A new statewide judiciary has been created to deal with issues of dissent and abuse towards officials in rugby league competitions across the state.
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The move comes after Peter McDonald Premiership referees announced last week they were going on strike, having "grown tired of accepting abuse as the norm".
While no resolution has yet been reached between the NSW Rugby League and the Group 11 and Group 10 referees regarding the strike, action has been taken to ensure "support for referees".
"In a major initiative to support referees, NSWRL has today announced the creation of a judiciary committee to deal specifically with issues of referee dissent and abuse across community competitions," a NSW Rugby League spokesperson told ACM.
"Any such issue arising from any community competition in NSW will be referred directly to this judiciary committee, irrespective of where the incident occurs.
"The judiciary committee will consist of a nominee of NSWRL, a nominee of the NSWRL Referees Association and an independent Chair.
"The creation of the committee will ensure consistency of judiciary outcomes across the state and support for referees."
A community competition is any outside of the major Sydney leagues and representative competitions.
The spokesperson also said the NSWRL "continues to work constructively with referees from Group 10 and Group 11 in the Peter McDonald Premiership (PMP) to resolve their concerns".
No agreement has yet been reached between the two bodies and the Peter McDonald Premiership board.
The strike announcement came last Thursday, June 6, following an investigation into a reserve grade game between Wellington and Forbes earlier this season which was abandoned at half-time.
Referee Phil Lindley didn't return for the second half, citing comments directed towards him from both sets of players.
Following the investigation, no major punishments were handed down outside of concerning act notices, and the referees stated they were "let down terribly" after what they considered "inadequate and weak" penalties.
The statement from the referees was signed off by Bryce Hotham and Stu Duff, the presidents of the Group 10 and Group 11 referee associations respectively.
NSWRL accused the referees of "holding the game to ransom" and stated "there is an appropriate way to raise issues of concern, but it is not by strike action, it is by way of respectful engagement".
Referees from outside the western area travelled to officiate the annual long weekend matches between Parkes and Forbes on Sunday, June 9.
A regular six matches are scheduled to be played this coming weekend.
"The decision by them (referees) to withdraw their services from all grades of the PMP was done without the support of the NSW Rugby League Referees Association," the NSWRL spokesperson said on Tuesday.
"The NSWRL is committed to ensuring all competitions are able to proceed as planned."