Phil Bentham explains why Super League's latest initiative is the way forward

[josie andrews]

Super League will introduce the captain's challenge this season

Super League enters its 30th season in 2025 and it's fair to say there has been a fair amount of innovation shown over the years. From the Magic Weekend conception to more league structures than you'd care to remember, there's been plenty of experimenting along the way.

But the founding creation that has lasted the test of time was the video referee. First introduced by Super League in the 90s, the use of technology to assist officials has become a staple across all major sports, and it all started in Super League.

Now, Super League is introducing a new quirk to its rules this year, the captain's challenge. Successfully implemented in the NRL, the rule allows a team captain to contest a referee's decision if they feel their team is on the receiving end of a poor call. The catch? They can only have one unsuccessful appeal per game. Think cricket's Hawkeye system, but for rugby league.

"It's a way forward," said the RFL's head of match officials Phil Bentham, who has signed off the plan. "We had to wait until every game was on TV, we didn't want to have a situation where in a few games you could contest decisions, and a few you couldn't. We're at that point now, we've had a good ten months to have a look at it and make the change with the laws committee, and now we're here.

"It's win-win all round. A player will know, for example, the ref has definitely got a decision wrong, and he can challenge that. From our perspective, why would we not want it right? The win for us is more correct decisions. I can't see a negative.

"The only downside is that it takes time to view replays. If people are precious about the length of time a game takes and intervention by the referee, they're not going to like it. But across sport, it's about getting more correct decisions rather than the spectacle and length of time."

For the match officials, the new ruling comes with new things to learn as part of their process.

"We've been training the refs how to verbalise the decision," Bentham added. "A lot of new scenarios will come up but part of our process has been to identify snags before they come up.

"We've had three or four meetings with Sky as we're heavily reliant on them. There's been plenty of work with them. We've done training with the referees in terms of education on the communication and what we want it to look like.

"You can't ignore the crowd in the stadium, so the signal has to be very clear by doing a TV screen in the middle of the field. We won't be mic'd up to the crowds, so that's important."

https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/new ... source=nba

[moto748]

We won't be mic'd up to the crowds, so that's important.

Or to the TV footage, as they are now? I don't see why the viewer at home on his settee should access something that fans at the stadium can't get.

[WarriorWinger]

We won't be mic'd up to the crowds, so that's important.

Or to the TV footage, as they are now? I don't see why the viewer at home on his settee should access something that fans at the stadium can't get.

Didn't there used to be some 'gadget' that you could buy listen to the referees in the ground or have I just imagined it

[Southern Softy]

It doesn't really matter that much. Unlike Oz, where the Captain's challenge has some meaning, here, it's like VAR. The referee on the field is always right even when he's wrong. Also, like VAR, If you have as a Video Ref, the same man who makes consistently lousy decisions on the field in other matches, then it's all a bit pointless.