I have little doubt anymore that there is a double standard in refereeing on top of the general problems with the officials' performances and I think that it is foremost up to the non-Austrian clubs to address the problem in the league meetings. They have to argue and back up that it is in fact there and that it needs to be fixed.
That said, all the people here who think the teams that we have so generously admitted to "our" league should not complain about something as unimportant as being treated a little bit second rate on the ice and go to hell right away should think about what is at stake for our hockey.
Without international cooperation anything beyond a 8 team league with a level of play by far weaker than now and most likely much less competitive balance esp. at the bottom is an illusion. There is a reason that EBEL exists in the current form. What the majority of spectators want to see is a professional league with at least 8-10 teams and entertaining games and the club presidents know that this is what they have to offer. And our clubs know that this can't be attained within Austria alone. The expansion was agreed on unanimous by all clubs so either the club leaders (who partially put a lot of money into it) are fools or there must be something about going international...
We need a somewhat bigger pool of refs especially from outside Austria and a more balanced assignement of referees to the games plus a reform of the disciplinary commission (ideally a member from each country plus a chairman). Furthermoer, the league should invest more in training the refs. Officiating is difficult and requires many skills that need to be trained and developped properly just as it is with players.