....but as poor as we were today the big decision was Rettie's red card. The ref clearley called held and a penalty should have been ours. Instead we are a man down and instead of being on the attack are defending our own line. Rettie was wrong but it should never have got to a red card. Rant over, having a pint of Rev James in Batley 'spoons.

Did he throw a headbutt? not clear as to why he walked?

He was held, he did get elbows in the face on the ground more than once, but there is no justification for a head butt, as clear a red card as any I have seen and a long ban on the way. We just couldnt handle the constant holding down.

Yep clear red card but the initial tackle was high and there was a grapple tackle after the hit and both the ref and linesman looking directly at it didn't give the penalty so Rettie decided to take the law in to his own hands. Defo red but another example of the bad reffing we put up with today.

He should have gone in the first half, after aiming a kick at one of our players right in front of the linesman. Another thing the ref and linesman were looking directly at but didn't penalise.

You mean a bit like your fullback in second half where we were going for the line and he dived in feet first. Obvious the ref didn't have the bottle to use his whistle much today.

Quite possibly. I guess what I'm trying to point out is that accusing the ref of allowing mean, nasty old Batley to use their horrid tactics in order to beat your side of angelic, virginal young choirboys is an extremely facile venture - especially when you're coached by a man who is the master of spoiling tactics anyway, as we at Batley witnessed for two full seasons prior to him joining Halifax.

This is the sort of stuff I had to sit through for 2 hours, my poor head...

Thats funny, I had to stand through nearly two hours of blinkered wittering about 'spoiling tactics'.

We lost because our completion rate was dreadful and we were incapable of doing the basics right. Batley were better than us end of IMO. The other factors are part and parcel of rugby league. Rettie was a fool to allow himself to get wound up, the crowd were on his back all day and he should have realised that. Dont care about the ref and the rest of the issues. We just didnt get anything right and Batley did.

spot on!

would like to see the completion % compared to last 2/3 games, bet nowhere near.

We had the passion, but no brains!!

Batley played to the game plan.

As JK has just said on radio Leeds they were well aware of the attacking threat of Halifax but snuffed it out almost perfectly.

The Fax three quater line never got the ball or made a single line break all the game, we need a quick play the balls at some point in any game to rack up the points but it never happened today.

Our attacking sets were poor which we barely completed a set as was our kicking game especially with Tigers knowledge of the pitch.

Todays ref allowed a fair bit of laying on and hands in at the play the ball and a skinny 10 yards to go unpenalised for both sides.

Batley were more patient and as a result got the win.

I prefer a more open attacking brand of rugby league and found the game a bit flat.

The main dissapointment with Batley is that they are a very good attacking side themselves with dangerous players that did not, or were not allowed to play this type of game, but who am I to question Mr Kears tactics especially when it won them the game.

The main dissapointment I have with Fax is they just didn't adapt to what was going on and had no control over the play or the game and with only 12 and then 11 players on the pitch didn't exactly help.

Went as a neutral today so am a little suprised to say the least that Fax fans are blaming referees because he absolutely caned Batley....I thought halifax had a big pack but Batley had some big old boys out there today and dug in a bit deeper than your blokes. Very exciting game though. I think either team could have nicked it today but Batleys halves were also smarter than Fax's. The sending off is even more bizaare a mate told me that Rettie nutted his own brother in law........what a tool !! There was also an incident where he blatently kicked Walton which will probably get him an additional ban to the long one he is staring down the barrel of now.

What's wrong with that? I've wanted to nut my brother in law for years. Mind you, everyone want's to nut my brother in law.

Not blaming the ref myself but i will say the following.

Where the ref is concerned is that he is there to officiate the game without influencing or affecting the outcome by his own actions or inactions.

In the context of todays game the constant slowing down and hands in at the play the ball did play a big part in what happened during and later on in the game.

If he had stopped that early on, which on another day will be the case then a lot of the niggling and frustration on show that eventually led to the sending off and other unsavoury incidents would have been avoided.

In this sense the ref can and does influence things for the worse, they wind up the players and supporters long before the result is known because they are just not good enough and often make blantantly wrong decisions.

They are just as responsible and should be just as accountable as the other parties involved but they never are.

Sooner or later every team will be affected by this and many supporters of the game would agree the standard of some of the officials is poor and if Fax had won the game I am sure one or two Batley fans would have not been too happy with the man in the middle.

The question is.
If our team wins is it okay for the officials to have bad games but we don't say anything?

In todays game Batley deserved to win and as a team were the better side on the day but that does not mean the officials can be excused for his performance that affected both sides.