Quote: Saddened! "I don't agree with that at all. I had a similar angle to the referee and it was very clear it was never a forward pass. It was a truly shocking piece of officiating. Quite clear in plain sight that it left the hands in the right direction.
His general control of the play was farcical. Wigan were obviously offisde an awful lot of the time and there were times where O'Loughlin in particular was stood two yards in front of him and directly in his line of sight and he still didn't call anything. Saints are a far more disciplined side than Wigan, but there were some blatant offsides ignored that way as well, particularly a couple when Percival cleaned out Wigan players after setting off before the ball carrier had even stood up. Flopping from both sides was rampant, as was moving off the mark. Although a plague that's swept through SL in general, he did nothing at all to prevent it, meaning players were often getting up and going around the tacklers to play the ball.
His control of the flare ups was also a concern, he dealt with them by not dealing with them. It kind of worked because the players were disciplined enough to not continue it after half time. Wigan's game management was also made very easy by his weakness. Every drop out, scrum and penalty was met with a refusal to play and a delay of two minutes while we waited for Wigan to get their breath back. Worse was his complete and utter refusal to make a decision on his own. I've never seen referees ignoring correct and confident calls from the touch judge and asking for help from the video referee. It happened on scrums, drop outs, dropped balls and every try decision involving Saints bar Swift's try. Ironically the one time he refused to use the video referee he got the call wrong when he gave the penalty against Roby.
Refereeing in Rugby League is a difficult job. There are multiple rule breaches on almost every single play. You can't penalise them all or it would destroy the game. But you've got to confidently penalise when they are affecting the game. This is where Super League referees on the whole are lacking. They will pull players up for irrelevant technical breaches then ignore consistent and deliberate offsides. They are not sufficiently confident and don't have enough presence or personality to command respect from the players. This is why when you watch the NRL it appears faster, more controlled and more professional. When you watch Super League it's visibly sloppy.'"
So none of that was down to the players in anyway what so ever.
Fine. After all the criticism of match officials, is their really a need for them?
If they are constantly wrong
and they are really the only ones who know the rules, then the game would be better wouldn't it.
Seriously, the players are never ever the guilty party.
Based on this, and to ensure fairness, how about, after tackle, a roving microphone is given to a fan, somewhere on the ground and a decision made. It doesn't matter where in relation to the action they are because they will be right.
Taking the sentiments expressed to the next conclusion, if a player punches another player, then the touch judge should be sent off. Can't be the players.
Regarding "respect", it has to be earned, but the players have to earn it from the match officials not the other way round. Most,IMO, struggle with that, and even more so from the fans
