?

Players, match officials and followers of the game ALWAYS make mistakes, it's part and parcel of the game.

How you deal with it, is the challange.

What happens on these forums though is by default "my team lost" therefore it is because X, Y, Z match official caused, allowed, made, missed A, B, C action/event etc and I/we are unhappy.

Put it in perspective, you have a minimum of 5 match officials trying to control a minmum of 34 players and
2 coaches.

Could you cope and see everything that 7 people could do? (averaged out)

Players and coaches are constantly looking for ways to get that extra adavantage by fair means or foul and match officials are trying to ensure that fair means only are allowed and penalise foul means. Sometimes the players get away with it, other times the match officials catch them.

You hear crys of "cheat" etc from ignorant supporters aimed at match officials but NEVER EVER at players/coaches and certainly not their teams players.

Strange isn't it.

Mistakes are, as you say, a part of human nature.

In business, if you make a mistake which disadvantages a client then a part of the process of making it right is to acknowledge the mistake in the first place.

Part of the issue fans of the game have with Stuart Cummings is that he doesn't acknowledge the mistakes his match officials make, choosing instead to whitewash over them in the media by giving the decisions his full support.

I don't expect match officials to be perfect. What I do expect them to do is improve and get better at their job year on year. Under Cummings, this doesn't appear to be happening so the question has to be asked, what is he doing to justify his position at Red Hall?

mistakes are acceptable,we all make them.
however take thaler for example. blew the pea out of the whistle at saints-wigan for having a hand on the ball at the ptb.
four days later he let catalans do the same all game.
mistakes are acceptable. inconcistency is not.

ganson the same. wigan v leeds he hammered both teams at the ptb and it wa a better game for it. at hull v warrington he let everything go.

Yep, the inconsistencies especially around the play the ball are a big issue and the inconsistencies shouldn't be as pronounced as they are between different ref's and different games when the ref's are full time.

In terms of consistency James Child has been exemplary over every game I have seen him referee. There will always be the question of where you draw the line in terms of time to clear the ruck etc. and he seems to have it pretty much spot on. He lets the game flow when there's no messing about but is willing to consistently penalise teams who consistently offend. If he is indicative of the quality referees currently being developed then Cummings has done a great job.

Bursurely isn't the worst aspect that the PLAYERS are bending/breaking the rules CONSISTANTLY?

There is your consitance, hard though it is to admit, and who is at fault there?

The refs.
These are full time players you would expect them to play right up to the rules, do you really expect a player to roll away from the tackle quicker than he can get away with?
The problem is still with the refs, if there was a consistent line on play-the-balls and tackles then players and coaches would coach to those rules and interpretations, but the rules & interpretations constantly change from season to season, ref to ref and from game to game.

It is almost impossible to coach a team to consistently abide by the rules (ie not be penalised) and be competitive at the same time.

players, in every sport, will push the ref to see what they can get away with.its upto the ref to draw the line.
i reffed at pro level football and that is no different.

So people condone players bending the rules continuously but bag match officials for catching/missing the misdemeanours!

I really do find that strange.

because its the referees job to referee the game, and catch the rule breaking

if the players came on the pitch and started acting out the complete works of shakespeare instead of playing RL then they would be 'bagged' by everyone, because they werent doing their job.

When referees dont catch rule breaking they are failling to do the only job they are employed to do, and when they are doing it consistently to a poor standard then they will be criticised

Who's STANDARD!!!!???????????????????????

well im giving my opinion so mine.

I dont think they are good enough. I dont think they are improving enough.

I can always get you on a course so that you can show us all just how good your standards are.

An honest answer at least.

The trouble is you know that someone else will think differently.

Just look at the discussions on penalty tries etc, so the only "true" answer is to say "That person is where the buck stops" which of course takes us back to the beginning

My guess is that his or my standards wouldn't be as high, but then again neither of us are taking home a very comfortable full-time wage or have all week to work on our standards. The argument isn't who the better official is out of me, Smokey or Steve Ganson, it's what progress have standards of officiating made under the current regime?