Apart from the claim that it is for "most" RL fans, I'd say that was pretty much spot on. If you'd said "most fans on social media" then you'd be right. And yes, it's embarrassing.

Because I like to watch the rugby, not sit there with a notebook and keyboard, desperate for some perceived refereeing error to salivate about, I actually enjoyed the match very much, it was very physical, and Widnes did great to claw their way to a draw, plenty of emotion, and incident, plenty of commitment and passion. Unless you believe that all officials must be impossibly 100% perfect at all times in all they do, the officials did fine, as ever there were decisions you can say you disagree with or things you think they missed but they are human and so are you, the fact you're on a forum doesn't mean you're right and the ref was wrong. It is great to discuss and analyse but unhealthy and a bit weird to obsess. A lot on here are waaaaaaay on the wrong side of that line.

Was looking forward to the opening night but now so sad that all we are talking about all the ref.That idiot should never have been elavated to the pro game. The fans in East hull don,t want him near Craven park.

I think the reason people bag the ref so much is because it's all the 'commentators' do throughout the ENTIRE match. Why even have Cummings in the studio? He is there because the refereeing decisions are all they talk about and it drives me crazy.
Every once in a while Eddie will make a feeble attempt to actually call the game, before Stevo or one of the other numpties will chime in about some foul play that deserved to be a penalty.

It's the first game of the season and I'm already fed up of them. I can't wait for the NRL season to start so I can actually watch some rugby matches where the commentators just call the game in front of them.

I actually don't think Child got those 2 incidents wrong. In previous years the Ah Van sending off would never have been a red but this is 2015 and with the new rules I don't think Child had any other option.
His overall performance though was shocking, and his officiating of the ruck was especially poor. It also seems that every game he's involved in boils over and he loses complete control of it, and it's clear to me the players don't respect him.

Anyway, enough about the ref and back to the RL, and well played Widnes on a great result. It was an entertaining start to the season, and the overall quality was better than the majority of opening games seen in the last few years.
Wigan were generally poor, and despite all the physical brovado from the likes of Clubb, Bateman, and the 'Polynesian with the ponytail' their pack wasn't up to much, which taking the game in isolation is worrying for them because on paper Widnes have one of the weaker packs in the competition and they managed to handle Wigan quite well overall.

Before Cummings was in the studio, it was still always talk of the referees, nothing has changed and reason they are talked about is because they are so incompetant!
I decided not to renew my SKY sports package this year due to the fact that watching SL is shocking, one game in and all the talk is about the ref, it's a joke! I nearly talked myself round into purchasing it again yesterday, glad I didnt! Watched it a friends house and I wont be rushing round to watch many more game. Roll on the NRL!

You know Child has had a nightmare game when even Robert Hicks is telling him what to do....

I agree! You'd think that after watching the game for so long the other 3 blokes in the commentary box would have a strong enough grasp of the rules to be able to explain it to the viewer.

As I put earlier, what other sports broadcasts are manned by such an inept commentary team that they need to bring in an ex-ref to correct them every time they fly off the handle and incorrectly knock a decision? It's bizarre.

It should be such a simple concept. One professional commentating and telling the audience what's going on, and one expert giving their opinion on the GAME, & informing the audience on intracacies which they may miss.

They're like a bunch of fans watching it at the pub. Fkn awful.

There wouldn;t be half as much chatter about James Child if it wasn't for the Sky team wittering on about it all game and the cameras zooming in on Child's face.

The ref was very poor, both with the big decisions but also throughout the game.

But what annoyed me more was the fact it's the season opener, it's our big kick off of the season, Widnes had done their bit by getting a big crowd in and then what do we do?
Put it on a Thursday night and Sky have a section of their pre-match dedicated to refereeing and the "new" rules/interpretations. It was also done incredibly amateurishly.
Then we have the delight of Stuart Cummings all through the game again. Meaning every red decision that's not 100% is debated by 4 bloody people.
If Sky want to discuss the rules then get Stuart Cummings on Boots n All. There's no need and no place for it on the pre-match build-up to the season opener. Should be all about the clubs and the players not the refs.

Sky's saving grace, as ever, is Wells & Carney. Sadly not given enough time.

Things need putting into perspective a little here, First off the most difficult job on that pitch is that of the ref. He has to control and manage 26 hard, aggressive men who are trying to knock seven bells out of each other. While doing that he is expected to also follow every on the ball and off the ball incident and make the right calls at all times.

He does this to a backdrop of aggressive Supporters ( and in the amateur game parents ) who wont miss a single thing that happens to their players or kids, while seeming able to explain away every infringement their own team commits. Anyone who has reffed, be it at under 8's in the North west counties or at the top level will tell you it is nightmare job. I have reffed only between the ages of u7's and u9's and i die a little inside each time im forced to do it, forced by the fact that if i dont, 20 odd kids dont get to play rugby on that sunday.

At the end of that match, i will be criticized by parents, players and coaches from both teams for the things i miss. I have only ever once received a compliment at the end of a game regardless of how the game goes. comments like " how did you miss that shot off the ball!" are pretty common or, " They are always offside", " How did you miss that knock on, i saw it clear as day ". Newsflash guys, while you are concentrating solely on either your child ( at Amateur ) or your team ( Professional ) the ref is trying to concentrate on every player on the pitch. While policing the Defensive line, he is trying to control the play the ball, the markers. He is trying to keep his eye on the kid who has lost his temper and is looking for trouble, all the while he is surrounded by people screaming at him that he is doing a poor Job. In many cases he is getting Verbal abuse of the kind most people wouldnt dream to use outside of the Rugby enviroment.

And all the time he is, Alone trying to control those 26 Aggressive, Powerful rugby players intent on smashing each other. Had that game not been live no one would have batted an eyelid at Ahh vans sending off, He hit high and left a player unconscious. But sky have 27 cameras and 400,000 experts to judge that decision.

My main issue with the Officiating at the game last night was how little help referees seem to get from touch judges, you remember when a touch judge helps make a decision because they are so rare. Seriously the guys at Sky dont help, the 400,000 experts watching sky sports dont help neither do the hundreds of negative posts on the net that seem solely intent on talking only about the referee.

Think you could do a better job? from around march the 1st hundreds of games will be getting played all over the country as junior rugby league starts again. There will be refs available for very few of them, but for every one person who is willing to do that role so others can enjoy their sport, there will be litterally hundreds of people just waiting to abuse them as an outlet for their lack of understanding of both the rules and the pressures of refereeing a sport like this.

I will do it again, and i hate it, and i will get abuse, threatened and want to give it up. Ask why there are not many great refs in Rugby league and then have a go yourself. You will never ask that question again.

I get why people talk about the ref. But I do have an issue with Cummings being in the commentary team.

Last year for me it just made it worse when he would agree that a wrong call had been made. How many other people in world get a real time assessment by their boss of every decision made and then have it published world wide.

It's an utter no win scenario. If the commentators say it's wrong, well then that has no effect on the ref as in the cold light of day in a private assessment there will be a balanced discussion of the things he got right and wrong. But when your boss has to cast judgement then and there, it just seems a big demotivator to being a ref.

I've often said if we had robots reffing people would moan as the game would be one long penalty as none of the players can go a set of six without doing something against the rules.

If the player was hit high, then the sending off is not wrong, it is a possible wrong interpretation but the actual wrong was hitting the player high. ie it was the players fault. It's very rare that a player gets sent off for hitting a player in the chest.

I think it would be a better arguement to say you would interperate the rules differently to the ref got it wrong.
We there any incidents last night were the ref gave a penalty for a tackle around the waist, for just running the ball in?
Everything else is a view. So if Sky say it's not a sending off, that's just their view, it's not a statement of fact.

Surely Cummings isn't really Child's 'boss' right now?

I'm no fan of Childs, who was poor throughout, but I accept the point that if the guidelines are, deliberate contact with the head is a straight red, then Ah Van had to go, and the ref had little choice. Personally, I agree with most posters (including most Wigan fans here) that a red card for what seemed like an instinctive and non-malicious challenge looked very harsh.

I'm surprised and disappointed in Smith; that cheap act of petulance seemed out of character. I wonder if he and Tomkins can expect further retrospective action?

This.

Also what other sport has a referee/umpire in the commentary box to explain the rules of the game to supposedly expert commentators?

If Eddie and Stevo were in any way competent they wouldn't *need* Cummings there. But for some reason the Sky producers want every opportunity to talk about refreeing rather than actual rugby.

Firstly, I agree with everything you say. But last night we were lucky in that the season opener produced the goods, given that the prospect of that happening had been jeopardised by Widnes being reduced to 12 thanks to a fairly soft sending off. I think everyone understand that refs are human but in the eyes of many there are too many marginal decisions being turned into game-changers by over-zealous officials. We all see - regularly - players being shown leniency for fouls on a par with Ah Van's.

Now I watched the game as a neutral, entirely no interest in who won at all - though I expected Wigan to take 2 points

From the outset they looked the better team but it soon became apparent that the two teams were not being referred the same way, it's more Wigans lack of finishing that sunk them than Widnes determination - though that was admirable

Was Ah Van a red card? Moot point, but if it was why wasn't Farrel red carded for a high late hit on the kicker?

J Tomkins deserves a couple of matches for simply attacking a player from behind when nothing was actually happening

Yes its a tough job being a ref, yes they make mistakes

But at least treat both teams the same