Big Artie Beetson is angry, and so am I
Roar Guru By Steve Kaless, 4 May 2009 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru
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- Arthur Beetson, NRL, NRL two referees, penalties, Rugby League, Two referees
Big Artie reckons rugby league is in trouble. But Big Artie doesn’t believe that the decline has much to do with juniors, expansion, poker machine taxes and TV broadcast deals.
The immortal reckons that the game is being killed off by the men with the whistle and those that manage them.
What is more I’m starting to agree with him.
I’m starting to lie in bed awake at night staring at the ceiling with the referee’s whistle going “peep peep peep” in my head.
Exhausted, I walk to the beach in the morning and stare at waves, but soon the madness comes “peep peep peep”.
I turn to the seagulls and they squawk “Talk to your players!”
My sanity is teetering because I have screamed at a man in a pink shirt (and more often than not with a ridiculous tan) “that is not a penalty” far too many times than is healthy. Depending on the company the language has occasionally strayed into the bluer regions.
I’ve held my tongue for many a round now, but I can’t any longer. The NRL referees are a pack of jokers.
These clowns have lost sight of the point of the game and have morphed into a bunch of fitness trainers commanding a bunch of pudgy office workers around a suburban park.
“Faster, faster, faster” they demand.
“Don’t touch this, don’t touch that, move here, move there.”
Just piss off.
These days it is virtually impossible to complete a set of six tackles without giving away a defensive penalty.
Pinning a team in their own quarter is as likely as finding a Warriors debutant without tattoos.
Make a tackle and push on the player to get to your feet. Penalty.
Make a tackle and some freak in a pink shirt will be screaming in your ear “get off him, get off him, get off him”. In your panicked state should your hand graze the ball it will no doubt fly free. Penalty.
Roll away from the tackled player, that will be a penalty.
It is joke.
This season I’ve seen players penalised for diving on a ball when a player has played it without a dummy half being present, I’ve seen players penalised for wining scrums against the head.
And I’ve seen players penalised for blowing up.
I can’t blame them.
The modern day version of rugby league is frighteningly fast, players know they can’t give away cheap possessions, repeated sets are your death knell so these blokes are trying not to give away penalties.
But “peep peep peep” goes the whistle as teams get piggy backed up the field set after set after set.
I’ve lost count the amount of tries that have been scored after what I term “bullshit” penalties. These are penalties when on seeing the replay you can’t for the life of you work out why that was a penalty, particularly when the dummy half has normally already picked up the ball and scooted up field.
It could almost be a drinking game, you have to scull every time there is a penalty for an offence which is largely impossible to avoid in a contact sport which involves tacking another player in possession of the ball. Trust me, leave the keys at home.
What compounds “bullshit” penalties is the need for referees to call out the captain (probably a dozen times a game) and explain that he has been blowing penalties and it needs to stop. He is then instructed to talk to his players.
The farce is completed as the captain bolts back in position while screaming “No more f*cking penalties boyz!” Pointless.
To this end I propose a new rule.
After three back to back penalties, the referee should call off time for five seconds and dance on the spot like a chicken.
This action should signal to all players the next infringement will result in a player being sin binned and will also result in all the attention being on the referee. Everyone’s happy.
Also, seeing we have a referees coach, Robert Finch, whose current job seems to be answering the phone to irate coaches and explaining that every single decision was absolutely spot on given the referee’s “discretion” maybe he could help out.
I don’t know, but I reckon, these referees have never performed a tackle. They should learn. They should learn how it is done and how you then get up and get back into the line. They should learn that sometimes despite your best endeavours, sometimes you can’t just roll away; sometimes in making the tackle you may touch the ball.
It would have to help matters.
But mostly they should learn to just shut up.
If for nothing else but Big Artie’s sake.
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- Arthur Beetson, NRL, NRL two referees, penalties, Rugby League, Two referees
May 4th 2009 @ 2:47pm
TammyS said | May 4th 2009 @ 2:47pm | Report comment
They spoke about this on the Sunday Roast and believe it or not, statistically there’s been less penalties this year compared to last year’s first 8 rounds.
May 4th 2009 @ 2:55pm
oikee said | May 4th 2009 @ 2:55pm | Report comment
Agree witn you Steve, i am also willing to give the refs time to work out how long is long enough before blowwin the whistle.
Steve i was screaming at the Video ref, dogs game for the Tackler, tasckling a player without the ball when the dogs scored that try. I was livid at the goose for saying that he impeded the player with the ball. The guy tackled the player without the ball. If i have to get into that box myself to sort this mess out i will.
If a player tries to tackle a Decoy player then its not the decoy players fault, everyone can see this except the man in the box.
May 4th 2009 @ 3:04pm
Bulldog said | May 4th 2009 @ 3:04pm | Report comment
Steve – Unfortunately this trend is just a product of the NRL trying to right the wrongs of the last couple of seasons. Basically the NRL had let the game become too “wrestling” on the ground orientated which was ruining the game. The Storm and Sharks had it down to a fine art and they became (in my opinion) the two most boring teams in the comp to watch. If the Storm were playing I would turn to the lawn bowls for more entertainment.
Now the NRL are trying to correct that balance and the outcome will be more penalties – until the players and particularly the coaches learn that the world of NRL has changed. back to a more attack orientated game. The balance between defence and attack is imperative.
On average I support the two ref system and believe it has made for a better game. I also do not believe the myth that less penalties make for a better game. It teams are cheating then they must be penalised – otherwise the game just becomes a Saturday night at the WWF without the colourful costumes and trash talk.
May 4th 2009 @ 4:06pm
Russell Bussian said | May 4th 2009 @ 4:06pm | Report comment
My pet hate is when a team is on the attack and they get a penalty early in the tackle count. Unless they want a shot on goal a penalty is a disadvantage to the attacking team. Then the ref calls out the defensive captain who of course tries to prolong the conversation so the defence can catch their breath. Penalties inside the attacking 20 should be awarded only after the set is complete if they didn’t score ie play advantage. Otherwise it is too advantageous for the defence to commit penalties on their own line. I would coach my players to do it. It’s the ‘timeout’ play.
May 4th 2009 @ 4:12pm
znotty said | May 4th 2009 @ 4:12pm | Report comment
Yes a very good win Smith has then on the same track he had Parramatta…oblivion
May 4th 2009 @ 5:42pm
Steve Kaless said | May 4th 2009 @ 5:42pm | Report comment
Some good points raised there by all. There certainly are probably fewer penalties for grappling and wrestling, but my beef remains they are being replaced with penalties for nothing. I swear if you watched tackles made in which most of the penalties came from when compared with ones that don’t you’d be hard pressed to find a difference.
Russell,
It is particularly annoying when the dummy half makes a fast scoot only to be called back for a penalty. Clearly whatever indisgression took place didn’t stop the ball from quickly clearly the ruck, which is normally the aim of the penalty.
May 5th 2009 @ 8:30pm
Russell Bussian said | May 5th 2009 @ 8:30pm | Report comment
Yes that is laughable when that happens. Refs are so used to everyone making a big deal when they blow a penalty that they think them giving a team a penalty is just the ultimate. There are times in a game when a penalty just slows the attacking side down and is a disadvantage. The benefit of a penalty is determined by the field position, tackle count and flow of the game.
In the first 10 mins of a game it is non-stop penalties. Then in the last 10 mins if the margin is 2 points or less you’d have to shoot someone with a shotgun to concede a penalty. What about Dragons v Warriors. Saints clearly infringed towards the end in kickable territory but as they led by 1 the refs were too scared to call it. Also refs fatigue and blow less penalties at the end of a game. At the start of a game they are all pumped and need to blow off some steam.