‘Daily appraisal of referees and judges being done at the Worlds to ensure fairness’

Wayne Rose
| Photo Credit: Y.B. Sarangi

Wayne Rose, an Australian technical delegate overseeing the ongoing World women’s boxing championships here, says the daily appraisal of the referees and judges during an event is an integral part of the International Boxing Association’s (IBA’s) efforts to ensure fairness and integrity.

According to Rose, who also served as the tournament director at the Tokyo Olympics, the removal of erring officials and retention of good ones is a constant process to get fair decisions.

“Every day the referees and judges get apprised. We have a referee evaluator who evaluates referees’ performance. With a good performance level, they continue to work. If they are below the standard, we continue to sanction and remove them. Same with the judges…But if it’s an integrity problem, the red flag will come straight up and we will remove them,” Rose told The Hindu.

Improvement in selection process

Rose said the system to select and monitor officials improved over the years. “The referees and judges we have placed now, in each competition, are vetted by the McLaren group. So they are always checking their (R-Js’) integrity, their background to make sure there are no red flags or conflicts…Everything is clean and everyone’s happy.

“If you remember Rio (Games) and the alleged corruption there, from that to now is different. The referees and judges are at a different place, we are going through a vetting process when we select someone and it’s all random…The idea that there might be favouritism, we are not seeing that now.”

Honest officiating

Rose said the IBA’s intention was to spread the practices of honest officiating. “Every time we train these referees, the three stars, we are giving them the tool to go back to their national federations and impart the knowledge so that they are not coming here blind, they are coming here prepared and pre-vetted.”

Observing that the bout review system is good at present, Rose said, “Probably, I may say, it is going to be more automated – more visuals so that the transparency remains. In the future there may be a system so that it will become clear to everyone who did what. There will not be any hidden agenda.”