I've been making similar comments about the officials for a while now. Due to their poor quality the players don't respect them, leading to scrappy games where the players try it on with the ref or try to take the law into their own hands. After that, it's a downward spiral IMO.

I'd love to know what measures are taken to deal with incompetent or bias (or both!) referees.

If a player puts a toe out of line, he's usually off for a very public humiliation at the disciplinary committee. Same for a coach - he utters a word of dissatisfaction, and he could be publically reprimanded and/or fined.

But what happens when the refs screw up, particularly given that it could cost a team a Cup Final? There surely must be some comeuppance for some of the performances we've seen of late, especially the video refs, who now seem to drop at least one gonad every game. But if it happens at all, it's always behind closed doors ... which is a real let-off for them.

I've got no issue with Amor making his presence felt, I thought a penalty was the correct decision as he went down with a clenched fist and first contact was with his fist. He punched Sam on the shoulder.


As for the Barba try this is where having to have 'conclusive evidence to overturn the on field decision' is not working. I've said it time and time again, just let the VR make a decision. The reason Clubbs was a no try was because that was the infield call, Barba's was given because it went up as a try.

Pretty much nothing. There are a lack of referees already, meaning mediocre and downright awful performances cannot be subject to bans/downgrading, because there'd not be enough to cover the next round of fixtures.

This "swinging arm" quote does make me smile. How is a player supposed to affect a tackle without swinging his arm?


As for the penalty it was not given until the pushing match when they stand up.


If a prop has a free shot of one of the oppositions creative players he is in my opinion letting his team down if he doesn't take it. Just because it is one of our players on the receiving end of it doesn't suddenly make me think it is wrong.

As for the rest of your rant I actually don't mind sometimes conceding a penalty or 2, it goes with the style we have chosen to play. Consistently giving away penalties when we have the ball flopping on tackled players and penalties on the 4th or 5th tackle though are ridiculous, especially when they are unforced. Think on 2 occasions against Saints we gave away penalties off dominant tackles. Teams running hard fighting for a quick play the ball winning penalties is credit to them, giving away unforced penalties through being lazy or stupid is another matter though.

I await further ranting.....

I liked the idea of the initial ref's call prior to sending the try or no try to the video ref, but as you say it isn't working. If it is a tight call they take the easy way out and go with the ref.

From when I have seen it in Union the ref doesn't make a call and simply asks, for any reason not to award the try. It is then decided on from that point.

union has two calls 1 any reason i cannot award the try 1 Try yes or no, subtly different, also the onfield ref views the footage with the VR and can over rule

For me did swing his arm and was a penalty.

Sam Burgess did that a year or 2 ago and got penalised for it but the hit was more ferocious it was still deemed illegal due to the movement of the arm.

You surely know the difference between someone swinging his arm to actually make a tackle and someone swinging it with a clenched fist into the back of a player lying prone on the floor. Did Ben Westwood's swinging arm on Blake Green make you giggle as well?

And while it is true that the penalty was only given after the scuffle, Hicks was clearly told because he indicated the penalty was for the swinging arm.

The standard of refereeing is getting poorer because the pool of referees the RFL have to choose from is getting smaller.

The reason it's getting smaller is because of the constant abuse referees receive from officials and parents in the amateur game , at both youth and open age .

I reckon that a lot of the people moaning about the refs in Super League are probably the same people hurling abuse at young referees on a Sunday morning. Many of these refs are children under 18 years of age. It's disgusting some of the stuff that goes on, that's why the numbers are dwindling.

Well I can tell you that your assumption is wrong in my case and I strongly resent it.

I maintain the difference was the initial contact was with the fist onto Tomkins' shoulder. I agree that pretty much every forward in the game would take the opportunity, had he dropped on him forcefully then that's fine but he didn't.
D