TMO referee
Experiments will take place in Johannesburg over Easter in which the referee will act as TMO.
The introduction of the television match official in rugby was a South African innovation, emanating from Pretoria and the Northern Transvaal Referees’ Society, now called the Blue Bulls.
Now Andre Watson, South Africa’s referee manager, will take this a step further at three Easter tournaments for schools.
The tournaments are at St John’s, King Edward School and St Stithians schools with matches on Maundy Thursday, Holy Saturday and Easter Monday. At each tournament there are seven matches on each of three days. Watson has invited 21 referees to referee the matches with the aim of choosing 15 for his Contenders Squad. He will also experiment with the TMO-ref.
The referee in the middle will become his own TMO. Each match will be filmed and should the referee have an in-goal query he will then be able to ask for a replay which will be shown on a big screen next to the field.
The referee will look at the replays himself which will be screened on a big screen next to the field and then makes the call himself or, if he wants to, in discussion with his touch judges.
The aim is to have fewer referrals, less “passing of the buck”, speedier decision- making, fewer stoppages and, Watson believes, more tries will be scored that are tries but cannot be picked up on camera. The referee will then be able top see for himself if there are reasons why a try should not be awarded. It means that the referee remains clearly the decision-maker, the sole judge, as the laws envisage.
