BY JOHN DAVIDSON
The RFL seems to have lost the plot lately.
Case in point, the appointment of Tara Jones to referee the Women’s Super League grand final between St Helens and Wigan.
Jones is a talented ref, no question. And the sport needs more female match officials.
But Jones was playing last year for St Helens. The hooker spent six seasons playing for Saints, making more than 80 appearances. In 2023 she was vice captain at the club.
And merely a year after hanging up her boots for St Helens, she will be officiating her former teammates and friends in the biggest game of the women’s season.
It’s bizarre.
I am not impugning Jones’ integrity, nor her ability to officiate objectively. I’m sure she’ll do an adequate job.
But the RFL has put her in an unenviable position where she could possibly face accusations of bias as well as increasing the pressure on her. There is no need to put her in this position, to make her a target, especially so early in her career.
Can you imagine Sam Tomkins reffing Catalans in a grand final next year? Or say Jared Waerea-Hargreaves with the whistle if the Roosters made the NRL decider in 2026?
No, it wouldn’t happen.
You wouldn’t get Dan Carter as referee of a Bledisloe Test, or Adam Lallana in charge of Liverpool vs Manchester City in the Premier League either.
Phil Bentham, the RFL’s head of match officials, said in a statement: “Tara was the outstanding candidate for this appointment. She has made excellent progress in her first season as a member of our full-time squad, earning appointments to referee fixtures in the Betfred Championship and as a touch judge in the Betfred Super League.
“She has first-hand experience of playing in the Super League, and to see a woman earning the appointment to referee the Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final for the first time can only be inspirational for the younger generations of female officials who are making progress in our system.”
That is all well and good, but there are more experienced officials who could have been in charge of the game, from Tom Grant to Jack Smith, Aaron Moore and Liam Rush. All have more experience.
But it appears as though the RFL has tried to score some PR points by appointing a female ref for the first time, while ignoring the Jumbo-sized elephant in the room – her obvious, glaring ties to St Helens.
This should not be about gender, but about appointing the most experienced, most qualified, impartial official for the job. One with no ties to either club involved in the game.
The RFL has placed a massive amount of stress on Jones, when it was not needed, and every decision she makes on Sunday will be intensely scrutinised.
At a time when refs need more support, not less, making their position even harder is pure madness.