Time for a change - Officiating In Aussie Comps

 It's fair to say New Zealand teams playing in Aussie competitions have always seemed to have the rough end of the stick when it comes to officialdom.  The Warriors, our first Aussie comp team, in the early days were often finding themselves at the wrong end of many rulings, a lot down to favoritism towards Aussie teams on the park being prevalent.  The Breakers too have a history of running foul (quite literally) of Aussie based refs and even after many years in the competition they still face the occasional issue.  And we can't forget the Wellington Phoenix.  The recent match versus Melbourne Heart in Melbourne clearly shows that there is a deep underlying issue.

But for their part, the FFA, the governing body for the A League and refereeing appointments, have finally heard the Nix and acted.  Too late for the Nix though, the damage was done. This admission by the FFA suggests things might be improving, but are they?  All three errors by the official were glaring omissions on his behalf and he's not helped by inept officiating from the sideline.  Clearly there was a hand ball.  Clearly Sigmund's red card clash was run of the play tangling and nil intent to foul, and clearly that Heart Penalty was milked.  Clearly the FFA has only one recourse, not let Ben Williams, the official, ref again in the A League (and to toughen the penalty, drop his name from WC contention).

I think all three sports suffer from dubious decisions, usually weighted to the opposition.  Seems there is a culture that the little guy from across the Tasman is not allowed to be a force in "their" competitions.  But what have we done about that.  Well for the Warriors and the Breakers, they made finals.  They played above the officiating and won games on sheer guts and hard work and by and large ignored the poor officiating.  Yes there was still bias, but they ignored that by playing winning sport. The Nix can take a leaf from that book, ignore the bias, concentrate on quality football, win against the odds, and make finals.

It's also fair to say that Warriors and Breakers have earned their badges.  They have overcome and conquered.  Can the Nix?

One last word about the officials.  Why are there a lack of New Zealand officials in all competitions. Be nice to have the boot on the other foot for once!