The MatchCom®™ Referees Talkback System is a communication or talkback system conceived and designed in Australia by Murray Tregonning of
Murray Tregonning & Associates Pty Ltd.

It is a high end professional communications system. Its function is to allow all on-field match officials easy communication with each other and can be used in a variety of sporting codes.It is expandable, if required, to allow for any number of match officials and to allow a Video Referee / Umpire to communicate with all on-field match officials and additionally to the television broadcaster to facilitate video replays for video decisions. It also allows for Referee / Umpire assessors (and Trainee Referees) off the field to listen to all the match officials verbal communications. A further facility allows any of the on-field match official’s microphones to be fed to the television broadcaster as “clean feeds” if required. It is also possible for this complete mixed audio feed of all the match officials’ microphones to be recorded on DVD along with the television pictures for referee / umpire training, assessment and judiciary purposes.

This system has now been successfully used by the National Rugby League (Australia) for the last 12 years and the New Zealand and Australian Rugby Unions for all their Super 12 (14) and International Tests for the last 8 years. New Zealand Rugby, as of 2004, now uses it for all their Air New Zealand Cup Competition. It has also been used in Scotland by the Scottish Rugby Union for 4 years until 2004 for all of their 6 Nations games and International Tests.

It was adopted by the International Rugby Board for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. It was also used by the ERC (European Rugby) for their Parker Pen Challenge Cup Final at Reading UK and the Heineken Cup Final at Twickenham in May 2004.

In August 2007 MatchCom was re-introduced by Murray Tregonning & Associates UK Ltd into Welsh Rugby for all their 6 Nations and televised games. We expect a great deal of expansion in the UK / European market in the next 3 years from our London based MT&A (UK) Ltd.

MatchCom has also been successfully used in International Cricket by the International Cricket Council at the 2002 Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka and the 2004 Champions Trophy in the UK. For ICC 2004 Champions Trophy, the MatchCom system was expanded to include “Stump Microphone / Earpiece Assist”. For the first time, this allowed the two on field cricket umpires to hear the stump microphone of the facing batsman so they could hear all of the bat noises for caught behind decisions. It was further trialed during the ICC Johnnie Walker Super Series in October 2005 in Australia as then in ICC Cricket World Cup in the West Indies in
March / April 2007.

In September 2005, we also conducted a series of trials for the NHL (the National Hockey League) in Canada and the US. These trials will continue in the future and it is hoped to see MatchCom introduced across all games. In May 2007 we successfully introduced MatchCom in the Australian Football League’s (AFL) Premiership series which is staged Australia wide. This contact will continue during the 2008 and 2009 AFL Seasons.

MatchCom offers:

1. A full radio duplex two-way talkback system for on-field match officials.
2. Broadcast quality and frequency agile.
3. Robust design and athlete friendly.
4. Innovative design utilizing components for world leading audio suppliers.
5. Dedicated design and operations support team.
6. Fully integrated with the Television Broadcaster.

The system was first created for the News Limited Super League (Rugby League) Australian breakaway competition in 1996. The technology is in its eleventh year of operation without failure or technical problems. Our aim is to keep on the cutting edge of change and modify the system to accommodate the best in leading edge audio technology for the match officials and the host television broadcasters.

MatchCom prides itself on establishing and maintaining leading edge technology and service. The system is owned and operated by Murray Tregonning of Murray Tregonning & Associates Pty Ltd, Australia’s leading broadcast audio designer / supplier.

MatchCom has been trialled in Football (Soccer) in both Australia and Scotland at
U21 level and in May 2001 at the Scottish Premier League match Rangers v Kilmarnock
in Glasgow, Scotland.

Enquires regarding MatchCom should be sent to
murray@murraytregonning.com.au or murray@murraytregonning.co.uk