Super League

Ex-referee defends Super League match officials in face of criticism with detailed explanation

by
Will Jackson
May 10, 2025

Former Super League referee Ian Smith has jumped to the defence of the current match officials amid the recent criticism they have received.

With Super League games regularly taking over two hours to complete this season, fingers have been pointed towards the referees in regards to the amount of time taken to make decisions. That criticism hasn’t necessarily been directed solely at the man in the middle, though, with the video referee coming under more scrutiny than ever.

Try calls and the analysis of potential moments of foul play seem to have slowed down and the addition of the captain’s challenge has only added to the video referee’s workload. That has led to criticism from fans, pundits and journalists, with some describing the process as ‘painful’.

However, Smith has tweeted a detailed document on social media to explain why referees aren’t entirely to the sole reason why Super League games have slowed down. In the post, which is embedded below, Smith explains why play the balls are slower in the Northern Hemisphere.

He also goes explains the difference between the way video referee is used in Super League to the NRL, which seems to have much slicker process.

When it comes to foul play, the former referee goes into detail about the decision making process each referee will go through, with force, mitigation and intent or carelessness/recklessness being measured before a call can be made, with referees working to a different framework.

Ex-Super League official Ian Smith makes key points after referee criticism

He concludes: “These are all very complex and difficult decisions the ref and VR have to make during an emotionally charged atmosphere, making sure they work to the Head Injury Framework that the RFL have told the referees/VRs they have to work to.

“The NRL have very different policies when it comes to foul play and what is a red or yellow card, plus they put a lot of theirs on report and allow the judiciary to look at it on Monday morning, which again speeds up the time frame of the game, this again is not the SL referee’s fault, they are working to instructions.

“It would be very quick and easy for the SL refs to put every incident of foul play ‘on report’ and allow 13 v 13 to finish every game, then pass that onto the MRP for them to determine future punishments. This would also see a reduction of time from start to finish, unfortunately the refs/VRs can’t do that.

“Are the referees and VRs perfect? Absolutely not. They make mistakes, just like players, coaches and administrators so. Referees will make 16,000 plus judgements in a game, they will run between 10 and 11km during that game, they burn 2,000 calories in that game, they will lose two litres of sweat during that game, they will have an average heart rate topping 160 bpm during that game. The best refs are the ones that can put all those ‘parts’ together and perform at the optimum for 80 minutes per game for the nine months.

“It’s an incredible feeling being a referee in SL, one all the refs don’t take for granted and work very hard to maintain that status of being a SL ref, they are human and make mistakes, they work hard and are genuinely good people.

“They are not the sole reason why games take two hours.”

Lots of talk at the moment about why games are taking 2 hours and lots of it seems to be aimed at the referee’s/VR’s. So I thought I might add some of my own opinion to that debate fwiw. pic.twitter.com/Z3lh3OgKOi

— Ian Smith (@Iansmith2468) May 9, 2025