English slam Aussies ahead of Four Nations final
By Steve Jancetic, 11 Nov 2009 Steve Jancetic is a Roar Pro
England assistant coach Steve McNamara claims Australia should just cop it sweet if local official Steve Ganson is appointed to control Saturday night’s Four Nations final, pointing to the same tourist treatment given the Lions at last year’s World Cup.
The battle for the whistle at Elland Road was again a hot topic of debate at Monday’s press conference in Leeds as rival coaches traded barbs over the relative merits of leading contenders Ganson and Australian Shayne Hayne.
Australia’s push for Hayne gained momentum when he was named the international referee of the year at a gala dinner in Leeds on Monday night, but just what impact that has on the selection panel remains to be seen.
Their decision is likely to be handed down Tuesday morning (England time), but McNamara said Australia had no ground to complain after claiming England’s World Cup campaign – in which they won just their opening game against Papua New Guinea – had been crippled in similar circumstances down under.
“I think people forget we got four Australian refs last year at the World Cup in all four games,” McNamara said.
“Even when we played Papua New Guinea we got an Australian ref.
“We’ve been through the other side of it as well and just got on with it.
“There is a difference in interpretations, there’s no two ways about that, and we felt that last year we struggled to come to terms with some of those situations.
“I suppose with Australia, what goes around comes around and they’re in our country now and our patch, so I suppose they have got to (put up with it) as we did there.”
The Australian camp believes the fact they had to put up with Ganson’s idiosyncrasies when the teams met in Wigan just over a week ago gave them the upper hand in nominating Hayne to control Saturday night’s final.
“It’s not a matter about a neutral referee, it’s about a good referee,” Australian coach Tim Sheens said.
“I don’t think the refereeing standard has been great.
“I’d obviously be in favour of the Australia ref – since we played England under an England referee, I don’t see why England should whinge or worry about us playing under an Australian referee.
“That’s out of my hands, we’ll wait and see what the powers that be do.”
Hayne has played only a minor role so far this tournament with only the New Zealand-France game under his belt, and the English claim the use of the two-referee system in the NRL makes him less suitable to be the sole official this weekend.
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jus de couchon said | November 11th 2009 @ 6:53am | Report comment
By inventing nonexistant controversey about this game only perpetuates the hype driven failure of its protagonists , who I can only guess live in a parralell Universe. Cmon if you care about your game , get rid of the fantasists who control this rediculous and to be frank ,embaressing media driven rhetoric. League would be better served by someone with a grasp on reality , and until that happens we will witness the same b.s again .
MyGeneration said | November 11th 2009 @ 7:21am | Report comment
Jus,
Please explain (A) why you think this is a controversy rather than a debate (B) why it is nonexistent (C) who are the fantasists that you are referring to. Please refer to the actual content of the article in your response. I ask because your comment doesn’t seem to bear any relation to the article.
In addition, could you suggest your prescription for the content and structure of articles about Rugby League that should appear in the media, as you seem to have strong opinions about this. Perhaps you could refer to examples of other sports articles that are not “media driven rhetoric” by way of clarification.
jus de couchon said | November 12th 2009 @ 7:23am | Report comment
My gripe is with the neverending spin that league deems important to hype a game that shouldnt need it . If it had any confidence in its “product” it would let the occasion speak for itself.
Mick from Giralang said | November 12th 2009 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
obsess, v.t (Of evil spirit, delusion, or fixed idea) haunt, harass, preoccupy, fill mind of. So obssession n.
–The Concise Oxford Dictionary
Mick from Giralang said | November 12th 2009 @ 1:53pm | Report comment
The Kiwi ref Leon Williamson has been appointed….Tim sheens is already blowing up about it, saying he’s not up to the task. Anyone know much about him? He refereed Australia v France and we did alright there.
MyGeneration said | November 12th 2009 @ 7:37pm | Report comment
Didn’t really notice him in the France game, which is hopefully a good thing. I’m sure both sides will be seeing what they can get away with in the first 20 minutes.
Paley said | November 12th 2009 @ 7:59pm | Report comment
It’s my daughters birthday party on Saturday so I can’t attend or even watch the game – very bad timing. Hopefully I will be able to avoid the score until later so I can watch it recorded. Should be a great game of rugby.