Cummings was at yesterday's game, if we had open accountability, he could be quizzed on aspects of Hicks's performance. His responses would be interesting

What gets me is clueless idiots who have nothing better to do in their retirement than bang on about poor standards of refereeing, when they have shown a distinct lack of comprehension of either the job in hand or the Laws of the Game

Yes because that really is going to work isn't it?

There's an old maxim that the best refs keep their whistles in their pockets. Now think back a few years to when Hull played Fax (IIRC) away and Colin Morris never gave one penalty all game. Now with the best will in the world, you wouldn't find many people, other than his wife, mum & dad that would ever claim Colin Morris to be one of the better referees of his time.

You get your fact right. In the passed I played both codes I know the Laws and rules Plus I have plenty to do in my retirement thank, you, "and I am not clueless" .What I will not accept is poor standards more so from the Game that I believe to be the best in the World .So get your hanky out a wipe your snotty nose Just because other people have have different options to you.doesn't make them Idiots .You will understand that one day when you grow up

In what way get better at it? With forward passes it should be the teams that are getting away with it more often who need to improve their technique, but what incentive have they to do so? With ball stripping and interference, I refuse to accept that the answer lies in getting better at cheating. For one reason, I don't entirely subscribe to the idea that the reason some teams get away with it is because they hide it better, because plenty of times there are near identical situations that are handled differently. For another, it is not up to players to cancel out cheating by cheating. That is the exact situation where I would personally walk away from the game, which was the initial worry being raised. Sport is not supposed to be about who is the cleverest cheat.

Rules are there to be enforced as much as possible, not just allow everyone to bend them to the same degree. If what it takes is to whistle for every single infringement, maybe it's worth it. I suspect that what would happen is that players and coaches would wise up pretty quickly, because they'd have to. In the current climate there simply is not enough incentive for some clubs/players to work hard enough at playing to the rules.

Finally, I think there are few who overlook the players' shortcomings. This board for one example is full of criticism of players.

Disagree with that. The lack of policing the offsides (particularly square markers) and forward passes over the last 5 years is the worst in my time of watching IMO. The ruck is different, as it has been affected by rule changes but the referees simply seem to either not understand it, or go with whoever the most in vogue team is and stick with them, or both.



Agree with all of that.

And why not? If this actually happened and referees stamp their authority on a game from the off teams will eventually cut out slot of the crap they currently do knowing they won't get away with messing around at the ptb which will makes the refs job a little easier.

As for the old maxim I agree about the best refs are the ones that keep the whistle in the pocket. Nico Toeman a prime example in ice hockey but there was a reason for it as he'd earnt the players and coaches respect & he respected them. When he thought he'd become more important than the game itself his performances as a ref suffered & I certainly think a lack if respect both ways is also part of the problem.

The sad fact is there are fundamental problems with the standards of officiating currently in SL which need addressing before the damage to the game is ruined beyond repair

The question should be asked how many mistakes are made by the officials in a match, including touch judges. The mistakes made by officials in matches is now the main talking point of both sets of supporters, win or lose, and is far worse than it has ever been. As a teacher who has refereed games, I know how thankless the job is, but that doesn't excuse the poor standard of referees and touch judges in our game. The other interesting point in the article was the fact that the referees, after watching the DVD of the game, then AGREES the report that is sent to clubs. Isn't that a bit like asking kids to write their own school reports! No wonder there is no improvement.
Cummings: You had a crap game!
Ref: Yes but you have to tell the clubs I was great or I'm not signing my report.

Any wonder the fans have had enough/
get rid of Cummings and replace him with an ex player who the fans and coaches have some respect for ( e.g.paul sculthorpe)

The only thing worse than an incompetent referee is an ex-referee sticking up for the incompetent ones. Most of them take arrogance to the [in[/ith degree and are compensating for an early life of being bullied and a failed RL career.

Hicks lost control of that very early on and only Karma saved the game from being abandoned for fighting.

You see I have a problem with this (and I did when I was refereeing), someone like Ganson who is very arrogant might frighten the life out of his TJ by telling them not to interfere. This is him assuming he knows better and will see everything. The odd time they do come on you can see he hates been undermined/overruled. Plus it means that TJ can have a greater role in some geames depending who the ref is which is simply unfair.

I never said it was right but that's the way it works. In the past I've received instructions what have swung between "anything you see, come on for it and I'll back you up" to "we're on telly today, so all I want you to do is mark touch and flag goals". It's wrong, of course it's wrong and little appears to have changed in 30 or so years.

That's why I would like to see referees partnered with the same two TJs. You get to know what's required and instinctively know who should go long or short etc. Weaknesses in any system or individual would also be easier to pinpoint and work to eliminate.

I have never been uncritical of referees, despite what some may believe but if a few more people tried to catch them doing something right, instead of doing something wrong, we might start to get a better appreciation of what's happening on the non-playing side.

I had similar sets of instructions when I reffed, I like the idea of partnering teams together, they do this in the PL and it works well as you build up an understanding and also trust in each other.