Mick.... Are you a Ref or related to one in any way??

Jossy like every fan of any rugby club I have been refereeing games from the stands since I was 4 years old.
Don't get me wrong I am a committed London broncos fan and have been for ages so yes I watch games through the broncos sunglasses and everyone is against us especially when we lose, and I shout for off side just like everyone else, understanding the offside rule helps though!
But answering the question, yep I am a qualified and experienced community level ref, and an RFL refs tutor. I am lucky enough to get to interact at times with the Refs from elite level down.
Trust me they call what they see, they don't give preference to one team over another, they would prefer to never have to blow the whistle in a game apart from re starts and scoring.
Every game is reviewed, if they are penalising too much it's looked at to try and see why, is it just the teams or is it the ref not managing the game or being out of position? Positioning fitness communication even the tone of the whistle is reviewed.
If a ref is giving a short or long 10 one way it's highlighted. And they self review as well as independent.
So when they get it wrong, they know about it.

And we tell em of course. I just have to do it quieter than most

Fair play to you mate

The referee shouldn't have to coach the players into obeying the rules, but they do. The best ( or worst) example was during the last RU WC, when Japan were talked through the 80 minutes by the referee in an attempt to keep the penalty count down.

As for the crowd calling for offside when there are two white lines between opposing players

Ah but the question is red, if a defending player is stood 8mtrs and in an offside position, is it a penalty?
If he does not affect play or get involved in the play its play on. Players can actually stand where they want on the field as long as they are not affecting play.

Loved the hand off by Bienek, it is a lost art but he has it off to a tee. Great prospect

Just as a follow up point, I remember a few years ago the club got into a tizz with the RFL over the discrepancies in penalties given for and against us. Phil Clarke on Sky got involved, as it's the kind of data thing he likes, and he reckoned London and Catalans were consistently awarded less penalties than their opponents, week after week, season after season. I remember him saying the club had shown the RFL evidence to back up this claim, and they'd admitted it was factually correct, but couldn't explain why it was happening and weren't interested in investigating it.

Just wondering if you'd heard about it at the time, or had any gossip on it. Or even an opinion.

I do remember that discussion. I didn't hear anything at the time,

Phil Clarke only proved statistically, what we as fans already knew. Whats more it continues to this day.

Of course it does, Phil Clark showed we give away more penalties and are not sharp enough to earn the penalties for us

once a ref always a ref - and you say fans are biased against the ref.

i never said fans are biased against the refs, fact is though as a fan we and yes I include myself because I am a fan as well, but as a fan you will spot every infringement that the opposition make, but will constantly choose to ignore the infringements the team yr supporting make.
How often do you call yr own team offside? How often are yr own team not square?
Reality is refs have no interest in who wins, and all they try and do from community up to elite is be consistent, as a fan it's difficult to see that, watch a neutral game instead.
Offside not square are penalties you generally earn through dominating the ruck in attack, we have not been very good at that for several seasons hence very few penalties

From memory it wasn't that we (and Catalans) gave away more penalties than other teams, but rather were awarded less penalties. And it wasn't a one off, either.

So to earn the penalties you have to dominate the ruck going foreword, we never did, we hardly ever earned them.