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Cape Town – South African rugby referees now have a “glass eye” to keep them at the forefront of their profession.
As if two eyes are not enough, optometrist Mark Lawrence officiated Saturday’s friendly match between the Stormers and Western Force with a camera attached to his head.
South African referees boss André Watson says that it is a local project with which they aim to train referees in a new way and with which they will ultimately be examined.
“We can put young referees in a position where they can use a professional referee’s perspective on the field and then make their own decisions,” Watson told Sport24.
Although in its infancy, the South African initiative may well take the world-wide use of technology in rugby to another level.
“Spectators are regularly infuriated about things they and not the referee saw,” said Watson.
“With this camera you can get the referee’s perspective and compare it with the TV-image that fans see and draw conclusions from there.”
If the trial runs with the glass eye are successful, the cameras may soon be a standard piece of equipment in referees’ kit bags.
It may not even be far-fetched to follow the referee’s perspective on television in a similar way to that of Formula One racing drivers.
Lawrence told Sport24 that the camera and sweatband were uncomfortable.
“However, if the project is successful, the camera will probably become smaller,” he said.
“Players already use us as shields, but anyone who runs into us now, is in danger of being electrocuted,” he joked.
“I spoke to the players a lot on Saturday, but it was mostly because they wanted to know what was going on my head. Others avoided me because of it. But I think Matt Dunning and Jacques Potgieter’s scrap was captured well thanks to the equipment.”
Cape Town – South African rugby referees now have a “glass eye” to keep them at the forefront of their profession.
As if two eyes are not enough, optometrist Mark Lawrence officiated Saturday’s friendly match between the Stormers and Western Force with a camera attached to his head.
South African referees boss André Watson says that it is a local project with which they aim to train referees in a new way and with which they will ultimately be examined.
“We can put young referees in a position where they can use a professional referee’s perspective on the field and then make their own decisions,” Watson told Sport24.
Although in its infancy, the South African initiative may well take the world-wide use of technology in rugby to another level.
“Spectators are regularly infuriated about things they and not the referee saw,” said Watson.
“With this camera you can get the referee’s perspective and compare it with the TV-image that fans see and draw conclusions from there.”
If the trial runs with the glass eye are successful, the cameras may soon be a standard piece of equipment in referees’ kit bags.
It may not even be far-fetched to follow the referee’s perspective on television in a similar way to that of Formula One racing drivers.
Lawrence told Sport24 that the camera and sweatband were uncomfortable.
“However, if the project is successful, the camera will probably become smaller,” he said.
“Players already use us as shields, but anyone who runs into us now, is in danger of being electrocuted,” he joked.
“I spoke to the players a lot on Saturday, but it was mostly because they wanted to know what was going on my head. Others avoided me because of it. But I think Matt Dunning and Jacques Potgieter’s scrap was captured well thanks to the equipment.”
