That's right.

IMO refs will hear threats of violence all the time that they have to forget because someone else has made a break and is going to score.

correct. but you don't forget. you wait till the next break in play and deal with it.as i and every other referee does. as silverwood has countless times

It seems that's where we're at with those in the Hardaker 'guilty' camp. The refs just simply forgot they heard those comments, genuine error.....but remembered them post match.....even the ref who was apparently directly called a "f*g" just let it slip through his mind at the time as he was too busy reffing a match to actually discipline a player for something he's put there to discipline in the first place.

So you sent off every single player who swore at you?

You knew every single player who swore when they did swear?

You never had to deal with a serious injury at the same time as another player swore at you?

You were always sure of who the recipient of abuse was and who was sending it?

Did you ever rise above u11 level?

Have you watched a SL game? Have a look at the PTB and see how many times a tacklers hand will accidentally find it's way into an opponents face or head. That's a clear offence and hardly ever pulled.

There's no way that refs list all the offences they hear or see or warn players. They give warnings to the most serious offences but there will be hundreds of offences that occur during a game that are forgotten as soon as they've happened.

Is Silverwood getting abuse btw?

People are doubting/discrediting what he apparently heard and believe something fishy has gone on......I can't see the 'abuse' as is claimed, if you want proper personal abuse you should follow what people have launched towards Hardaker in the last few days (and going by his tweet, also towards his family) all because he blew a kiss and MIGHT'VE said a certain word.

i refereed football league

again players are carded for persistently infringing the laws of the game. you have to keep in your head who has done what and how many fouls.hard to do but the higher you go you get help from the sidelines

The irony is the type of people that give out that type of abuse are probably the least likely people to give 2 sh*ts about the word he allegedly used and dare i say it the most likely people to use the term themselves. They just want an excuse to have a go.

They are cockroaches and need exterminating.

I think Leeds Rhinos, the biggest club in English RL, have pretty much openly questioned the integrity of one of the top refs in the game. Such is the nature of the comments that Leeds have made I'd suggest that some of the mud will stick. Given the insane levels of hysteria over this issue I doubt that Silverwood's reputation hasn't taken a massive beating which he will struggle to overcome.

That, to me, is a form of abuse and I don't like it. I think Leeds were out of order.

Idiots on twitter will always talk rubbish. I don't know if Silverwood has received similar abuse or not. TBH I don't care. I don't think either Zak or Silverwood should be on twitter in the first place. But I think Silverwood has received a lot of flack over this that he simply might not deserve at all.

I also think it's possible that Silverwood has screwed up and he could be an ex ref soon. I don't know. But I don't think Leeds should have been rushing straight to the press with their statement, this issue should have been dealt with professionally. Just like everyone is saying the RFL should have done with Zak.

Good.

If hardaker goes down it will be a small crum of comfort to seel silverwood go down too.

A couple of pages ago you said Hardaker's reputation will be exactly the same as it was before the Saints game even though he's now been accused a SECOND time of a gay slur.

Yet you now protest that Silverwood's reputation may never recover from Leeds questioning the timeline of events between the match officials and RFL.

Oh dear.

I don't agree it's a form of abuse Leeds have rightly IMO questioned the time line. I think it's right we made this public as I have no confidece in the RFL dealing with the issues in private. They cannot just brush it under the Carpet which is what I think they would have tried to do.
GH has been a vocal supporter of the RFL, which might be in jeopardy now

I'll make it clear for you. Even though I think I already have been.

My opinion of Zak, purely from what I've read on here from Leeds fans, is that he's a bit of an idiot with a string of moronic offences. One more offence is hardly damaging his reputation, merely confirming how daft he really is. His reputation remains pretty much the same.

Silverwood, on the other hand, is pretty much being accused of lying over hearing something to justify a witch hunt on their player. Seeing as he is a referee and a referees integrity is pretty much essential, questioning his integrity is a massive thing for the biggest club in the country to do. While many supporters will have already thought he was a vvanker, a dreadful ref or any number of things, very few will have truly thought he should be tossed from the game. There have been many people wanting him gone on threads in rlfans. His reputation has clearly been damaged and I think Leeds Rhinos have acted disgracefully over this.

In a similar way, the reputation of the RFL hasn't been damaged either. Everyone thought they were worthless before and they still think they are worthless. It's just more evidence to confirm what they already felt anyway.

I think the RFL have probably made an error by telling the press they were investigating the incident and naming him. IMO they'll regret that and accept they messed up. IMO it could have been an easy mistake for a press officer to do and they were probably under pressure from the press not to be seen as condoning "homophobia".

But after Leeds complained so loudly about their employee wrongly being named, I think it's a bit ridiculous for them to pretty much accuse the RFLs employees of carrying out a witch hunt and inferring that Silverwood is lying.

If GH supported the RFL before then IMO he should still support them. But it's RL politics and I have little interest in it.