Constant carping on here about refs, usually by the losing team and occassionally premised with we deserved to lose but the ref was******.

Cas fans unhappy about smith tonight but if i was Smith Cas would never have had 13 players on the pitch. None of them ever played the ball correctly and should have been penalised. then they should have been binned for persistent penalties.

However Catalans would also have had players binned for never playing the ball so that would have evened things up.

However Catalans should have had players binned for high tackles.

But then Cas should have had players binned for all the grapple tackles.

I also thought Smith was too lenient with the offside. he should have binned several players from both teams for persistent infringements.

Do not get me started on the players who should have been binned for giving facials and as for the deliberate lying on, and slowing down the PTB.


the constant attempts by both teams to milk penalties and con the referee should have led to several more sin binnings for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

In fact Smith ruined the game tonight through his failure to play strictly to the letter of the law.

It would have been much better if he had binned them all and we could have gone out with three a side, it makes for a much more open and fast paced game.

There is no point blaming the referree when the problem is the sdministrators, RFL, coaches and players who constanly look for ways to get around the laws of the game ( and they ALL do it).

It is up to those who run the game to decide what needs to be done and not left to the refs to try to sort out the mess and impossible job they have been given.

If you were a ref.....well, I dread to think.

"Cancel the match, let's all goto the pub instead chaps."

If Smith played to the letter of the law, Catalan would have had 2 or 3 players sent off for high tackles.

If any ref stuck to the letter of the law at Huddersfield games Huddersfield would rarely have 13 players on the pitch.

If any ref stuck to the letter of the law at any game there would never be any play, just penalties.

If its a decision that costs you the game which was the wrong decision then what are you ment 2 blame?

yOUR TEAM FOR NOT BEING AT LEAST 2 TO 6 POINTS BETTER THAN YOUR OPPONENTS.

I think the point of rugby league; being a sport played by elite athletes is that it is a fast paced, exciting game that is good to watch and a sport that spectators will pay money to see. All of what you have said in your initial post would work to slow the game down and would have been extremely frustrating from a fans and probably a players perspective too. I think refs get a lot of stick... maybe unneccesary criticism. Sometimes they make mistakes, but so do the players, probably moreso. Fans have a right to moan about the referees, thats what they pay their money for but i think its unfair to constanly criticise referees. For what its worth i thought the ref did a good job tonight and although i have seen some strange decisions throughout this years competition - it is all part of the game and we just have to accept that.

Are you an American or should i have put a wink on after the first 10 paragraphs

For a start!

It would be worthwhile for the spectators to ACTUALLY understand the rules of the game.

It might be a good idea if the players and coaches did as well, but for some that dosn't seem to be as important

its all getting a bit tedious to be honest
like i said on the other thread, referee's make mistakes,just like players and coaches make mistakes
every game will have controversial moments in it, lets face it the ref hasn't got tv replays like most of us have sat watching at home
yes we all give the officials some stick, but most of it totally unjustified IMO

but i dont see posts on here slagging players off who make mistakes which costs team's games but every week supporters of clubs who lose are moaning about referee's, our own supporters are the same its cringeworthy and embarrassing at times and supporters whilst not losing any passion for the game should try and accept that if your team loses its because they weren't good enough not because of the referee.

We have a winner

Spot on, I think some people expect Refs to be so sort of robot who never make any errors in the heat of the moment. At the end of the day they can only call things as they see them.

I do think the comment about fans understanding the rules of the game is very true aswell, I think some fans just look for any reason to slag the ref off regardless of if their is actually anything their.

Me been a very bad lad when i played i think all refs are w_nkers and alway will be there just geeks who did not have the balls to play the game deserve .

The issue with the Cas game was not the ref making a mistake but a bad rule that needs changing

When Rangi Chase dropped on the ball how was he to know who had placed their hand on his back ?

If it had been a Catalans player he was deemed tackled

If it was a Cas player it was play on

And what exactly in the rules states that a player cannot play the ball backwards between his legs in general play ?

If a player thinks he is tackled then all that should happen is he loses a tackle from the six

To give a penalty is crazy

Bad rule

Extrapolate from IF chase hadn't dropped the ball!

What next?

I agree, should be a knockon really...