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Manner of Appointment. The appointment of all referees, line judges or touchdown zone officials for all International matches sanctioned by the Federation will be made by the Executive of the Federation upon advice from the Technical Panel.
The Referee. The referee is the sole judge on matters of fact and is required to adjudicate on the rules of the game during play. The referee may impose any sanction necessary to control the match and in particular, award penalties for infringements against the rules.
Authority of Referee. Players, coaches and officials of both teams are under the control of the officiating referees.
Area of Control. The playing area under the control of the referee extends from the boundaries of the field of play, to an area which covers substitute players and officials involved in the particular match.
Line Judges Touchdown Zone Officials. Line Judges and Touchdown Zone Officials should be appointed to assist the referee with tasks associated with sidelines scorelines and touchdown zone lines, and other matters at the discretion of the referee. Their normal duties include, indicating the ten (10) metres distance for taps from a penalty, controlling substitutions, matters of backplay and other advice when sought by the central referee.
Team captains may respectfully inquire of the referee, matters of varying interpretation or causes of penalties. Any discussion is to be brief and polite and must not delay play. Other team members should not talk to the referee.
Referees must familiarise themselves with grounds, markings and officials prior to the commencement of matches.
Referees may consult with line judges and/or touchdown zone officials prior to making decisions.
A penalty is awarded and the coach (and/or player or other team official on the sideline) shouts abuse and/or other profanities at the referee. What options does the referee have.
The referee would award another penalty ten (10) metres forward of the original mark and may:
halt the game and warn the offender
halt the game and send the offender outside the boundary of the playing area
dismiss a player from the field in lieu of the offender for a period of time or for the whole game.
Any or all combinations of the above.
Report the offending player/official to the organising committee.
The referee awards a touchdown or penalty and realises they have made an error. Can the referee reverse his decision and disallow the touchdown or penalty?
The referee can change their minds if they realise they have ruled incorrectly and in fact, in the interest of fair play to both teams, they should reverse an incorrect decision. The Rules Book has no exclusions preventing the referee from changing their minds. See Rules 18.1. It is noted that once full time has been signalled by the referee any reversal of decisions is an Administration matter for the controlling Association.
There is an injured player on the field and the referee notices this but the play moves away from the area where the injured player is lying so play is allowed to continue. The game has only several minutes to go with one team leading 3-2. On a change of possession the leading team deliberately runs the ball into the area where the injured player is lying on the ground. It is critical for the losing side to score as a draw will allow them into the finals. What should the referee do?
The prime responsibility of the referee is the safety of the players and if the play could not be moved forward of the injured player the referee would have to stop the game. Any protests from the losing team is a matter for the Association's Administration not the referee.
The referee sends a player off with only two minutes remaining in a game. When the siren sounds the referee blows full time without recalling the player to the field of play. Next week the same teams meet in the Semi Finals and one team refuses to take the field in protest that the player that was sent off, should not be playing as he should be automatically suspended for two weeks.
At all times the referee is the sole judge of matters of fact. In any situation where the action of the referee has prejudiced a player, the intent of the referee at the time of making the decision must always be taken into consideration. In this case if the referee intended the player be dismissed for a period of time, then the player is allowed to participate in the semi final. If the intent at the time of the dismissal was to remove the player for the remainder of the game, then the player incurs a two weeks automatic suspension. See Rule 18.1 and 18.2
The referee awards a touchdown and is not advised by his line referees of any infringement. The game continues and at half time the team scored against protests that the touchdown was scored by the half. This is confirmed by the line referees who did not (for whatever reason) bring this to the centre referee's attention at the time.
In line with decision at 18:2 can the referee change his mind.
No - once the game has been restarted the option for the referee to change his mind is no longer available. This would also apply if half or full time was signalled just after the event and before the game could be restarted
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