The thing is this is supposed to be an event that showcases our sport and gets more fans into it. This will more likely turn them away. The Leeds / Bradford one and our fwd last year were bad but basic refereeing decisions this was almost incompetence to the level of having to be deliberate. He had time, angles the rule book and supposedly the best ref in the country yet still he calls wrong.

Football will be watching this and it just adds strength to their reluctance to use video technology as had this happened in their sport it would have been back page for a month and the ref would never work again.

Don't think the newbie fan will be put off by a controversial decision TBH. I was a newbie fan once myself and yet here I am 25 years later having sworn to give up watching any number of times due to poor officials but never quite doing it.

You won't get any arguments from me about the lack of sanctions applied to officials who are poor game after game. The problem is that there aren't enough new ones coming through to allow for existing refs being stood down or sacked.

If that scenario had come to pass, I wonder if Thaler would have blown for a penalty as he wouldn't have had recourse to the VR.

For what it's worth, It was the worst decision I've ever seen, even though it was my team who benefitted. The amount of time taken studying the footage simply makes it all the more perplexing. It was, supposedly, a considered and reasoned decision after reviewing the available evidence, and not an off the cuff instant call.

The Liam Watts "try" at Castleford a few years back was dubious, in my eyes, but it is possible to see a certain thought process which resulted in the awarding of the try. Yesterday's decision exists outside the bounds of a rational thought process leading us towards the area of total incompetance or (God forbid) a rather more sinister reason (which I don't believe to be the case, unlike some of the slightly more hysterical robins today).

The plus point, from my point of view, is that because it went in our favour (and was the crucial decision against our nearest and dearest in a close hard fought game) there is more than an element of black humour to all of this, which will doubtless surface in the various workplaces & schools across the fair city during the coming week.

Chin up old boy .

We all know the worst decision you've ever seen was liam.watts 50/50 decision at cas a couple of seasons ago. A player maybe/maybe not grounding the ball as opposed to a blatant disregard to the rules. Isometimes wonder if you are just being a wind up merchant or you really believe your tosh, kosh.

Another shocking call today to disallow a try for Salford, what are the officials doing to our sport?

I don't feel particularly strongly, but rational thought leads to me considering WHY Ganson would make such an obviously wrong decision? I'll leave it at that.

The obstruction? Correct decision IMO.

Hudgell has some valid points there but blunts his argument by getting carried away.

Yep, Gaskell steps into the Widnes defender.

Seen it on every angle and just looked embarrassingly soft to me.

Ganson should be sacked.

A mistake that elementary, but that big, is simply unacceptable. It single handedly not only gave hull fc the win, but stopped a potential win for hull kr who would have had a kickable penalty.

I'm sorry but why is he even the head of referees anyway? Is he just the most experienced? Because quite frankly, he's been reffing for many years and he's one of the most inconsistent and infuriating referees around. Aside from absolute howlers that no ref should be making with video technology, in some games he manages to single handedly obliterate them as a spectacle.

E.G

''your finger nail touched the ball, penalty''
''but sir''
''back chat, that's 10 minutes in the bin''

next play the ball, attacking player wriggles to get up
''penalty defence, you leant into the defender, moved off the mark''
''but sir he wouldn't get off me i wanted to play the ball
''backchat, 10 metres further back''

****************************************************

He's a piece of sh*t ref and the game would be better without him.

Was played for all the way. Went down like a footballer.

Im not sure he would have kicked it from 85 metres out.

What 'blatant disregard to the rules' would that be?

The official line is that Ganson tracked the wrong player. That's not disregarding the rules. It's simple incompetence.

And IMO there was no 'maybe' about the grounding for the Watts 'try'. Your mileage may differ.