What a great question!!!

Please keep any answers on the right side of the libel laws...

Well, the video ref on that particular night was St Helens' own Steve Ganson... but even he couldn't find anything wrong with it despite 5mins of trying.

Personally I just think the style of refereeing varies from game to game and from referee to referee. SL seems to favour a pedantic style of refereeing so the refs have too much influence over the momentum of both teams within a game. Because they're instructed to look for small infringements, they often either miss things or get it wrong. And because they have so much involvement, their egos are completely out of control.

Added to that you have linesmen who rarely get involved except when players step on the line and so we have loads of forward passes. Then the video ref, who is only there when Sky cover the game, is grossly over-used in SL and seems to disallow any try that involves dummy runners.

Someone posted a newspaper story where coaches stated how unhappy they were with Cummings - he can't go soon enough for me. The inconsistency and grandstanding of the officials are exactly how he was as a ref himself - no wonder that Salford fan stuck one on him

I will have a go at that .

James Child - Traffic warden (gives out penalties for f**k all)

Thierry Alibert - Prime minister (not a clue what hes doing and doesnt really listen to anybody, just does what he wants)

Richard Silverwood - Tax officer (If in doubt just guess and manage to nearly always get it wrong)

as far as i,m concerned, refereeing standards have hit the deck since Cummings took over. he was a crap referee to start off with, so to put him in charge of referees will only bring reffing standards right down
we should have an Aussie in charge(ex nrl) to bring reffing standards and consistency up to above a satisfactory level
well that's my opinion anyway

You could bring in all the technology in the world and while the rules are still subject to interpretation and human interaction, misjudgements will occur.

Having said that, I strongly believe we should have the VR at every game. It's a farce that it's only available at selected games as and when the Sky gods deem it necessary. I don't have too much of an issue with the VR being used for certain tries that involve dummy runners as another poster has mentioned, because the rule is there for a reason as we saw in the Wire game with the cynical blocking off of the Bradford defender that was righty ruled out by the VR.

The touch judges need to get involved more and assist the refs when it comes to forward passes and offsides, otherwise it places too much pressure on the refs and their performance is bound to suffer. The in-goal judges were supposed to be brought in to act as VRs of sorts to assist the refs, but all I've seen of them so far is them standing there looking bored/cold and not really doing much.

instead of moaning about refs why the hell dont u lot go and pick up the whistle yourself . then we will have fantastic refs give it a go and lets see how good you are .£35,000 a year must be worth ago

Assuming that even refs are human and liable to make mistakes, has anyone actual stats to back up claims made that they are all cr*p???

Are they for instance more prone to gafs than refs in other sports (cricket aside)??

I know that when I watch a game as a neutral, the refs always appear to get most things right, most of the time but when I watch any game Wigan are involved in, all I remember are the mistakes.

They put themselves forward for this. No-one makes them do it.

Silverwood is a better ref than I would be. That's not the point. I don't pretend to be an expert at refereeing!

If you put yourself forward to be a top ref then you have to deliver excellent performances. If you don't then you are going to get criticised...

What bugs me about this whole forum is that many people who know nothing about the match officiating system want to comment on the roles of touch judges and in goals.

ur right no one makes them do it just that there wouldnt be any 7,8,9, amatuer rugby as the coaches have to do it .so if know one put themselves forward there would be no rugby league end of .

most people on here havent got a f**king clue what goes on matchday

you're missing the point, which is that these guys are supposed to be GOOD at what they do, they aren't simply doing it for the love of the game and we can accept a rubbish level of performance, they are accepting an obligation to do a good job. Are you really saying that you'd be happy with a neutral fan being plucked from the stands to ref a SL game?

you deffo havnt got a clue

Have you ever listened into the match officials communication kits on game day?