The game is not being killed.

HTH

It was a failed attempt at irony. The suggestion that refs are killing the game I find so ludicrous to be not believable. I think people have other issues they need help with if that is the case. I know from your posts elsewhere that you are one of the sensible tendency so find this more baffling. All you have said so far is refs need to be more consistent & Cummins tell them to be less ambiguous. I have quoted the ruling ad nauseum, what more can be said? Someone is tackled, there are hands all over the ball, it comes out - it was either stripped or lost, they are the only options, the officials have to call one or the other. Please tell me what other interpretation an official can make.

no irony at all - i'm really not clever enough for that sort of thing

there's more to RL inconsistency or bad reffing or bad interpretation or whatever we wish to call it than ball stripping (AT THE PTB) which was intended to be an example but the problem is more widespread - ie. forward passes which even you have to admit have been badly policed recently ? surely when everyone in the stands can see it why can't the TJs help out or is there some kind of directive which prevents this ? The high tackle is another grey area, the offside rule enforcement is becoming a joke, incorrect play of the ball is very rarely strictly adhered to,the tackle in the air is becoming nonsensical,scrums are a farce so just do away with them, obstruction is another grey area, the shoulder charge which really is up for discussion surely ?, et al.....
now, there are rules in place with punishments commensurate with the offences so where is the problem ? it should be a doddle for officials to get the correct decision without too much hassle but no ! the wide ranging interpretation by refs - that word 'inconsistency' again is killing the game as an enjoyable pastime for me ! what's so difficult about policing a game of RL ?
Liason with the officials & clubs is needed to get things sorted or the RFL needs to get refs better trained to cope with the modern day game
ok, we know officials will get it wrong occasionally but the past couple of seasons have been an utter joke added to that some VR decisions that beggar belief !
there have even been occasions this season where conversions or penalty kicks have been ruled out when the ball has clearly been inside the posts !!! and that's WITH video proof ! - I give in.....

None. It's primarily a call for what has been seen by the ref - stripping or lost ball. If he has seen neither and the ball is loose (whether it goes forward or not seems immaterial) what does he call? He must make a call - there is no alternative.
He might consider the body shape and hold of the ball from the attacking player, together with the body shape and tackling arm(s) of the defender(s) as to the probable cause. But that's then only a judgement call of best guess forced on him.
Players of all games practice cheating and are coached to do so. RL at the top level is no exception. This makes it hard for even a good ref to do his job well.

AS a HKR supporter I thought the Ref got most of the crucial decisions right and made some weird decisions for both teams. FWIW the Bulls deserved the win and none of his decisions or lack of affected the outcome.

The problem with your suggestion that the crowd is the best indicator is that everyone in the home stands yells “forward” at very regular intervals when on the majority of occasions, it is no such thing. They also do not yell “forward” when a home player makes a suspect pass. Of course the odd forward pass will be missed, though the prominent ones I’ve seen do seem to be TJ calls not ref calls. But I certainly don’t see it as a problem on the increase.


Nope.


Look, it never helps your argument to start making strident claims that something is “a joke” or “a disgrace”. This is worth evidentally zero. Again, offside seems to me to be policed pretty much as it ever was, and in TV games where you have the luxury of slo mo and rewind, you can see that most of the time there actually isn’t a problem.


Here the refs certainly do the RFL’s bidding, as I understand it the player only needs to make a “genuine attempt” . You may disagree with this, but it’s not a ref issue, take it up with the RFL.


Absolutely not. I can’t easily remember any instance where a certain tackle in the air was not penalized. Have you any examples, or are you just listing every possible infringement, and claiming for each that the reffing of it is a joke and a disgrace?


Again, the scrums are what the RFL want them to be, it is nothing to do with the refs.


Indeed it is. How is that observation in any way relevant to your general argument that refs are crap? In fact, I’d say that disallowing of tries or the giving of penalties for obstruction is one area where we have had MORE consistency and clarity this season, move behind a runner and you will be penalized.


It is being discussed, but again, what’s your point? At the moment it is legal in many circumstances and illegal in few, but I see no evidence that the referees are doing anything wrong with regard to it?


No, sorry, I’m not having that. What al?


Having several thousand people like you screaming rubbish, swearing you are blind, all of whom could do better, and half of which entirely disagree with the other half over nearly every decision you make. Maybe you should try it.


.. but not as far as a disgrace, yet, then? Oh well, that’s something.

hows about if the ref asks the TJs for help occasionally ?

in two televised games at the GB (one for SKY and the other Bien Sports) messers Thaler & Roby gave penalties in important positions and once in both games the original decision was overturned and the penalty awarded to the other side - obviously the refs had had feedback from the VR - just how it should be, the correct decision was made - it's so easy !

Thank Christ for that. I decided I wasn't going let this issue slip but was having second thoughts.

Its a thankless task being the man in the middle but you see less of the touch judges involvment than years ago.Who would want to be a ref not me thats for sure but then again some dont help themselves as they cant count the number of tackles made.

Is that because they are now wired up so don't need to flag for the referee's attention for every incident?

Yes it is one of the reasons the other is if they got involved in every little thing the game would slow down.We can all slate the ref but when all said and done how many would give it a go.

I'll never agree that not being able or willing to do something denies you the right to criticise. If a roofer 'fixed' your roof and it still let in the rain I think you'd moan a bit too!

Having said that, judging by some of the replies to this thread it's clear that some only have a hazy idea about even the basic rules, so maybe it's better they don't 'have a go'?

I think the refs have a pretty strict test on the rules before they're allowed out with a flag, never mind a whistle.

As for miscounting six tackles, funnily enough, even though it is one thing I've seen refs downgraded for, it is one I feel a lot of sympathy about. Trying to keep a number in your head when running all the other considerations and judgements they have to make every second of the game through their minds, the wonder is they muck it up on as few occasions as they do.

For what it's worth I don't believe the modern refs are any worse than Billy Thompson, Eric Clay Fred Lindop and all the rest, the modern lot are certainly much fitter. What is true, is they got a lot more respect from players and fans and didn't have to compete with slo-mo repeats of all their decisions on TV.

There seems to be a lot of posts going back to golden ages just now, strange, back in that golden era (which didn't exist), IIRC the fans in the pub were just the same as ever, with complaints about referees.