GOING DIGITAL

 

The thing I've most noticed in the Women's World Cup Rugby I've been watching has been the reliance on video replay. This is TMO (Television Match Official) which is supposed to help referees and assistant referees make accurate and consistent decisions. The TMOs use video replay technology to show specific plays like:

•  the grounding of the ball for a try
•  whether players were in touch before grounding the ball
•  whether a kick at goal was successful
•  confirming if an infringement has occurred in the build up to a try
•  considering acts of foul play and others.

The referee is supposedly the only person on the field of play who can call on the TMO to assist in a decision being made and is the final decision maker - if they have awarded a try they have until the conversion is taken to consult the TMO. If the TMO finds a reason to not give the try, the referee can disallow the previously awarded try.

I note in at least one game I watched that the referee reversed a decision on a try after the conversion was taken. This is getting ridiculous. In all the games I've watched the ref calls for TMO after every try. This disrupts the flow of the games and suggests that the actual referee cannot be trusted to follow their own instincts and rely on their own abilities.

On far too many occasions, linesmen and assistant referees call the referees attention to incidents that happened way before and the game stops for a TMO review. I understand that this can catch dangerous play and deliberate indiscretions but where will it end up? Players already have GPS trackers sewn into their shirts (the lumps you see at the back of their necks). These are to monitor players' speed and distance during a game which is why the commentators can quickly throw out statistics.

This to me has shades of Steve Austin and the Six Million Dollar Man to it.

If players can be so easily monitored by computers maybe in future their actions can be controlled by computers.

It's all becoming too technical. Where will it end?

Maybe the video and film recordings of all rugby test games, particularly those whose results have been in dispute like the final of the Rugby World Cup in South Africa in 1995 where The all Blacks were 'beaten' by South Africa, will be digitally remastered and then TMO will be used to make rulings on tries, foul play, knock- ons etc.

It's a laugh innit!*

* You know the reference.