Lions scrum-half Gareth Edwards appeals to the referee during the 1974 tour of South Africa © Getty Images

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Most people will have missed the IRB announcement that the referee appointments for the three British and Irish Lions Tests in South Africa will come from neutral countries and those that did pick up on it would have dismissed it as a statement of the obvious.

It highlights an endearing anachronism. There is no protocol governing Lions Tours so everything is up for negotiation.

'We shared a very positive meeting with management from both teams and discussed the selection criteria for the three Test matches. All agreed that the most appropriate policy is the appointment of neutral referees from within the IRB High Performance Referee Panel,' said IRB Referee Manager, Paddy O'Brien.

If only there had been such a panel and such a manager back in my days! You only played under neutral referees in Europe; when you travelled to Australia, New Zealand or South Africa the host nation always provided the referee.

It was, of course, a legacy from the days before you could fly to the other side of the world in 24 hours and when referees were as amateur as the players. It was simply not possible to ship out a different referee for each test.

There was no major rugby nation within 6,000 miles of South Africa but you would have thought they might have considered using an Australian referee in New Zealand.

Not a bit of it - rugby chaps would never question the integrity of the referee and the dinosaurs that ran the game saw no reason to change. 'Good enough in my day' - and all that nonsense. It now seems unbelievable that the first time they had a neutral referee in New Zealand, for example, was when France toured in 1979.

Most of the time it felt as if you were playing against 16. Home referees might not have intended to be biased but everything - the partisan crowds (no supporters' tours then), what was allowed in rucks and line-outs - invariably worked against the visitors. And some were - well, there's no getting away from it - 'Homers.'

At times it was laughable. On the 1968 Lions Tour John (Tess) O'Shea, the Welsh prop, got involved in a fracas with the whole of the Eastern Transvaal pack and when, eventually, it all quietened down O'Shea was singled out and sent-off.

That incident was the genesis for the infamous '99' call. Willie John McBride, who rushed from the stands to protect O'Shea as the locals hurled oranges and abuse at him, decided it would never happen again and in 1974 instigated the call to get the whole team to wade in so that the referee had to send off everybody or nobody.

The system for choosing the referees for a Lions Test Series could only have happened in rugby. The host Union would select some of their top referees to officiate in the early provincial matches and would then pick three of them to form a shortlist which would be presented to the Lions' management who would then have the final choice.

In 1971 it led to a wonderful battle of wits between the New Zealand Rugby Union and Dr Doug Smith, our manager. Pat Murphy was considered the top referee in New Zealand but all the Welsh players were adamant he was not to be trusted. We had toured New Zealand two years before and he had refereed us off the park in both Tests.

He duly took charge of the game against King Country and was on his best behaviour. Sure enough he was on the panel but we chose John Pring who had also handled a number of internationals. We chose him again for the second and third Tests much to the fury of Murphy and the NZRU. Before the final Test - we were 2-1 up and threatening to make history - the Chairman of the NZRU took Doug on one side and pleaded Murphy's cause.

He was their top referee, it was an insult to them and him, Pring was an experienced international official, of course, but Murphy had even more experience. Besides, it was not fair that one man should be allowed to take charge of all the Tests - in fact they were thinking of removing Pring from the short-list to make sure that did not happen.

Doug gave it due consideration before pulling his masterstroke. 'Why don't you get Mr Murphy to referee the final provincial game at Tauranga?' He suggested. 'If he's as good as you say we'll have him but leave Pring on the panel just in case he gets injured or something goes wrong.'

I happened to be sitting next to Doug at the match - against the Bay of Plenty at Tauranga - and I swear fewer than five minutes had passed before Doug handed a piece of paper to the Chairman. On it were just five words plus his signature - 'Pring for the final Test.'

Machiavelli would have been proud of that one! We duly went on to draw in Auckland and win the series.