Ben Thaler explains why only FIFA officials can keep up with Super League referees

The Normanton native had to get himself in shape for 24 campaigns as an on-field official, with each pre-season more gruelling than the last.

Any notion that referees simply need to turn up with a whistle could not be further from the truth.

Rugby league officials have to work harder on their fitness than their counterparts in other sports, barring those at the highest level of football.

"Now you've got sports scientists working with you so some of it is adapted to your age – but not testing," said Thaler, who is staying on as a video referee as well as taking on a new role recruiting and developing the next generation of match officials.

"When it comes to yo-yo tests, 18.5 is the standard and I've never failed it. So going out before I fail it is probably a good thing!

"And that could get higher. It started off at 17.1 and has gone up steadily.

"What's expected of rugby league referees is far higher than Premier League football and other sports, apart from FIFA where the standard is 18.5.

"The rugby league lads for the last two to three years have had to pass the FIFA test to officiate. To do that at 43, I'm quite happy – and I'm not the slimmest of people. I had to work hard."

Thaler had to move with the times during a professional career that began at Hilton Park in 2001 when Leigh hammered York 84-1.

Being a referee in the modern era requires a higher level of focus than ever before to go with the punishing physical demands.

On top of everything else, officials must enforce laws they had no say in.

"The game has changed," said Thaler.

"People will say the game isn't as quick but now you have to look at tackle techniques, wrestle, taking players to the ground and being dominant. When I first started, it was just tackling someone to the ground, getting off quick and playing the ball.

"There are policy changes and law changes all the time, which as referees we don't always agree with. In the last couple of years, there's been nobody representing the referees on laws committees so we more or less get told what we're doing.

"It's quite hard when you're going out to manage something and you could be on the same page as the players and coaches. I certainly haven't always agreed with what we're told to do – but we have to do it.

"I didn't really like the six again rule when that came in, for instance."

Regardless of their feelings on the laws of the game, officials bear the brunt of the fans' frustrations during and after matches.

The abuse from the terraces and keyboards only forms part of the mental toil.

Asked whether it was more difficult to be a referee now than when he first started out, Thaler replied: "Only in the sense that the demands and scrutiny are far greater.

"People won't believe this but you get scrutinised more internally than you do externally.

"Some people think we just rock up, run around, blow a whistle and have no feeling about what happens but when a referee makes an error, especially a costly one that could cost a team a game or even a final, that can live with you for quite a while, so the mental drain is quite hard.

"It's not like we're robots who rock up, do a job and don't care. It's quite gut-wrenching when you make a mistake.

"The best referees – and this is something I got told from a really young age – put their hand up when they've made a mistake and say they've got it wrong.

"I remember once doing it at St Helens with Keiron Cunningham, Sean Long and Paul Sculthorpe. They ran at me after I'd given a decision and I told them I thought I might have got it wrong. They didn't know what to say to that.

"It helps you manage a game if the players know you're human. You get their respect that way."

Despite all the challenges along the way, Thaler got more out of his refereeing career than he ever could have imagined.

His message to aspiring referees is that officiating at the top level is child's play compared to keeping amateur players in check.

"I think it's an honour to go out somewhere like Headingley, Wigan, Wembley or Old Trafford and referee some of the best players in the world," said Thaler, who took charge of 441 Super League games.

"It sounds daft but Fred Lindop once told me that if you can referee at Sharlston, you can referee anywhere – and he's right. Refereeing in Super League is easy compared to refereeing at Sharlston at the back of the wall or Upton on a Sunday morning.

"Sometimes it's just like conducting an orchestra because it's faster. If you can referee at amateur level, I truly believe you can referee anywhere."