Especially if he said it with a dead pan face!

Players will always knock on, kick direct into touch etc, what we want from referees is a higher level of consistency in their performance. Its seems like every week one cocks up a vital decision, which if the score is 50-0 with 10 minutes to go will not have any effect, however if its 18-16 at the time and the decision costs one side two points, then the RFL need to start punishing poor performances where the mistakes are costly.

People always bring this argument up and it makes absolutely no sense. A player knows what they want to do with the ball but sometimes they don't have the skill, another player stops them from doing it, etc. A referee has to look at what's happening and make a decision on it. Not saying it's easy, but they're two completely different things.

How should the RFL 'punish' the refs? Send them to the championship for a week? They would have to replace them with refs who are not as good as the current ones and who would make more mistakes. No matter how good or bad the current ones are we have to accept that they are probably the best we have got, and they are trying their hardest. Perhaps we should try having a game with no ref and see how we get on then.
People need to start ignoring the refs and concentrate more on just enjoying the rugby.Sadly, the muppets on sky are not helping as they seem utterly obsessed with what the ref is doing and fans seem to be following their lead.

Not just the idiots on Sky (not that they are not idiots) but although I was severely hungover and drifting in and out of sleep during the ANZAC test on the weekend. Everytime I seemed to wake up the Aussie commentators were bemused by another odd decision from "Mr Silverwood"

Twitter is the work of the devil and any person in the public eye, no matter how little, should avoid it like the plague.

Greenshields playing to the gallery and blaming the ref. I'd think more of him if he had a good go at his team mates, in the dressing room not on twitter.

The point is this

Consistency between refs, and from game to game for the same ref in some cases, could be better. But that's true of a number of players, too. If you've got a penalty machine like Gareth Hock, Ben Westwood or Ben Cross playing for your team, it's unlikely that the problem in a close game is going to be the ref's calls.

Re clint can anyone tell me if he is injured, i heard a commentator on sky say about a full back being our for a long time, this was just before the catalan leeds match kicked off but i didnt hear who he said, and greensheilds didnt play last week ive looked all over but can not seem to find out anything, can anyone help please.
Ive got him in a fantasy team, and living in the south i dont get as much S/L news as north.
Cheers.

Nick Youngquest ‏ just tweeted:
Just spoke with Clint Greenshields about his tweets the other day...he has been fined €2000, suspended for 3 days and stood down 4 CC tie..!

I suspect that is internal discipline rather than a RFL fine.

That's silly. Refs don't have to perform their jobs with someone trying to smash you or having to contend with bad weather. All they have to do is apply the rules consistently.

Except when reffing Leeds...

Last weekend I worked on 3 games in 2 days. As a female official I suffered abuse and discrimination, got soaking wet on all but the first game. It was cold and muddy. I didn't get fed at any of the games. Did a 200 mile round trip for one of them. Barely get paid enough to cover my travel. Then you get idiots like this that think that the abuse they dish out on a public forum is acceptable. Not only do they think they are entitled to vent in such a manner but they fail to realise the impact this has on the wider RL so called supporting public and how they think they are entitled to vent their frustrations on the easiest target they can find.

The reality is that I did 3 games in 2 days last weekend and I'm scheduled to do 2 tomorrow. We have a shortage of officials this year due to eveyone moving to a summer season and the fact that it is so difficult to recruit due to the abuse given. I had a friend abandon a game 2 weeks ago due to homophobic abuse and a man refusing to leave the field, following him round chanting it. For me the reality is that I now have a zero tollerance approach. My cards are in my pocket for a reason and I'm not afraid to use them wether that's a spectator, a player or a club official. You wouldn't expect me to come up and abuse you in your place of work then don't do it to us!

Well said young lady