Following his outrageous comments about last Friday's referee he should be brought before the judiciary and given a stiff penalty for his verbal attack on Mr Cobb. We teach boys from age 7 to respect the referee, accept his decisions (right or wrong) and keep your mouth shut or face the consequences. I have not seen the game and what Betts said may be true but, as a professional he should keep his views to himself, or temper them for the media. Joe Cobb may be the worst referee ever, or just have had an off day, or was it because Widnes lost? We need to throw the book at Betts to send the message out that such attacks on referees will not be tolerated

Except we don't teach boys or girls to respect the referee. We teach them to scream and moan at him and if it doesn't go our way to get angry and worked up. And none of that occurs because of what Dennis Betts or anybody in SL does or doesn't do.

Totally agree. A few years ago John Kear had some issues with Ashley Klein; he raised it with the RFL who subsequently took action. Little of this made the press; handled correctly by all sides.

No Junior rugby club I have ever been involved in encouraged the kids to scream and moan at the referee.

Really? Not at any age group at your club had the coaches shouted and screamed at the referee? Or allowed the parents to shout and scream at the referee? I see it every weekend at different clubs across Yorkshire.

In my experience young lads are taught never to approach the referee, unless he calls you over and yes, they still have to call him sir

That was also my experience - coaches, assistants, parents and other spectators screaming at the (often junior) ref, with clubs unwilling, or unable, to do anything about it; the best deterrent I ever saw in the junior league, was a young ref who always came with his Dad, who looked a bit handy.

Not at any club I have been involved in. I recall a couple of occasions where parents (from our club) have been spoken to by club officials and have subsequently calmed down. There are some junior clubs who, undoubtedly, encourage their kids and parents to scream at the (often 14 yr old) referee and I have personally submitted a lengthy report about one of those clubs to the authorities, but largely, at a junior level, most clubs teach the kids and parents to respect referees.

I will take a guess... you say you see it every week? Well I suspect that you have a problem at your club then.

Correct.

I don't have a club, I watch various clubs and I see it regularly and its regularly reported to have happened at other games. It's also one of the 2 main reasons reported to me by parents/kids who drop out of the amateur game.
I'd have to say you're either just not seeing/noticing it, or your club/age group is very much in the minority.

Yep. That's what I generally see. That screaming and shouting from the sidelines gets the kids more worked up and leads to more violence and abuse. Just last week I saw a coach shouting at a 12 year old referee, who handled it brilliantly. The shouting and screaming from that teams coaches and parents was throughout the game and significantly contributed to the negative atmosphere at the game which then, lo and behold, led to a fight. At u11's.

Our previous 2 coaches in Ian Millward and Daniel Anderson use to raise issues with the RFL but they use to say that the RFL were a waste of space because there was no transparency and nothing gets done to improve things.

The last couple of years match official standards are pretty rock bottom, they are far to weak and inconsistent, players and coaches these days can manipulate the referee. I think most coaches last season and this season have had a "dig" at the referee, some players are questioning nearly every decision these days and its knocking the intensity out of games.

I've got nothing against Joe Cobb at all, i met him in Perpignan last year and he came across a very nice, genuine guy, however he is still very raw and inexperienced in refereeing terms.
The fact that for 2 weeks now, a coach has complained about his handling of the game and insinuations that his decisions decided the outcome of games is a worry.
I don't agree with coaches slating officials in post match interviews, but emotion etc usually takes over.
I think it would good for Joe Cobb to take time out from refereeing in top flight games and get a bit of confidence back.
I do also think that refereeing standards are poor at the moment, and yes, we all give them some stick at games, but they are only human after all.

I coach an u10s team in the NW, have been involved since u7s. I could (but won't) name the 2 or 3 clubs that regularly have issues with the way they speak to referees and also have the kids most likely to hit out/high tackle/be nasty. But the vast majority are well behaved and treat the refs we have with respect. Our kids are told very clearly not to argue with refs and to focus on their own game rather than the refs performance. And I've heard other coaches say similar.
As for Betts l thought he was as out of order as Anderson and should have similar punishment. Not good for the New England Asst

I'm shocked to see Widnes fans not blaming Gibson for Betts comments as well