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PRO14 considering bold TMO change to help fans understand decisions better

Wales' Alun Wyn Jones looks on as he waits for a TMO decision at the recent World Cup (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

PRO14 are considering broadcasting decision-making conversations between match referees and TMOs live to crowds in stadiums as they happen.

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Only fans watching games on TV are currently privy to the dialogue that takes place among the league’s officials when an incident needs to be reviewed. 

However, in an effort to boost the Guinness-sponsored tournament’s profile and provide fans with a more inclusive experience at their games, the five-nation competition is hoping that on-field decisions can in future be fully transparent to people in the stadiums.  

While stadium-goers currently do get to see on the big screens the same footage that the referee is reviewing, there is often confusion in the ground over why a decision has been reached as fans can’t hear the conversation that is happening. 

Greg Garner, the tournament’s elite referees manager, told RugbyPass: “There are lots of little things we can do to increase fan engagement.

(Continue reading below…)

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“How do you get people to understand referees are doing a better job? Well, let them hear what the referees are talking about to the TMOs when they are in the stadium. Give them the audio. Put the referee’s voice on the loudspeaker so that people can understand what is going on. 

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“One of the issues with rugby and refereeing in all sport is when people don’t understand the process they get frustrated whereas if they understand the process, they understand what is going on. If they can hear the dialogue between the referee, the TMO and his assistants, then they can understand the decision.

“Charl Crous is our new head of operations and we are constantly looking at it, constantly engaging our stakeholders and fans in a more personal way to get more people to come to watch the PRO14. It’s a big part of what we are doing to try and move things forward.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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