Referees such as Tom Harrington MBE help raise the standard

Football referees have a hard time of it . . . from parents at kids matches in the park to the regular tongue-lashings spewed out by Premier League managers on Match of the Day.

Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling, on the other hand is a much simpler sport to referee and judge.

After all, two judges and the referee are always near the action, a fall is lost when a wrestler touches the ground first, and there is no offside rule.

If only it were that simple.

"There is nothing more galling to a wrestler than an ignorant umpire putting the hands together, and asserting a man may get hold, when perhaps the other has his right shoulder against his breast, and his right arm pinned to his side close to the elbow.

"It is well known to every wrestler that a single inch, either in the arm or breast, when the men are nearly equal, will almost invariably decide the contest."

Discussion about this very point was part of the last Governing Board meeting, as the members considered setting up a referees meeting before this year�s season begins.

Yet these aforementioned words were penned 185 years ago by William Litt.

Although C&W wrestling seems to go through the centuries with little change, there have, in fact been significant improvements in the last few years.

Rings are bigger, referees more safety-conscious and decisions are given quickly without lengthy confabulations in the middle of the ring.

All falls are now judged by majority decision, so maverick referees cannot over-rule the judges. And, in championships, a fourth official is appointed to stand in if there is conflict of interest with a judge or referee.

A referee these days is a much more active figure than in the past.

No longer do local shows dig up some local worthy as referee.

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Last year, further improvements were set in train by the CWWA. A selection panel monitored all the refereeing during the season before drawing up a provisional list of approved referees for the 2008 season.

An additional requirement was that all prospective referees should attend a forum before the start of the new season to discuss interpretation of the rules in a bid to further improve consistency in the ring.

Yet despite all this care, we all know that no referee in any sport, can match the telescopic, X-ray vision and complete certainty enjoyed by every spectator in the encircling crowd.