The complex world of matchday officiating in rugby union
Planet Rugby features writer James While's article on the Premiership round. James touches on interaction between commentators and the third match official.
In the Saracens v Exeter match this weekend, there were 47 questions or questions from the host commentary team about the matchday officiating. Rugby is a complex game that relies on its officials, players and commentators for simplification and explanation. There is too much rattle about referees in the modern game. The officials and the commentators are united in delivering a match day experience. They are responsible for communicating clearly. It makes for dull TV watching if they spend most of open play time reverse engineering decisions.
Opinion: The complex world of matchday officiating in rugby union.
The main TV match will have between 10 and 16 cameras in situ. The TMO will usually have a number of HD screens and a production team feeding relevant replays for the coverage of the game. A T MO can choose whether to turn on the live comms. On Saturday Alex Dombrandt was penalised for pushing Joe Marler into a high tackle. Tom Foley was already briefed on this directive. He explained it to the commentators during the match.
The biggest inequality is the infrastructure offered to the TMO on a game by game basis. On the big games, the TV analysts act as third and fourth eyes for the under-pressure T MO. In less well televised games the back-up infrastructure doesn't exist. The TMo doesn’t have the variety of angles that they enjoy at the bigger games. Head contact habitually attracts a three-to-six-week ban. It's a dead-set certainty you”ll get away with a few more incidents in these outlier games than during the main ones.
The influence of production team on replays is a big factor in matchday officiating in rugby union.
3. Creating a level playing field for officials and creating the same viewing facilities at each game.
The rugby union match broadcast team is trying to solve several issues related to matchday officiating. They want to ensure that the same assistance is available at each match. The other solution is a ban on comms feeds. They also want the TMOs to have the best tech and the right technology available. Finally, they want all the contributors to the match to work together effectively. This is important for the education and education of the spectators. It is also important to keep the game entertaining. There is currently a wave of rattle about referees. this is counterproductive. it would assist if the comm's team could reflect that.
