ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has hit back at the referees' union after it lodged a dispute with the Fair Work Commission over the NRL's decision to reduce the game to one referee.
The NRL confirmed yesterday that the pocket referee would be gone for the rest of the season, turning back the clock by a dozen years to 2008.
Under the changes, the NRL will save money by no longer using touch judges, who are employed on a casual basis.
The chairman of Professional Rugby League Match Officials, Silvio Del Vecchio, said the referees' union is confident the rule will be eventually overturned.
"We are determined that on the 28th of May the quality of our game as we know it will be retained by being officiated under the current model that has been tested and successful for more than a decade," Del Vecchio said in a statement.
"It is in the best interests of the safety of players and the integrity of the game itself."
The referees' union has begun discussions with Harmers Workplace Lawyers in a bid to find a resolution before the NRL season relaunches on May 28.
V'landys today defended the NRL's decision and said the dispute by the game's referees was "ludicrous".
"It's totally ludicrous and I don't think his (Del Vecchio) confrontational and misleading approach is helping his association," V'landys said.
"We've done nothing wrong. All the 21 referees that are full-time will be kept."
The ARL Commission chairman followed up his comments on 2GB's Wide World of Sports Radio this afternoon after Del Vecchio also claimed his union was left out of conversations.
"Not only did they get consultation before, they also got consultation afterwards, because (NRL head of football) Graham Annesley spent a considerable amount of time with the referees today explaining the decision," V'landys told WWOS radio.
"The mistake a lot of people make is they think that 'consultation' means 'you have to do what we say'."
V'landys said the decision to return to one referee was also part of the NRL's desire to move the game forward.
"I don't think the leadership of this organisation is representative of the referees.
"You've got to consider the future of the game … and you put your self interest aside.
"We shouldn't be getting problems from within. We should all be in the same trench, working together."
- with AAP
* This article was originally published here
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