NRL captains have been asked to shake hands with match officials as they leave the field at the end of all premiership games this year.
The initiative of NRL head of football Todd Greenberg, which
he says has met with wide approval, is designed to show spectators players respect referees and touch judges.
In turn, it is hoped spectators will show more tolerance to match officials, Greenberg said.
After the heat of battle, it will test the composure of captains, including Johnathan Thurston and Michael Ennis, who have been prone to reacting with frustration and “baking’’ referees during games.
“I have addressed the club CEOs, all 16 club coaches and several senior captains and asked for their collective support so that we take a cultural shift in how we address the match officials,’’ Greenberg said.
“The support I have received from them is absolutely fantastic. We need referees to be treated as an important part of the game.
“In a game of football, players always shake hands. Win, lose or draw, I want them to do it with the match officials, too.
“Shaking hands after the game used to happen, but in the last five years or so it (hasn’t been) happening. I’ve also asked the referees to shake them by the hand.’’
The initiative could have a flow-on effect to how referees were treated at junior and grassroots levels of the game, where they do not have the support at games which senior referees have, Greenberg believes.
“We want the dealings with the referees to be genuine and for hundreds of thousands of children watching the games every week to see it,’’ he said.
After North Queensland’s season ended in last year’s finals with a gut-wrenching loss to Cronulla including a Sharks try on a seventh tackle, Thurston said NRL teams “outside of Sydney (are) fighting up against it, no doubt about it”.
Asked if he could now “laugh about’’ the circumstances of his team’s finals exit when interviewed on the NRL on Fox program last night, Thurston agreed he could.
“There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s in the past, everyone is over it,’’ Thurston said.
“Hopefully our club has a good season and hopefully the officials have a good season too.”
Greenberg said he did not see a need to increase the amount of the standard $10,000 fine for coaches making criticism of referees.
“We’d prefer to work with people than wield a big stick,’’ he said.
“I have spoken to the coaches about how they engage with referees and I have no problem with people being critical of performance. I do have problems with people questioning the integrity and the essence of the decision-making. We will hold our match officials accountable.’’
The NRL last month announced team captains would this year be permitted to approach the referees only at halftime or when there was a stoppage in play because of a try, injury or the issuing of a caution.
The halftime briefing has been formalised as a chance for the captains to raise complaints about rulings in a calmer environment.
“You can see by design we are trying to (make changes) with the way players are able to communicate with referees,’’ Greenberg said.
Paul Malone
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-skippers-urged-to-shake-hands-with-match-officials-to-show-support/story-fniabjcr-1226832461109
