they are. If they want to create their own exciting brand of Rugby-like entertainment they can feck-off with all their clubs and play amongst themselves and leave the rest of us to play Rugby.
pwrmoore wrote:It strikes me that the PRL need to feck off. If they want to be rugby clubs then they need to agree to follow the structure, laws and constraints of the IRB and the eRFU and accept that the degree to which they can influence those will be restricted because they are just one small part of an international game that is much bigger than they are. If they want to create their own exciting brand of Rugby-like entertainment they can feck-off with all their clubs and play amongst themselves and leave the rest of us to play Rugby.
Next games will be scripted and fueds will take precedence
Snipe Watson wrote:Spot on as usual Paul.
They really are fighting a long war for total control of the game. They want to be like the NFL with everything in house.
I have absolutely no problem with that though. If they want to be like the NFL and have an insular game with a limited number of "franchises", control everything themselves - make up their own laws, control the refs, the sale of TV rights etc. then they are very very welcome to do it. What I find abhorrent is their desire to feck everyone else over in the process.
Snipe Watson wrote:Spot on as usual Paul.
They really are fighting a long war for total control of the game. They want to be like the NFL with everything in house.
I have absolutely no problem with that though. If they want to be like the NFL and have an insular game with a limited number of "franchises", control everything themselves - make up their own laws, control the refs, the sale of TV rights etc. then they are very very welcome to do it. What I find abhorrent is their desire to feck everyone else over in the process.
Unfortunately we need them playing rugby union. That's why I have a problem with them swanning off into the sunset and doing their own thing.
