half the current refs aren't up to it. Adding more will just make the standard drop.

Again it comes down to if the new ones are up to it. Good experience though, worst thing about refs going up in a class is they feel they have to make calls which an experienced ref will let go. But to become experienced you need games under the belt, the main issue for me is that they get proper guidance and feedback and take it on board.

Dilution of an already shallow pool [to mix metaphors] and the crazy focus on mechanics at the expense of accurate calling with three refs should be raising big red warning flags here.

And I'm surprised to read that the clubs did vote for this.

Hope I'm wrong, but I'm expecting problems, particularly in the absence of strong education and active guidance/correction of all refs, not just the 'newbies'.

Coaches are really concerned. The general consensus is that it's going to be a horrid year with a new travelling rule, new unsportsmanlike rule and a lot of refs umpiring who are just not up to it. Plus refs doubling up from women’s to men’s.

The pressure it puts on the referees at the lower levels is immense. As experienced refs are pushed up due the 50% increase in refs, the lower levels are left with young, inexperienced rookies with little support.

One solution that some pea-brain decided upon is to have refs double up and do the men's game after a women's game. As a coach I hate seeing a ref double up. After we have prepared all week for the game, I'd like to think that the refs have thought and talked a little about the game beforehand rather than quickly running from a critique to another game a few minutes later of vastly different skill, physicality and intensity. There are very few with sufficient experience to do this effectively. I think it is lazy and a very poor practice.

But its ok for the young kid on a Friday night to referee 4 straight div 1s

I'd suggest the states best, most experienced and fittest referees should be able to handle doubling up if the Friday night guys and girls are expected to do 4 straight.

Three from two refs has led to more inaccurate calls. Look at NBL. Less is more in this case.

and this decision just makes things on Fridays worse. The more unqualified referees that get pushed up the less that make themselves available. The less quality and numbers for the rest of the grades.

Doing junior games back to back is a lot different getting up and back in premier league. Maybe they can have a refs bench and have subs.

Refereeing back to back games is not an issue based on the physical part of it. We all see plenty of refs that cruise through four games a night, but is this the model you want at a semi-pro level?

It is adjusting to the differences between the games that is the concern of coaches. Referees (like most people) perform better when they know the teams involved and the level of competition and have familiarity with players, styles and physicality. If they come from a women's game, they will be reacting to the men's game and not be producing their best performance.

This happens with our NBL TV announcers too as they bounce from game to game and give generic comments without really drilling into the matchup. In the US, each team has a pair of announcers and the national guys focus heavily for a few days on a single game.

no refs cruise through 4 games in one night. That's almost 5 hours straight without break. And going from u12s to u18s is a bigger adjustment to make than going from Womens to Mens.

Remembering that it would be the Senior SA refs being asked to double up not the rookies. If NBL/WNBL/SEABL referees can't manage this then why do we expect kids to on a Friday.

I was talking one of the men's coaches and his comment was he has his assistant coaches whistling terrible calls at training trying to get his guys used to what he expects this season.

Then this coach is a moron

How else do you work on emotional control after bad calls? I don't mind the idea if it’s every now and then to test guys out emotionally.

Premier League by it's own title should be more than a place to start. It should be elite, places earned, a level of competition only the best in SA achieve.
Having 50 referees at this level, at least 30 of whom aren't capable is irresponsible to the players and every club who strive to succeed at this level and another example of why the Clubs have lost all faith in BSA to run competitions.

So let's just run 2 man on both comps, only use 20 referees and have absolutely ZERO development of referees in SA. Then when those referees are burnt out you can appoint 20 rookies with no experience! Brilliant, as always SA thinking about the future just like their steadfast policy of only 10 elite clubs.

Premier League Reserves, Youth League, Senior Divisions 1 - 5, Junior Nationals, Junior Division 1.... there's plenty of levels to develop referees to a required standard before doing Premier League. There needs to be a progression but using PL as a Referee Development League is ridiculous.

M Gibson = fail