IRB considers referee contracting

Jonathan Kaplan: The IRB's next employee?

The IRB is considering taking on a number of top referees into permanent employment, a move similar to unions or franchises centrally contracting their players.

Referees traditionally belong to local or provincial societies but then they are selected to national panels and the country then becomes the employer - and pays the referees.

At the meeting on May 1, at which global trialling of the Experimental Law Variations will also be discussed, the principle of signing on the top referees will be mooted.

The move would increase the officials' independence, and would ensure that the IRB could appoint who it wanted where it wanted.

"It's a strategic meeting that will look at where refereeing is heading for the next four years," Paddy O'Brien, the IRB's referee manager, said to Dominion Post.

"We'll discuss things like whether we need specialised touch judges and TMOs.

"And we'll discuss whether the IRB should take over the full-time employment of the referees, and that they then control games in the northern and southern hemisphere competitions."

The meeting will include the referee bosses from SANZAR and the Six Nations, as well as Japan, Canada, United States and Argentina. South Africa's World Cup winning coach Jake White, and Wales's Warren Gatland are also invited.