Whether you agree the NRL should revert to a one-referee system is irrelevant. It's the process which is most worrying from a chairman who clearly believes he's entitled to act like a dictator and bypass the usual consultation processes.

Predictably, and to their credit, the referees have refused to be walked over, and have instigated arbitration with the NRL to try and get the two-referee system reinstated before the season restarts on May 28.

The pile-on from the usual suspects has been just as predictable.

"Everyone else in the community is hurting and taken pay cuts." "People have lost their jobs and these blokes are holding the game to ransom."

What this train of thought forgets to acknowledge is the referees went to the NRL of their own volition when the coronavirus pandemic suspended the season, offering to do what they can to help.

This included the offer of taking a pay cut similar to that accepted by NRL executives and players. Once the one-referee system was suggested, they confronted the NRL again offering to take a cut which would save them a similar amount of money the new system is projected to do so.

Under ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys' proposal, the leading referees will take control of games with other 'middles' taking over duties of touch judges, largely part time officials who will lose their jobs.

If the bosses at your job outlined a similar proposal where several of your work mates were going to be shown the door at a moment's notice and with zero consultation, wouldn't you also get your back up and go into bat for your friends?

Everyone is starved of football and can't wait for the season to restart. The last two months have felt like two years as we wait for any kind of sport to return.

The frustration has gradually mounted over time and it makes you wonder if the condemnation the whistle blowers have received would be as intense as it has been if this situation had arisen in regular circumstances.

The disagreement is viewed by fans as a possible impediment to getting our footy back, which was always going to be an unwinnable situation for the referees already lambasted by supporters more than any other sport.

The referees have been thrown under the bus and made scapegoats by a chairman who believes he has the right to do whatever he likes, and to hell with the consequences for anyone else.

The lies also haven't helped. The change was initially sold as a cost cutting measure made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic, but the money saved is a drop in the ocean for such a big organisation when it has such a big impact on the fabric of the game.

It makes you wonder why anybody would want to take up refereeing if this is how they are going to be treated by the game's governing body.

Attracting enough referees is already a massive issue in community sport, largely due to the vitriol they are forced to cop from players week in, week out.

Giving referees and umpires a break, no matter what the sport is, has long been a hobby horse of mine.

At the local level they give up their weekends and socialising time, mostly for little financial reward, so the rest of us can enjoy the games we love.

It's ingrained in the culture of Australian sport to blame match officials for mistakes, when at the end of the day players make just as many.

We've witnessed firsthand what life is like without our traditional Saturday afternoon sojourns to the football or netball during winter.

We need to treat the officials with respect, otherwise there won't be enough to go around and our sports drought could be more permanent.

Before we continue to tear strips off the NRL referees, perhaps take a moment to think about how you would feel in a similar situation.

It might provide from much-needed perspective for those who have made 'ref bashing' a national pastime.

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