Top-tier NRL referees like Gerard Sutton (right) have requested a salary increase to A$300,000.GETTY IMAGES
Referees are "prepared to go on strike" in round one next season if the National Rugby League does not agree to a pay claim that would result in the top whistleblowers earning as much as A$315,000 ($224,000) per year, according to Andrew Webster of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Protracted negotiations between the NRL and the referees' union continued "at a glacial pace" on Wednesday as the game's "all-important officials" pushed for a 30% increase in their salaries over the next four years. Top-tier referees like Gerard Sutton and Ashley Klein would have their salaries increased from A$180,000 ($128,000) per season to more than A$300,000 ($213,000). That would bring them "in line with the average wage for a player," which is A$371,000 ($263,900). Professional Rugby League Match Officials Chair Silvio Del Vecchio said of the NRL, "They're moving in millimeters. We continue to find the NRL extremely combative and unwilling to move in negotiations, caught up in minutiae." It is understood referees are "preparing to ramp up hostilities after effectively hitting the NRL with a wet lettuce leaf over the past few months, turning up late to video reviews and the like." Blacking out the logo of sponsor youi on the front and back of referees' shirts and a boycott of training and next year's preseason matches "have already been mooted" (SMH, 10/18).
