With the Northern Hemisphere Test matches over and a lot of talk about the performance of the Wallabies – went away with ambitions of a “grand slam” and came home with two wins, a draw and a loss.

In 2009 the Wallabies won just 7 out of 14 Tests – winning only 1 Tri Nations Test (beat South Africa 21 – 6), but some how they are still ranked 3rd in the world. This shows the quality of the Northern Hemisphere Teams at the moment.

The Australian Referees are not doing any better than the Wallabies. At the moment Australia has just one referee - Stuart Dickinson on the International Referees Panel – unfortunately Dickinson was widely criticised by the IRB Referee Manager for his performance in the Italy v All Blacks and subsequently has not been appointed to any of the 2010 Six Nations matches.

SANZAR recently announced the Super 14 Referees Panel for the 2010 Season – the Panel of 8 referees consists of - South Africa 4 – Kaplan, Mark Lawrence, Joubert and Jonker, New Zealand 3 - Brown, Bryce Lawrence and Pollock Australia 1 – Dickinson.

SANZAR also announced a Reserve Panel of 9 referees – Australia has 4 referees on this panel – Marks, Pearce, Smith and Walsh.

To get appointed to the IRB Referee Panel a referee must be refereeing at Super 14 level, so the prospect of getting another Australian referee on to the IRB Referee Panel is zero at the moment – that is with the exception of Steve Walsh who has come to Australia from New Zealand to restart his refereeing career. Walsh is one of the best referees in world rugby and the sooner he is re-appointed to the IRB Panel, the better for world rugby.

Part of the reason for the decline in Australian Referees on the various Panels -

ARU, Referee Manager position - gone
ARU Referee Education Manager position - gone
Queensland Referee Manger position - gone
Western Australia Referee Manager position - gone
Victoria Referee Manager position was full time now part time
ACT Referee Manager position was full time now part time

In Australia - with the exception of NSW, referees and refereeing appear to be a low priority and unless the ARU and the states change their attitude, the refereeing quality in Australia is going to continue to decline in comparison to other countries.

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