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 referees in the Western-based Peter McDonald Premiership 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.
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"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.