given I was stood slap bang right behind the sticks I couldn't tell you if it was forward, as either could someone stood on the halfway line

I was bang alongside, as was the touch judge, and the pass crossed the white line - going forwards!!

That's my point - the ref was unable to see it - the TJ could - when can't the TJ assist?

Two issues

Eraof the Biff "Arent they called referees assistants"

no: wrong game : that's wendyball.

Lawrie L "given I was stood slap bang right behind the sticks I couldn't tell you if it was forward, as either could someone stood on the halfway line"

absolute rubbish:
the ball crossed a painted on line WHICH is visible from where you stood i.e if a passed ball goes from behind the 20 metre line and is caught in front of the 20 metre line, it goes forward.
The movement of a ball across a white line in a forward direction is easily observable from the slightly higher position you were in unless you have become politically blind.

Sorry but you have not read the post, nor thought, nor argued well.
I can call you many names but you would insult any of them.

For the record, the better team over the 80 won, and I have got over it.

super league show may be interesting

At the end of the days leeds were better, if you can't find touch with a pen do you deserve to win a super league game???

And most referees wont ask as its probably seen as a weakness and marked down by the referee director of performance @ the game.
Dont forget the referees have to achieve certain levels of performance to continue to ref @ the top level and keep their full time job as a referee if they are seen to be passing the book to a part time linesmen to make a call the powers that be will this and a question mark over their ability and may stop them achieving their dream of refereeing finals and internationals.

So rather than encouraged to use all the support around him to make the correct decition he'll just make a gut decition on what he saw right or wrong when its not on TV in 12 hours time nobody remembers the incident the result still stands and you move on to the next game.

As for spotting forward passes from behind the goals you look for two thing

1) Where the attackers feet are when the ball leaves the passers hands and how many steps has to take to recieve it can be made easier with pitch markings

2) The position of the throwers and catchers hands in relation to his body and away they are from their body the more forwad the pass
There is another more complicated way by looking at the positioning of the back of recievers hands but without examples its a bit card to explain.

Leeds are a champion team and shouldnt need any favours when putting salford to bed, in a way the top teams are the top teams for one reason they can do stuff quicker than the other teams if that includes the odd forward pass then more power to their elbow you earn the right to that type of luck thats why they are near the top

Ok here's my two penneth worth. Firstly, regardless of the result Leeds were the better team and deserved to win today. They were bigger, stronger, faster and more skillful than us which 9 times out of 10 means you're going to win. However, that doesn't detract from the total ineptness of every one of the officials on show today. Missed forward passes, knock-ons, lying on etc are unacceptable when you have 3 officials involved in a game. ATEOTD the TJ's should be there to assist the ref which should mean giving them greater powers. The TJ's are in the best position to judge on things like forward passes so let them f*cking do it!!! I'm an Admin Manager and it's like saying to me, "well Slim you're great at dealing with Finance and Performance but we only really want you to deal with the post"!!!

The 2nd half Sinfield "conversion" from the far touchline (AT stand side) summed it up for me. One TJ gave it, the other one had a cheeky look over his shoulder, saw his mate had given it and then stuck his own flag up as he blatantly didn't have a clue .

The bad decisions shouldn't detract from the fact Leeds were the better team but the last thing you want to be doing is walking out iof a ground seething by yet more shoddy officiating

Leeds can't pass the ball backwards, you should know that by now.

Two matters:
1. The ball as it leaves the hands does have to be going backward in relation to the pitch. The position of the hands do not necessarily count as backward pointing hands can still flip a ball forward (not easy but I have seen it done). As above the feet are a give away.
However a bigger give away was the angle of the ball as it crossed the line. A ball going backward can be propelled forward by the wind: not a factor at that height yesterday.
Yes, I was once a ref.

2. The issue of names was to wake you up to the fact that the original post was not a criticism of Leeds but a response to several comments by Salford fans at the stadium, after the match and on radio : why could the touch judge not advise the ref? You took it as a criticism of Leeds and started a flow that we were blaming the ref for the loss. Read the post. It was a discussion amongst Salford fans of the issues within the game that need sorting and we are not alone in feeling that Touch Judges need to be formally given a greater role.

We also benefitted from a forward pass but the last minute defence stopped us scoring (most other teams would have not stopped that move).