Players can pass a ball backwards whilst moving.

1. It's called a forward pass because the player passes it forward with his hands. By your definition the vast majority of passes where players are running will be forward. Seriously I don't think you understand the rule. Imagine throwing some rubbish straight behind you out of your car. You threw it backwards, it looks to you like it went backwards, but it will land forwards of where it left your hands. Search "forward pass explained" on that video site, think it's on there still
2. Yes I do, but you would look more uninformed than you already do if you started trying to seriously talk to the RFL about 'linesman'
3. I don't give them stick, and recognise when they're right (even when it goes against Wigan), that puts me in a very small minority. Seriously, I don't think you're understanding the real issue (and I do agree there is one), these tiny cosmetic changes you suggest would have almost no effect. There is a serious shortage of refs to choose from, and it's not hard to work out why

Maybe a petition to show the ref's a little more respect for doing a very demanding job, to a very high standard on a weekly basis, would encourage more people to be a ref, thus increasing the talent pool, thus increasing the standard of refereeing.

FWIW the standard of refereeing is not all that poor in our game. Considering it's played at break neck speed, and the refs have to make a judgement call on every ruck, every pass, every tackle, it's not all that bad.

I would love to see anyone who signed this petition referee an u8s game to a high standard, let alone a SL game.

I honestly believe the standard of officiating isn't a problem.

The problem is fans perceiving the standard of officiating as being low, because they themselves don't understand the rules properly.

Hopefully the addition of Cummins as a sky pundit will go some way to curing this.

Its not stopped tweedle dum and dee from spouting rubbish yet unfortunately.

I once ref'd a kids game and its tough, then you start getting the parents having a go and you and you start thinking you're making mistake after mistake. I'll never call refs again and anyone who does should just go and try to ref one game because it will change their opinion.

The main issue for me is how differently the televised games are refereed compared to the non-televised game. The technology is an asset to the sport IMO but it needs to be at all games, or none at all. As an example, tries very rarely get chalked off for obstruction at non-TV games but the video ref will spend 2-3 mins scrutinising where the ball was passed/caught etc.

As well as consistency between TV games and non-TV games, there needs to be one set of rules that covers SL, NRL and internationals/WCC games. This would probably mean that we would have to adopt the 2 refs system.

The bottom line for both of these is funding. It's not the standard of officiating that needs to improve, it's the funding for officiating so that the referees can apply the same rules to the games each week.

Totally agree, and it won’t end their prejudices either.

Totally agree. If we are to have two refs and a VR at every game, that obviously requires more refs. While we can get some from the Championship in the short term, more needs to be done to get people into refereeing.

Only then will all decisions be made on a level playing field. I've no doubt that Charnley's try from the other week against Hull KR would have been chalked off had it not been on the telly, which could have totally altered the course of the game. At 10-10, it was anyone's game.

Generally, I don't have an issue with how most referee's manage games. But every now and then, certain referee's let their emotion rule their decisions. Remember Ashley Klein, he would do anything to disallow a try for us, right or wrong, he would find something. More recently, Tim Roby at the DW stadium was simply appalling in keeping the 10 metre rule the same for both sides, which I say having checked the video very carefully.

We seem to have a perceived standard of bias from certain referee's and very little transparency from Red Hall to placate the various fans beliefs.
Professional referee's should not officiate over their home town clubs for instance. If a decision is given that's 50 : 50, all the home fans think one way, the away fans the other. That's not because we are all liars, as we have an emotional connection to the club, we see things in a certain way. We can't help it most of the time.

Now consider that for instance, Richard Silverwood was a season ticket holder at Leeds Rhino's when younger. Do all those dodgy decisions in semi finals seem all that clean cut now ?

The point is, we need a better system with better trained and more referee's than we currently have.
This all costs money and as long as we have the eeejuts in Red Hall doing all they can to make the sport look good by one 'gimmick' after the next, we simply won't get the cash investment that we so badly need.

It needs an Ian Lenegan in charge for the good of the sport, or we will be having the same conversation in another 20 years time.

Refs make mistakes in any sport..football, cricket, rugby.....but without them we wouldnt have any games taking place ?

They dont need this additional pressure imo

What a refreshing thread, especially Grimmy's comments.

Dad? Is that you??