TMO bunker could be just what rugby needs - Andy Goode
World Rugby’s latest idea to introduce a ‘TMO bunker’ might be just what rugby needs but for different reasons to the ones people would anticipate.
The proposal would involve a panel of two or more television match officials ruling on controversial or borderline decisions from a remote location, rather than the current system of one person doing so from a TV truck in the stadium car park.
It sounds very similar to the setup used in football, with VAR being operated out of Stockley Park, and we all know that is going down like a lead balloon at the moment but it could be just what the doctor ordered for rugby.
The fact that they would be remote rather than at the ground is neither here nor there as a lot of the production of games on BT Sport, for example, nowadays isn’t on site and there might be a funny joke in this about how many TMOs it takes to change a light bulb but I don’t think more voices and opinions would be a bad thing.
We see it in NFL where they have a centralised instant replay command centre in New York and I don’t see any reason why a similar facility shouldn’t work well in rugby.
Of course, one of the main complaints non-American football fans have about the sport is that it’s too stop start but it is one of the most watched sports out there, both in stadiums and on television, and we’re always hearing how rugby needs to embrace the spectacle around the sport like NFL does.
I think we’ve got to decide whether we want rugby to be a sport where everything happens at breakneck speed and we’re prepared to accept that a fair few mistakes will be made or if we want to slow the decision-making process down for major calls and get more right.
At the moment there is still a frustration with the amount of time it takes officials to make some decisions, often ones which don’t have a huge bearing on the game, but it’s clear that some referees and TMOs feel rushed into making some really big decisions.
The Freddie Steward red card last month is the most high-profile example being cited in all these conversations around how the TMO process can be improved but then there is the Zach Mercer sending off last week and also the Uini Atonio high tackle on Rob Herring in the Six Nations when Wayne Barnes definitely seemed to rush to a conclusion.
In any walk of life if you’ve got less time to make decisions, you’re probably going to get more wrong and then there is the fact that the current system doesn’t allow for much empathy because referees are told to box things off one by one.
For me, having two or three TMOs discussing the incident in a remote location and taking the pressure off the referee and the decision out of their hands would be a positive step and we should be prepared to wait a bit longer for them to reach a verdict if necessary.
Another positive by-product of it being done that way would be that we wouldn’t have to show controversial incidents on the big screen and have officials being put under extra pressure by the reaction of fans inside the stadium.
The sport constantly needs to evolve and we’re seeing that at the moment with the trial in Super Rugby where yellow cards can be upgraded to reds and there was an incident this weekend where Angus Blyth was yellow-carded by referee Ben O’Keeffe and it was absolutely correctly upgraded to a red. The right decision was reached and I like it.
So, I’m in favour of a ‘TMO bunker’ if it’s implemented correctly but I think the bigger issue is that the role of the TMO needs to be treated more professionally. That involves better training, better remuneration and a clear career path and World Rugby needs to take matters into their own hands on this one.
Nowadays, we see the odd current referee on TMO duties from time to time and a mixture of older, retired referees and other people from various different backgrounds performing the role and some simply aren’t up to the job.
If all TMO duties were carried out from a remote location, we would save money on travel and accommodation costs and there could be a stable of the best officials who could work on multiple games over the course of a weekend and concentrate on being a TMO.
It’s such an important job and it should be even more of a specialist role than it is now. If you had a panel of three TMOs working on a game, you could then eventually aim to have maybe one former referee and one former player among them.
In order for that to happen you’d have to get the remuneration right and treat the position with a bit more respect because, even though you do see the odd former player involved in the judiciary process and the likes of Karl Dickson and Nic Berry are refereeing, there isn’t exactly a raft of ex-pros queuing up to officiate in one capacity or another.
I genuinely think there would be quite a lot of former players who would be interested in doing the job of a TMO though if the terms and conditions were right and then we’d get the natural benefit of a bit more empathy in the decision-making process.
There’s quite an old school mindset and attitude towards refereeing still and if you want to get more people taking it up, as well as ensuring they’re treated correctly, you need to invest in it and make sure there’s a clear career path and it’s financially viable.
Referees and TMOs do a vital job and are a massive part of the game and there are plenty of areas where World Rugby oversee everything so it’s about time they created a structure where all officiating and the judiciary process is centralised.
In terms of the ‘TMO bunker’ proposal, it might not sound like it’s something that’s going to happen imminently but there isn’t really anything, whether it be technologically or logistically, stopping it from happening tomorrow.
If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to start sometime and I can definitely see the merits in bringing it in and getting it right in time for the biggest spectacle in the sport later this year.
Some massive calls will have to be made at the World Cup and I’d rather we slowed things down, took the heat out of the situation and called on a panel of well-trained, professional officials in a remote location in order to get as close to 100 per cent of them as possible right.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments