Further, a Aussie-Kiwi match has a Saffie ref; a Kiwi-Saffie match has an Aussie ref & a Saffie-Aussie match has a Kiwi ref. One of the two linesmen should also be a neutral from the same country as the starting ref. however, the reserve ref & TMO can come from the host country.

As far as quality of refs go, each country takes turn at having both good & bad refs. At present, SA seem to have the best refs & Australia the worst, but say 15 years ago, that was the reverse.

If we’re looking for serendipity, we’re not going to find it. No system is flawless, but we can try to practical & logical in our approach.

Common sense needs to prevail but if a Ref is inconsistent and MArks has been, he then needs to suffer those consequences.

Secondly the players and coaches also have a lot of blame to bear since they are continually pushing the envelope. It also seems as if certain refs are being targeted for intimidation to get the upper hand. Then there’s the whole scrum fiasco, where I don’t think any of the refs have a clue, no matter who they are.

Grid iron has six officials officiating a game, why can’t rugby do the same? The ref’s assistants in RL and Soccer have are at least that with specific tasks tyo perform, can’t we do the same in Union. Get the assitants to enforce the offside line? It will in my opinion open up a load more space if teams know they can’t get waya with that type of infringement and would leave the ref free to give all his attention to the tackle / breakdown area.

Failing that, just insist that only English refs are used for all games. They’re clearly the fairest.

Anyone would think half of you have lost your house as a result of Paul Mark’s performance! If you have, your stupidity. If you didn’t, wake up to yourselves and get down to your local association and join the ranks…you can obviously do much better than the current crop of whistle blowers!

Funny how Sharks were not so vocal in 2008 when he awarded a penalty try to them and did not award one against them (at least it should have been referred to TMO for taking out Conrad Smith without the ball by guess who … Stephan Terblanche).
He did have a shocker that night as well and how is that guy allowed to referee in Super 14 again is beyond me.

Regards

KF

I do agree however the new ranking of referees on merit needs to be addressed and some one please bring back rucking, the breakdown infringements would be halved at least.

It’s a bit of a blight on our society that it has come to this. Some clubs are fighting it to a large extent whilst others turn a blind eye. Anyway, like with any problem, it first has to be identified as a problem before action to rectify the situation can be commenced.

It’s a thankless task and generally your damed if you do and your damed if you don’t. The ref may make a couple of calls in a game that are controversial…and he’s taken to the cleaners for those calls. However, if the skill level of the players, who are generally put on pedistals, were better, then he could facilitate a game rather than embroyling himself in controversey due to a pass being delivered too late, inability to keep ball in hand, passing forward, illegal tackling…the list goes on.

Probably one of the reasons you don’t have the quality of referees in any of the countries that we should have is for this very reason. Guys read this dribble and think why would you bother…and fair enough. We all know a bigger pool will equate to better quality. Much potential is lost when some uncontrolled yobbo full of piss and bad manners gives a ref a spray, much to the amusement and encouragement of all around him from the shallow end of the gene pool. He says why bother and that potential is lost. And the situation is not improving.

Until an effort is made to address such issues, the stocks will become worse as the code grows exponentially to the referee’s stocks. We only have ourselves to blame.

I think you just contradicted yourself when you said Dickinson reffeed the Bulls V Saders and should have been given the final instead of Kaplan, from memory the Bulls won both games pretty convincingly.

the best view would be to get the likes of Goddard and Dickinson into Currie Cup and Air New Zealand cup games, however Im sure the Kiwis would love to have Goddard and Dickinson running around NZ field…maybe best to keep them away from Wellington!

You can’t trot out rubbish like that as a justification for your argument. The fact is, Marks has been poor over the long term and has now paid the price. No referee is going to be biased when the consequences are so dire for them personally. Marks has been dropped for inadequate performance, not because they thought he was biased towards the Waratahs.

Then again, if it means Kaplan refereeing the Tahs less often… it could be a good thing afterall!

Words cant describe what I think of Kaplan as a ref, best said that he and his referreeing ilk are killing the game. From where I sit he looks like a classic home town ref to me.

Marks did have a bad game , may not be up to this level, may deserve to go, but you seem to have your jingo hat on again.

How did the predicted 20 point smacking of the Reds go last weekend? And the other Aussie losses that were predicted. We are pretty critical of ourselves mate. We don’t need extra help from outsiders.

I think it’s best that we go back to neutral referees, even NH if possible. I am yet to see a perfect performance from a SA or NZ ref either.

The fundamental problem is the laws, their enforceability, and the consistency of that enforcement. It may not be necessary to assassinate the character of individuals or whole nationalities. I believe that the rules should be more idiot proof (let’s face it – all of us have had cause to question a ref’s intelligence) and the refereeing more accountable.

Bloody hell, who would want the job? Not enough people it seems. They are about as popular as Pittwater parking officers. And they sneak about with their penalties. A ref has to fine people in front of thousands of a player’s ‘mates’. If only there were as many people who wanted to do the refereeing as those who want to knock the refereeing. And I am a critic too.

But it does come back to the issue of enforceable laws. And the fact that one person can only see in one direction at a time. These directions would be more productive than grinding an axe about Marks, Dickinson and all things Australian.

And Spiro, for goodness sake, if Dickenson is the best ref we have in Aus, then we’re in big trouble. He’s been criticised not only by the SA contingent, but by the NH too. Perhaps we should be looking for a way in which we can produce better quality referees. I suspect that part of the problem, is rugby third to AFL & NRL, thus giving us a smaller pool from which to select our referees. As one busy contemplating becoming a ref, the coordinator I spoke to said they are struggling to find people take up refereeing.

mind you god knows what the Tahs will do now he’s no longer around and their other mate Dickinson isn’t fit for duty … perhaps their table position might actually start to reflect their true “quality”

I’m quite happy about the openness of the referee performances, I think that has been a great thing this year. Rather than protecting poor referees and defending wrong decisions they are acknowledging them, after which everyone moves on (I mean what else can you do, whats done is done). I still think sacking Marks might be a bit harsh though.

Cheers
Mark