Referees’ role crucial for cup success

Normal, Sports
Source:

The National, Friday 12th April, 2013

 REFEREES can be both a curse and a blessing for teams in the 2013 Digicel Cup rugby league competition.

The easiest matches to call are the ones where there is a clear dominator but rugby league in Papua New Guinea is rarely about whether the team with the better calibre of players will prevail or not.

In the pressurised atmosphere of a cup match a parochial homeground is usually the great equaliser and in these instances which occur with great frequency, a physically fit and competent referee is needed to uphold the law on the mete out rulings without fear or favour. 

That is particularly true when one side, usually the homeside, “muscles up” on their visiting opponents and the crowd reacts with similar intensity. 

This kind of intimidation can sometimes sway a referee into rash and poorly thought out decisions.

Once a referee loses control the game stops becoming a spectacle and descends into something far less appealing to sports fans.

PNG National Rugby League leading referee Wayne Wool, an employee of the Porgera Mine in Enga has raised the bar for all cup referees since joining the fold fouryears ago.

The Australian has been put incharge of semi-final matches and has experienced refereeing first-hand the pressure cooker of a match up in the Highlands. 

He will once again be looked on to take control of the big matches but he will have good support from the aging but still spry duo of Guma Opi and Moses ToLingling, both in their fifties and two of the country’s most experience rugby league referees.

These men and others like them will play a crucial role this Sunday when the competition kicks off around the country.