{"id":257722,"date":"2025-11-12T00:08:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T00:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257722\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T00:08:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T00:08:15","slug":"rfls-head-of-referees-reveals-proposed-double-rule-change-ahead-of-2026-super-league-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257722\/","title":{"rendered":"RFL’s head of referees reveals proposed double rule change ahead of 2026 Super League season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The current head of the RFL\u2019s match officials, Phil Bentham, has revealed that the top flight could have two significant rule changes for the 2026 Super League season, in a bid further increase the speed of the game.<\/p>\n

Referees are always subject to criticism from fans, with almost all supporters, from any sport, having a go at the official at some point in their life.<\/p>\n

However, as the recent documentary \u2018Beyond The Whistle\u2019<\/a> released by the RFL last week has shown, the refs are human and there\u2019s a lot more that goes into their performances other than just turning up on game day.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the\u00a0Super League Raw<\/a> podcast, Bentham was invited to discuss the benefits of the documentary, and explained how people have come up to him and said their eyes were opened in regards to the job of a referee after watching it.<\/p>\n

Bentham, who is a former referee himself, also revealed that a potential two new rule changes could come into operation as early as next year, with the game looking to become faster and more streamlined.<\/p>\n

The first rule, which is adopted from the NRL<\/a>, would see the video referee system changed. Currently, if an official is not sure on a try, they would make an on-field call and the video referee would have to find evidence to overturn the decision.<\/p>\n

Currently in the NRL, if the referee thinks a try has been scored, he will award the try and the video ref will look at replays off screen to make sure the correct call has been made. Super League are looking to bring this rule in, with Bentham saying it would be a huge benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we think, as an on-field official, that it\u2019s a try, we will award the try and the video ref will check that off-air in the background.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will be 50% of calls next year. You won\u2019t see that [referee signal of a try] next year. We will just award the try, and then it will just be checked in the background while they\u2019re setting the conversion up.\u201d<\/p>\n

In line with this year\u2019s rulings, he added: \u201cI\u2019ll probably just clarify that if the referee think\u2019s it\u2019s no try, that will go up and will be checked as we do now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a large percentage of [the tries checked] that we think we can clear off whilst the guy\u2019s setting the conversion up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining why the rule will be brought in, he said: \u201cWe have this fine balance of checking things for too long and looking at too many replays of the same thing. When we come in and do our reviews, we have to hold our hands up when we do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, there\u2019s the other side of it, where decisions require that level of diligence, because they are difficult. What we have to improve is we need to improve the balance that we have.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decisions we can make quickly and easily, we need to make them quickly and easily. People will put up with the longer ones then, because they\u2019re not all taking too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former Super League referee reveals second potential rule change<\/p>\n

Another potential rule change is the addition of a shot clock for goal kickers. Currently, the conversion taker has 80 seconds to take the kick before the ref calls time off.\u00a0 Often teams will take the full time up before taking the kick, either to time waste or to give their side that extra breather.<\/p>\n

Discussing the proposed rule, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s not confirmed yet, but it\u2019s well-progressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at a shot clock on goal kicks to try and get the goal kicks away a little bit quicker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys, they are waiting for their heart rates to drop, preparing themselves, probably talking to the trainer, drinking some water. Hopefully a combination of the two, with the live review and the shot clock will speed that process up and get us back to kick-off a little bit quicker.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Time] will still be called off if we go past the one minute 20 because of the video ref reviewing. If the try is awarded, then it\u2019s very quickly confirmed by the video ref, they will then get a shot clock. At the moment the proposal is 60 seconds, but we need to look at whether that time is right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to reduce the skill level of the goal kicks, but we just need to make it a little bit quicker because we\u2019re getting some at the moment that are over two minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

To listen to the full podcast, you can visit the Super League Raw YouTube channel or by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The current head of the RFL\u2019s match officials, Phil Bentham, has revealed that the top flight could have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-257722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}