MARK KEOHANE advocates for a return to the traditional role of referees in rugby, arguing that the expansion of the television match official’s scope is ruining the sport.
Writing for TimesLIVE, Keohane echoes the sentiments of Steve Hansen, Nigel Owens, and Lawrence Dallaglio, claiming that World Rugby’s reliance on technology – akin to football’s VAR system – threatens the sport’s essence.
Highlighting rugby’s historical acceptance of human error in refereeing, Keohane laments the current situation where TMOs and advanced technology slow down the game.
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He contends that the initial purpose of TMOs was to support referees, not replace them. The continuous expansion of TMO roles, along with touch judges’ increased involvement, has shifted the balance of control away from the on-field official.
Keohane emphasises the need to prioritise the referee’s authority, allowing them to make real-time decisions and maintain the game’s flow. He supports the call to limit TMO intervention and restore rugby’s spirit.
“The spirit of rugby has always been that the person with the whistle is the person in charge, and it has been accepted that this person will get some decisions wrong, for both sides,” he writes.
“The point is the referee ran the show and when a team lost they would blame the referee and when a team won they would laud the same referee. It was just the way it was in rugby.
“The reality is that when you freeze-frame anything and slow it down to the bare minimum, every grounding looks like the player has lost the ball, every head contact looks like an assault and doubt creeps into everything about what the referee would have seen in real time.
“Let the referee run the show again and give rugby back to those who play it and are skilled enough to handle the whistle.”
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