But of course that is not what the laws of the game say is a forward pass, and as far as I am aware, they never have said this. So, no wonder you are getting confused because if you don't understand the laws of the game then you are always going to struggle!

This is what the law actually says -

[iDeliberate 1. A player shall be penalised if he deliberately knocks on or passes forward.[/i

and the most important bit, the bit you and others clearly don't understand -
[i
Direction of Pass 1. The direction of a pass is relative to the player making it and not to the actual path relative to the ground. A player running towards his opponents’ goal line may throw the ball towards a colleague who is behind him but because of the thrower’s own momentum the ball travels forward relative to the ground. This is not a forward pass as the thrower has not
passed the ball forward in relation to himself. This is particularly noticeable when a running player makes a high, lobbed pass.[/i

This is the bit you need to understand and of course the law really has to be this way because even the RFL or its players can't break the physical laws of the universe!

Sorry but it's not that simple. And, this may be news to you, the sun doesn't go round the earth and the earth isn't flat!

Yep. The video that The Biff's Back posted on the previous page is the best way to demonstrate it.

It would not work on the ipad but just looked it now on the lap-top and indeed it is a great video... maybe Sky Sports should do their own specific RL version?

I particularly like the guy throwing the ball backwards over his head in full run and it travelling 3m forward relative to the pitch, that really should demonstrate to the doubters why you don't judge forward passes relative to the pitch.

The interesting bit Him is how many of the above people in this thread claiming to know what a forward pass is will actually bother to watch it, or will they prefer to remain in blissful ignorance???

Ah shadduper ya face - forwards is forwards.

Physics is all abart potassium.

Bore off and patronise someone else. It was a forward pass which the officials sadly did not pick up. Hey ho, Leeds would still have won at a canter anyway.

Have you watched the video?

Yeah I watched the video. A little off topic, the rare time I watch union and the rare times 2 passes are strung together I can't help but noticed even less forward passes are called in union.

So you saw the bit where the player threw the ball backwards over his head?

A with everything in rugby league, what should be a very simple rule has been convoluted into something complicated.

the onus should be on the player to take into account his momentum, the blowing wind etc,etc,etc. and still ensure the ball travels backwards. SIMPLE.

but no, what we need is for the referee to watch the video before whipping out his calculator and protractor to make a decision.

So you'd disincentivise fast running?

No. I would encourage better ball handling skills

Is disincentivise a real word, if so Bren will be using that one.

Or fact checking