TRENTON — Just hours after his beloved Green Bay Packers were victimized by a blown call, State Senate President Steve Sweeney announced that he wants to block replacement referees from working professional football games in New Jersey.

In a statement issue this morning, Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said he plans to introduce legislation prohibiting the playing of professional sporting events with replacement officials, citing the potential for increased injury by inexperienced referees who cannot control a game.

“This past weekend in the NFL has not only made a mockery of a great sport, but shined a very bright light on how important fully trained and professional officiating is to player safety,” Sweeney said in a statement. “We wouldn’t allow a factory or construction site to operate without fully trained supervisors on hand to ensure the safety of employees. Why should we do anything differently when the job site is a playing field?”

The push comes just hours after perhaps the biggest mishap of the season in the National Football League when referees apparently blew a call at the end of Monday's night's game that cost the Green Bay Packers the game. Sweeney is a Packers fan.

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Sweeney said that the litany of missed calls or blatantly miscalled penalties over the first three weeks of the NFL season has proven the replacement officials do not have the ability to control a game in a highly physical sport where players get injured on routine plays even under the most well-trained of referees.

Sweeney said that replacement officials also lower the quality of play, devaluing the often large investments fans have made in tickets.

“Whether the sport is football, soccer or baseball, when referees don’t know how to properly enforce the rules, there is a real chance for unnecessary and serious injury,” said Sweeney. “If the NFL insists on putting replacement officials on the field, putting players at risk, then the state shouldn’t be playing a part in that.”

The NFL has been using replacement referees since the start of the season, most of who were coaching high school football games. The NFL and the regular referees are in a labor dispute.

The bad call caught the attention of GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, according to a report in The Hill.

“You guys watch that Packer game last night?” Ryan said at his Cincinnati, Ohio, town-hall meeting. “I mean give me a break. It’s time to get the real refs, and it reminds me of President Obama and the economy. If you can't if you can't get it right, it's time to get out.”

He added, “I half think these refs worked part-time for the Obama administration in the budget office."

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