Referees have always been the subject of criticism in all sports and, fans will always accuse Refs of being 'biased' against their team!
On Sunday Stokes really got me annoyed though because, it actually looked as if he was only interested in penalising Leigh! I think?, he penalised us 12 times in twenty minutes, gave us two team warnings and put two players in the Sin Bin!!
I cant think I've ever seen a team so heavily penalised in the 60 odd years I've watched the game!
All this was occurring whilst our opponents were not committing 'any' indiscretions ! I know we are a Championship team and perhaps not as 'educated' as our illustrious colleagues in the Super League however, we had 8 players with international experience and a total of 12 players with SL or NRL experience playing, do they really not know the rules etc....?
I think the real reason is, George Stokes is a To@@er!!!!! Its a pity none of the journalist have the guts to publically criticise him too !

I rest my case and hope he doesn't officiate at any game that i'm personally attending ever again!!

Excellent post.

You got him.

We have him this week, I will put money on a very low penalty count. Not becuase of leigh's indiscipline but just because of the inconsistencies in refereeing.

If he got a score of 30/100 then I would expect him to be very closely watched this week, because of that we could have another ridiculous game where he gives all the minor infringements he sees, or if we are lucky he allows the game to flow and we see a great game of open, flowing rugby league.

We shall see.

Afraid not! His low penalty count will be in the game between those superbly disciplined SL players of Wigan & Salford, on Thursday. You, I'm afraid, will get it in the neck from him at weekend!

The RFL should watch the whole game,and suspend him accordingly.

The RFL should watch the whole game,and suspend him accordingly.

Agreed.

This is a curiosity, because I hate Mr Stokes officiating at Fax matches as well.

However, refs really aren't biased, and anyone who thinks they are is wrong! They all get assessed at every game, and we've seen some "demoted" from SL for poor performances in the past.

I suspect that our dislike of George is because he always thinks he's right? From my experience, he doesn't really seem to communicate with his touch judges, and always gives decisions as he sees it himself.

From watching games when he's officiated, I think he does seem to have a problem with communicating with the players. If you observe the best referees, they're always talking to the players. By generating a good affinity with the players on the pitch, and having a strong interaction with them, this translates into "Mr Invisible" from a spectator perspective. The converse is where referees officiate in isolation, which distances themselves from the players and makes everything much more noticeable from the terraces.

Just my thoughts?

Oh crapola - he's reffing us on Sunday!!! Aaaaaaaaargh!!!!!

In anticipation of him upsetting Wigan & Salford on Thursday!

Yup, sounds like he's managed it by missing a knock on to give Wigan the victory. Hopefully they'll drop him to 4th official for Sunday, though I doubt it.

I will be kind here - sometimes people get promoted into jobs they are simply not capable of doing. They can pass all the exams but when its real time they cannot perform, go back to sheep shearing Mr Stokes and reffing the local youth leagues, you will enjoy it more, we will.