No, there isn't.

if you say so pal...

how many Catalan games have you actually been to this season as a matter of interest ? on what do you base your opinion ?

Catalans have been penalised the same amount of times as Leeds and Warrington, and less than Bradford, Salford, London, Hull & Widnes. I'm not sure how that proves a bias by northern officials against non-northern clubs.

as a previous poster said, you can make stats prove anything you want

fact is that Catalans have had to play against the opposition plus the ref in all of the games i've seen this season at the GB

I can actually recall one incident when Mr Thaler missed an obvious forward pass by the Catalans to give them a crucial four points in the HKR game

two games, the Wires cup game and the Wigan game at Montpellier the Catalans were completely outplayed by the better team and deservedly lost but even then the reffing was appalling (for both sides)

There certainly wasn't at P O Road in 2008, in the CC when Ben Thaler disallowed what appeared to be a perfectly good try by Featherstone agains Catalans. It occurred within ten yards of where I was standing, he disallowed the try but gave no signal as to why he was disallowing it, he just signalled play on. I still don't know today what was wrong with it. Fev were nowhere near the team they are today, but Catalan were looking very shakey and that try might have been the straw that broke the camel's back - we shall never know.

is Thaler the worst ref in SL at present ?

Well, Catalans did themselves no favours with constant forward passes, niggly play and mouthing off at the referee today.

If they want to quit, fine with me.

If you honestly believe that the officials are biased against the French, I'd question why you bother with the sport anymore.

You've offered nothing to back up this opinion, yet have asked others to give evidence. You're only evidence is "I've been to more games than you". That doesn't cut the mustard.

Is it though?

Ok, so there is this supposed issue with lack of numbers away from home. But the interest they have generated away from the hard core fans shouldnt be underestimated (although granted it not quantitive).

But enough fans still enjoy their away trip and they provide enough entertainiment to make me feel Dragons are part of the SL furniture now and should stay there.

No , he is the worst EVER !!!!!!!!!!

And probably 95% of fans of other clubs will say exactly the same about the performance of officials at their games. Get a life, you're not treated any better or worse than anyone else.

yes, it's blatantly obvious and I am getting fed up with it - it's a long drive for me to watch SL games and i'm getting to the stage where I really can't be bothered - the LER is great entertainment with the general mix of reffing - some good some bad just like it is in the Championship probably but it usually evens itself come the end of the season. Toulouse in the LER is good entertainment, much more fun than the Championship years IMO - the general level of RL is inferior of course in the LER but it's more enjoyable for the punter - can't wait for the season to start

no, i've no proof to give you only what i've seen, it's becoming a joke ask other independant regulars to the GB, there are quite a few neutrals who travel long distances for the priveledge of watching SL - you can belive it or not, I don't give a monkeys mate - Guasch is capable of pulling out of SL and I for one wouldn't complain - as Robinson says, what's the point when the odds are stacked against you before you even kick off ?

got a great life thanks and it's not in a dump overlooking the Humber or within spitting distance of Springbank fortunately !

Les Cats can hardly claim exclusive rights over poor refereeing displays; we witnessed another one at BV this weekend, with Mr Alibert making some frankly mystifying and inexplicable calls against both sides. The latest moment of Uncle Albert comedy gold - Meli receives a pass that everyone in the stadium knew to be several metres forward, runs over the tryline then gives himself up by not even bothering to ground the ball; players and linesmen look to Mr Alibert in anticipation of him blowing up, who frantically waves for Meli to ground the ball, then gives the try - cue a melee of confused players and touchies, looking at each other in amazement.

I'd suggest that SL Head Coaches and Chairmen might be better served making a sensible presentation to the RFL about the overall poor quality of officiating with suggestions on how to improve, rather than individually claiming that their own team are being badly done to on purpose, a la Mike Rush after this weekend's closer than it should have been defeat to the mighty Trin.

As said, the home fans of every club will tell you how biased the ref was against their team, but when the club management actually buy into the conspiracy in the cold light of day, it really is time for them to call it a draw. I entirely support their wish to retire and don't see what else they can do; the ultimatum seems to be "Stop the refs being biased against us or we go". As the refs are not biased against them, and obviously cannot change the way they referee, by definition, the demand is as impossible as it is mad.

It is all a shame as Catalan are a fine addition to the competition, but the madness is all down to them.