Although no one else has come on board with this discussion which I had rather hoped, a key point is that we need a pool of 3-5 top class referees to choose from. Because for what ever reason (and there are often valid reasons why a particular ref doesn't work a particular show)you can't always relay on one or two people.

Unfortuantely NZ has only recently got to the point were referees are paid better and even then on only a couple of shows, for the remainder it is more about passion for the sport than it is about being a job. So again there no great incentive to be a ref.

It is a tough job which is open to crticism and it is also tough to keep a pool of good people becasue opportunties are limited, particularly at a higher level were the pressure is also stronger ... no solutions I guess, but I'm interested to hear any solutions.

Similar scenario for the judges too ... its easy to crticise (and admittedly I have done myself as a commentator) but it has to be acknowledged that it is not an easy role to fill and to the best of my knowlegde everyone who I know in NZ who has been involved in either role is doing it for no other reason than that they love the sport ...

But now we are under scrutiny on TV, we need to think about ways to nurture good people to a high standard and ways to keep them there ... to be perfectly honest, by and large the vast majority of decisions and refs call I have for K-1 I have either agreed with or if I have not have come in very close fights where its has often been a 50/50 call...

Anyway the end of a another Mike rant ... blah blah, roll on 600 posts