Some sets of fans do seem to be worse for it. Wakefield and huddersfield fans (not based on the recent incident) have always steemed to be quite abit worse for it, with sintellins fans the least guilty IMO.

I agree. I've done a tiny bit of reffing at very informal friendly kids games and it really does bring home how much the refs have to do and how many times you're effectively taking either an educated guess or sometimes a complete guess at what happened.

I do think there are ways that the refereeing can be improved, such things as a 2 refs system, more full time refs, better training and development for refs, better pay for refs etc

But that would require more money for the RFL to spend. Something which certain club chairmen aren't keen on.

As a Chelsea fan I know what it's like to have a manager who scares refs so much that most refs are naturally scared to give decisions against us. That accounts for the more decisions going for us than going against us.

But there are also referees who have pretty much gone out of their way to screw us over (Graham poll and Chris Foy). There has also been times when we weren't the bigger side and the referees were clearly influenced by who the bigger side were (nearly every time we've faced Barca).

As a Leeds Rhinos fan, I thought that Bentham was pretty blatant in the last quarter of the game in displaying his bias towards the bigger club. If Saints had been the ones who took that drop goal, I'm not totally convinced that he'd have been ruling it out.

On the drop goal, I'm undecided. On the pen for interference near the touchline I think the ref was probably right. On the pen for interference under the posts I think the ref was completely wrong. The fact that all three decisions went the way of the bigger club???

On the red card I think the ref was 100% correct. But how many times have we seen refs not sending off players when they've deserved it. Are you sure that a Saints player would have been getting the red card for that, because I'm not.

Bradford fans love a good shout of forward too whenever I've been there!

St Helens fans probably don't because we've got to have a good old moan at our team over the past few years, I'm sure every club has their sections, but ours has been somewhat deflected after the come down from success!

I think complaints about the ref has a near perfect direct correlation with how likely a teams fans thought they were going to win beforehand

I don't think the refs have gotten any worse this year, but the average fans reaction when their team loses a game they thought they could win, it's somehow the refs fault/ the rfl are biased against them (and them specifically) - which is why it seems like there's a thread like this seemingly every week. Maybe it's something to do with the league seeming to matter? But nobody seemingly wants to take any sort of responsibility for their own teams failings

Of course 50:50s can be debated, by the very nature of professional sport there's going to be times where decisions are made on the basis of millimetres - and it's very easy to make a decision when you've watched the replay 50 times and had 3 days to discuss it, look up the relevant rules and draw a conclusion. The judgement phil Bentham made doesn't make him a bad referee.

Maybe not, but I have been provided with an image from the game by a Saints fan with access to secret processing software, this classified piece of kit is capable of "peeling off" the secret RFL cloaking device. Here is the result, from the moment the ref looked atthe drop goal attempt - before and after processing. I think you'll agree with me that Shudds fans have every right to be aggrieved.

I think there is a difference between at the game and then on here.

At the game, if it's marginal, you have to call forwards, it's part of putting pressure on the ref. If they are going to make a mistake you want it in your favour.

That's why the home team 'tend' to do better.

Where there maybe a point is that teams with lower crowds may get less of those calls, because to put it bluntly, the pressure is less.

So at home yes we get more calls than the away team, but on home turf, you should be doing fine or at least 50/50 and if your not then it's down to your side giving away daft penalties.

On here I tend to call it as I see it, without the blinkers on, but if we are just going to keep up the sideline fan reaction on here, then there is no point having a discussion as we will stick to our own party line regardless of what is shown.

For example every huddersfield fan has seen the non-drop goal, even those who were never there.

But no one has watched boots and all therefore no retraction of the OTT reactions.

TRANSLATION = I was wrong to scream so heavily that it was a clear goal, but instead of admit it I'll post something else to deflect attention away from my previous wrong claims in the hope they'll got lost in the maze.

No cigar, not close, please go try to wind up somewhere else. I am not interested.

Then it becomes the ex-CEOs fault doesn't it?

Claret and Gold hat on, I thought it was a goal after watching the replays, though after noting some of the graphics presented on here I can't say I'm quite as convinced.

Some players seemed to think it was, some seemed to think it wasn't, Bentham should have gone to the screen as he did for so many other decisions etc. etc. Without reading every single post it seems to have been done to death.

However, and this may be one more task for the computer experts with their lines, little has been made of the fact St Helens players were frequently, if not routinely, offside during Huddersfield's attempts at the drop goal, one particular example being Walmsley who was clearly offside under the posts when Brough tried his third kick. And it was Walmsley who, on that occasion, charged it down. I fail to appreciate how this did not go unpunished by the match officials.

Had the officials had the backbone to act on these infringements we may have had a different story, though with Brough's erratic kicking this season nothing can be taken for granted. It could have spared me, as a Giants fan, a heartbreaking end to the game, though I confess this was assuaged by reading some of the arguments on here.

The real positive for me was that we played with more energy and enthusiasm than we have in so many games this season, though with a relatively short turnaround I fear a similar result, if not scoreline, tonight.