It was a poor performance from Mr Hicks.

Out of interest what is the rule if a player is fighting to get his arms free for an off-load and the balls pops out because the defender is trying to stop it? Surely as a defender you have every right to wrap the ball up?

That one I will give you. So out of the thousands of games that have been played in Superleague, we've managed to come up with one that may have been decided by a refere error. That's a pretty good strike rate in anyone's book.

Gnason had an influence of the result of the game, in the same way that an injury, the prevailing weather or any other number of things may have an influence. A game is decided by the 34 players on the field and possibly their respective coaches

There is a continuing problem with attracting new referees into the game, there's an even bigger problem in retaining them. It's all well & good to say that full-time Superleague refs are well remunerated and there's not much argument from me there. The problem is the quantity of referees rising to the top, get the numbers right and invariably the quality will improve too.

Stand on the touchline of some youth matches and listen to the abuse aimed at, quite often young, referees. There aren't enough amateur officials to ensure impartial touch judges at all but the highest level, most of the "pro" officials also take their share of amateur games too, at all age levels. When I lived in Hull I often refereed schools matches on a Wednesday afternoon, simply because I could usually blag a couple of hours away from my job to do it. It was pointed out to me on many occasions that the kids appreciated being refereed by a qualified official, as opposed to a teacher from one team in th first half and the other team's teacher taking over the 2nd half.

I am of the opinion that Stuart Cummings has passed his shelf-life. I'm disappointed that referees are not more accountable for their decisions and even more disappointed when they close ranks and a wall of silence goes up. I know that referees are assessed at each game, by each club and also by an RFL referee's assessor. Copies of the assessments used to be sent to referees and tables were produced of where the referee stood in comparison to his contemporaries. I see no reason for these tables to remain a secret. We have OPTA stats on how often a player farts during a game, why should a referee's performance be any different?

The full-time refs should personally review each match DVD and appraise not only their own performances but also those of their colleagues. If flaws in their performances are evident, they should be given extra coaching to eliminate them and if it becomes obvious that they are finding it difficult, then drop them down a league. But you can only do that if you have someone ready to replace him and that only comes with improving recruitment and retention

Really cannot disagree with any of that cod'ead, it is a thankless task at all but the highest level, but having tried to get on a refereeing course on two occasions and being subjected to the total lack of ability of the RFL to organise the preverbial in a brewery I understand why numbers are low.

That's spot on. Surely as well paid officials the referees and the linesmen should be open to scrutiny. I actually think that they would improve if they had to do this and ironically would probably get more understanding from spectators. Why not have interviews with the ref after a game? Just like a player he could tell it from his point of view and on occasions admit to a mistake. It's a major facet of the game and the RFL need to get more respect for the current officials to have any chance of improving the standard or getting new ones in.

You'd think more ex players would take it up, they spend their playing days being abused by crowds. Didn't Bloem take it up?

I'd suggest that's the last comment anyone makes about Bloem for the time being.

give over, its reference to players becoming refs

name others then

There has long been a scheme for fast-tracking ex-players through the referee training programme. The fact that only Jamie Bloem has bothered to get close is evidence itself of the problem. Speak to any ex-player and ask if he'd want to take up the whistle, the answer will invariably be NO!

That’s the only one that has been settled irreparably by the officials, yes.



This is where I strongly disagree with the stance you usually seem to hold on the subject of officials. Yes, they will always have an influence on the game in the fact that they are there to enforce the rules, and therefore every decision made by them has an influence on the game. Where I think you are wrong is to suggest that in all but the single above case, the officials have not affected any other result in SL, to whatever varying degrees.

Any single decision can affect the momentum of the game and potentially swing it from one team to the other, so if that decision is wrong, they have had an effect on the outcome of the game. This is just as true when it is an accumulation of poor decisions putting one team at an advantage/disadvantage, as it often enables one of the teams to gain momentum/hang on with a greater share of possession than they should be having. This does not mean that sole responsibility lies with the officials, but it does mean that they do bear some of the responsibility, and it is simply unacceptable IMO how often this is happening. I don’t expect the officials to be perfect, it’s an impossible ask, but they are simply becoming an additional obstacle to overcome for one side more than the other in too many matches now, and I don’t only feel this way when watching Hull games.

Please re-read what you have written because in one sentence you are stating you don't expect them to be perfect and in another you appear to be expecting them to be perfect. I have already said they can have an effect but that effect is no more than any other element of the game. Would anyone berate a groundsman if a kicked ball deflected the wrong way off a divot and cost a team a try?

What many forget is the refs have one view and a split second to make a decision. 30 years ago we rarely had much controversy over referees decision because we didn't have multiple camera angles, slo-mo and multiple replays. There was also no t'interweb, so apart from a couple of people moaning on the terrace or in the pub, the only discussion and dissemination of an incident was conducted through the letters page of League Express or The Rugby Leaguer.

hicks was garbage . but so are most refs in super league

it was not that good

dont bite he is a retard