Can someone clarify (or at least point me in the direction of a rule book) the knock on ruling. I am one of those people that loves both codes of this great sport and one of the huge differences and annoyances for me is the knock on ruling in league.

After watching Warrington Wigan tonight. It seems to me that a knock on in league is just a general loss of control of the ball no matter what direction it goes in. Where as in union, if you lose it, as long as it doesn't go forward, it's still play on.

Union seems to have it right for me and it results in far less whistle blowing (at least in this area of the game).

Thoughts?????????????

You are being facetious....

My feeling is always that it is the responsibiliy of the ball carrier to secure the ball and if it is dropped or fumbled, unless it is blatantly backwards, it is a knock on.

Some of the things the Yawnion boys get away with are ridiculous - Dan Marino would be proud of them!!!!!

now just the rest of the game to stop blowing the damn thing!

I watch it every now and then when it's on and my god i'm glad i'm a league fan!!

Well I agree with you about your interpretation of a knock on.

You think some odd knock on decisions in tonights match ? You should have been at Widnes v Leigh earlier this season.

Leigh kicked deep into Widnes 20 metre area Widnes full back drops it ball goes forward and referee Ronnie Incompetant,I don,t know rhe rules,Lawton waved play on.

We still won.

The touch judges should be up to seeing if the ball travels forward. Although the 'moment rule' that Stevo keeps harking on about is just nonsense.

I used to laugh at union for ignoring forward passes, but now the situation in league is a far bigger joke. Anyone who watched the Donny Halifax and Wire Wigan matches will have seen how forward passes are now virtually ignored in our game. That is what made it even more frustrating for Donny when they had a try disallowed for a forward. It did look forward, but considering that it was just about the only one pulled up in the entire match, they were unlucky. The first Widnes try at Leigh last week was a joke too. Years ago, refs always missed the odd forward pass, but now they hardly ever give one. The touch judges virtually never intervene for forward passes. IMO it is just yet another feature of our game that is cheapening it. I cannot believe that touch judges and refs are constantly missing forward passes and that they do not know what a knock on is. What is going on? Mr. Cummings has a lot to answer for. In the Rugby League World Cup, forward passes were pulled up a lot and the England boys seem shocked as did people such as Eddie Hemmings. The way the game is being officiated over here really is sad. It is not rugby league as we once knew it. The sooner Mr. Cummings is out, the better for the sport all across the board IMO.

You're right. I think they're not picked up because the officials can't keep up with play. Which is fair enough so shouldn't we be looking at technology that can pick these things up?

Possibly so. What concerns me however, is that the situation has progressively worsened during the reign of Mr.Cummings. He watches all the matches that we do. He is not a stupid man and he has reffed at the highest level. He can see that the forward pass rule virtually does not exist in league nowadays and that there are huge problems regarding ball steals, knock ons etc. This has been the case for years now over here and he has done absolutely nothing about it. Therefore, I can only assume this is the new way he wishes the game to be played. I for one, cannot stand watching a rugby league that now says it was forward, but so what. That is not and never was, IMO, how league was meant to be played. ALL refs seem fixated on players being square and on side and on watching replay after replay on the big screen, to see if a player has grounded the ball etc, which is fine, but not when it seems some of the basic and crucial rules of our game, seem to be being overlooked. As all refs seem to ref in this manner,I can only assume that this is the way they are directed to do things. Very wrong and very sad IMO. I love and always will love our game, but there are a lot of areas that could easily be improved for the good of the game in general, but it would seem our director of match officials is happy with how thing are. I believe that says a lot.

i dont think things are as bad as your making out

Just what I was thinking, the speed of the game does not help the match officials and they have to be 100% certain to give them. As long as they look at the hands and make a fair judgement then its okay