Forward pass sinks league’s reputation
Roar Guru By ScottWoodward.me, 22 Mar 2010 ScottWoodward.me is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Forward pass, Manly Sea Eagles, NRL, Parramatta Eels, referees, Rugby League, Sydney Roosters, video ref
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I was sitting in the grandstand at the SFS trying to enjoy a Shiraz from a plastic cup as I watched the Roosters towel up the Tigers, and then my iPhone vibrated. It was a mate from Melbourne who texted: “What about that forward pass, it has to be the lowest game on earth”.
I thought he was referring to Jonathan Thurston’s pass in the final minutes of the Cowboys v Panthers game that decided the result for the locals, but it was not until I made it home and watched the Eels and Sea Eagles game that the penny had dropped.
Admittedly my mate is an AFL nut but I can understand his comment when an “outsider” watches our great game and two on-field referees, two assistant referees and a video referee all allow a five meter forward pass change the result of the game.
How can that happen?
The previous pass was also forward, but the money ball pass to Reddy that turned the game would have been pulled up by Steve Wonder.
I measured the pass frame by frame and it was exactly 5 meters forward.
These are the match officials responsible for the monumental gaffe: Referees – Shayne Hayne & Brett Suttor; Sideline Officials – Jeff Younis & Gavin Reynolds; Video Ref – Tim Mander.
Fellas, hang your heads in shame and book yourselves into OPSM.
We are only human and anyone can miss a forward pass, but five metres?
I’m sure Tim Mander knew it was forward but he is not allowed to rule on it. Hey Tim, why didn’t you tip to your buddy Shayne and save us all this embarrassment? Has Robert Finch turned you into a robot?
Forget about the crucial four competition point swing that could decide the premiership come September, the credibility of our game has been damaged irrevocably.
The NRL need to comprehend that if they ever hope to win over new markets then blatant forward passes cannot be allowed to go through. If five on-ground officials are not enough then find the technology that can assist them.
We all know that video evidence can be deceptive, but use it to assist the referee and give the video ref the power to tip.
In the meantime I will eat some humble pie and call my mate back and tell him how entertaining the Roosters were, and that rugby league is not really the worst game in the world.
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- Explore:
- Forward pass, Manly Sea Eagles, NRL, Parramatta Eels, referees, Rugby League, Sydney Roosters, video ref
March 22nd 2010 @ 10:38am
Josho said | March 22nd 2010 @ 10:38am | Report comment
Don’t worry about the forward pass, how about the refs obsession for blowing penalties for slowing down the ruck. If the man with the ball gets to his feet and plays the ball quicker than the ref can put the whistle to his mouth, how much could he have been slowed down, really?
It’s only round two and the refs have butchered three games already stormVsharks, rabbitsVtitans and eelsVeagles. Just when you think it can’t get any worse than 2009, it does. It’s like the tag line from a hooror flick.
I think Reobert Finch has given the refs a quoter to meet this year – get an extra 10 large for every 50 penalties blown! Much like parking inspectors.
March 22nd 2010 @ 10:54am
captain nemo said | March 22nd 2010 @ 10:54am | Report comment
Josh, I totally agree with you. While on the topic of Robert Finch. Watching the sunday show on nine called the Roast , caught part of the show where Gus Gould mentioned that he believed Finch should go as Refs boss and that he had lost the plot. But then a more interesting quote, I think it was Freddy Fittler who said he has heard the Refs when he was a player ask the video ref, what the penalty count was. We all watch the same games here, and I think most people would agree that if one team has copped a hammering in the penalty count, you know they will get a few soft make up penalties to even the ledger esp if the game is in the final few minutes. Its so predicatable and the easy way to give it is giving a few quick make up penalties for laying on the player etc etc
March 22nd 2010 @ 5:23pm
josho said | March 22nd 2010 @ 5:23pm | Report comment
Spot on, that’s their way of trying to minimise any backlash for their poor calls. Which is exactly what Finch himself is doing, He addresses one error, from one game – and does so with a counterpoint so he can say “see, we didn’t effect the outcome of the game”, BS!
Not to mention “key indicators” these blokes will need a university degree soon, no wonder they can’t make a decision, their heads are full of Finch’s BS, “if the tackler runs laterally beyond the point at which the defender made contact with the decoy he is then penalised unless he was at marker when the kicker passed the ball to the white rabbit chasing after the unicorn”. How about these are the rules, referree what’s infront of you.
Mind you nothing will be done about any of this. The standard of referreeing has nose dived dramatically since the referree’s boss was appointed. They have been made full-time, had all sorts of resources made available to them, given extra eyes on the field, they have even added another ref to assist in the ajudicaiton of the game, all the while going backwards. If you were to award 2 points to the refs for everygame in which they butchered the final outcome, my money would be on them for the minor premiership.
March 22nd 2010 @ 12:55pm
ScottWoodward.me said | March 22nd 2010 @ 12:55pm | Report comment
Josho
You can add the Cowboys V Panthers game.
March 22nd 2010 @ 10:40am
captain nemo said | March 22nd 2010 @ 10:40am | Report comment
it wasn’t a forward pass, it was a frontal pass.
thought I was watching a 6 nations match. Personally, I didn’t care who won, but yeh, it was a stuff up, parra should of got the chocolates. In fairness to the refs, it was a stinking hot day, and me sitting on my ass with a cold beer would be hypocrytical to slag them too much. maybe it was the heat in combo with the fanatical Parra supporters. They would give the touchies more grief than any other fans in the nrl. Question. Why did Roosters V Tigers get an official drink break but not Parra v manly. maybe this would of cut the refs error rate if they got a 3 min drink break at the 20 min mark like at the SFS on Sunday.
March 22nd 2010 @ 10:54am
MyGeneration said | March 22nd 2010 @ 10:54am | Report comment
Manly could have definitely done with the break!
March 22nd 2010 @ 11:02am
oikee said | March 22nd 2010 @ 11:02am | Report comment
Great point Nemo, i was thinking the same. I was asking myself this very question until i seen the players at the SFS and how buggered they looked. Justin Poore nearly had to have heart surgery after 15 minutes.
Look, it was forward, but still, a great game that Manly lost, not Parra won.
The match-ups this week look tasty.
March 22nd 2010 @ 12:58pm
ScottWoodward.me said | March 22nd 2010 @ 12:58pm | Report comment
Nemo
Good Q
The NRL CEO was at the Roosters game, although he was in the air conditioned members.
March 22nd 2010 @ 10:50am
MyGeneration said | March 22nd 2010 @ 10:50am | Report comment
I have no problem with the forward pass rule. That was just a bad interpretation of it, or plain bad eyesight. That was as close to black and white as forward passes get, but we’d still have problems with the old rule. It’s called the human element. Even NFL still has problems with ‘laterals’ once play has left the quarterback pocket area (sorry if my lingo is wrong for NFL fans), and I’m sure they’ve got more cameras than the NRL has. Once again, if the referees don’t see it the same way as everyone else does on the field, what can we do? Technology has been proven not to work for judging forward passes, so let’s get on with the game. Manly still could have won it by defending better, or actually scoring some more points themselves.
March 22nd 2010 @ 11:11am
oikee said | March 22nd 2010 @ 11:11am | Report comment
I think you will find My Gen that, most of camera technology came from Australia.
Read about this awhile back watching Bathurst. Rugby league has been a innovation for alot of codes. Not footbakll, they refuse to use video refs for games. That dive on the weekend was worth at least 50 million. 
Maybe bring in some diving. ? You know, like ennis did with a wink and a nudge. 
How a world sport can get away with this time and time again is beyond beleif. Thats why they are on the big money, maybe we should allow for minor forward passes, even if they go 5 metres.
March 22nd 2010 @ 1:01pm
ScottWoodward.me said | March 22nd 2010 @ 1:01pm | Report comment
MG
I agree with everything you say, but the fact remains Manly would have won had one of the 5 officials picked up the 5 m forward pass, and thats unforgivable.
March 22nd 2010 @ 10:51am
mushi said | March 22nd 2010 @ 10:51am | Report comment
Look it was a shocker and these shockers do happen but…
I just looked at the stats and there were 86 combined errors and missed tackles. So the collection of 6 figure salary professional footballers committed 86 obvious errors before even accounting for errors in positioning and decision making that were made and the one at the end of the game by the team of comparatively humble officials brings the game into disrepute?
March 22nd 2010 @ 10:53am
M1tch said | March 22nd 2010 @ 10:53am | Report comment
Gotta love Dessy hasler when Manly lose a game – he always blames the refs..how about Manly’s poor defence or their kicking options in the second half
March 22nd 2010 @ 11:02am
MyGeneration said | March 22nd 2010 @ 11:02am | Report comment
Dessy was actually pretty generous to the Tigers the other night. I think this one hurt a bit more. Couldn’t agree with him on Hayne’s challenge on Farrer being illegal though. Farrer never left the ground.
It’s amazing Manly losing two in a row like this, because they have defended leads well in the last few years. I think the young guys in the halves froze a bit when the momentum swung the other way. But Captain Jamie Lyon might have been expected to impose himself on the game in that situation, and I didn’t see that happen in either game.
March 22nd 2010 @ 11:15am
M1tch said | March 22nd 2010 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Foran is still learning, he just needs a bit of time they missed Chris Bailey in the last 20 mins especially
March 22nd 2010 @ 1:29pm
ScottWoodward.me said | March 22nd 2010 @ 1:29pm | Report comment
MG/Mitch
Trent Hodkinsonis not quiet ready yet but they didnt have a choice with the fullback out and Foran is not a half back.
March 22nd 2010 @ 1:45pm
M1tch said | March 22nd 2010 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
they shoulda chose hoppa jnr
March 22nd 2010 @ 4:09pm
Andrew Watson said | March 22nd 2010 @ 4:09pm | Report comment
I thought Trent had a good game. I’m a fan of a true blue Halfback and he played that role perfectly. The unfortunate thing about todays game is we only seem to have pivots playing either side of the ruck.
Foran was more dominant switching between first and second reciever and is gona be a superstar of the game. Lyon played wonderful last Monday at 6, but was a little quiet at centre on Sunday.
Do you not see Des playing all 3?
March 22nd 2010 @ 11:07am
Springs said | March 22nd 2010 @ 11:07am | Report comment
He is not as bad as Stuart.
March 22nd 2010 @ 11:15am
M1tch said | March 22nd 2010 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Stuart hasnt been to bad lately because sharks dont win anyway
March 22nd 2010 @ 11:22am
oikee said | March 22nd 2010 @ 11:22am | Report comment
I think there is also some Pork (porkie pies) in this post as well. For a start, how do AFL fans in Melbourne get to see a game of league, and even if they do, why were they watching. Plus another point, how can you judge 1 game, considering we had 7 others that were fantastic. I know, i watched every game. All quality.
Apart from this pass, the game was very good under steamy conditions. The refs missed the pass, and you cant use video for these calls. TRY. Hayne, he the man.
March 22nd 2010 @ 1:10pm
Firebrand Sally said | March 22nd 2010 @ 1:10pm | Report comment
They have Fox Sports in Victoria.
March 22nd 2010 @ 1:21pm
ScottWoodward.me said | March 22nd 2010 @ 1:21pm | Report comment
oikee
The game was live on FOX, and AFL was not on as it starts this week.
March 22nd 2010 @ 12:13pm
Rugby1 said | March 22nd 2010 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
Hey I know what they should do in league get 2 more refs, one to blow the whistle for the ref who has a whistle, one to blow a whistle to work out which of the four refs knows how to blow a whistle for a 5m forward pass!!!
March 22nd 2010 @ 12:42pm
soapit said | March 22nd 2010 @ 12:42pm | Report comment
it’s actually pretty difficult to run forward at full pace and throw a pass that travels backwards relative to the ground. much more simple and natural to require the ball be passed backward relative to the passing player.
a good little demonstartion you can use to understand the physics is get on a bit of quiet road and drive forwards with a little pace (momentum), drop a tennis ball straight down (or slightly backwards) out th window. hit the brakes and stop and you’ll see even tho you dropped it straight down or back it’ll be bouncing forward. you can then try again and get a feel for how hard you have th throw it back to get it bouncing back along the road (and how far a support player would need to be behind you to then catch this type of pass – wouldnt be too hard to defend). so you can see its not just a matter of measuring on the screen that the ball lands 5m forward from where it was passed. watch the player who passed it, where is he in relation to the ball when it’s caught (assuming they keep running at roughly the same pace) and you get an idea of how much momentum to take into account.
i do think there are a few forward passes getting through tho but the current technology isnt up to telling for sure (youd need to estimate how fast they were going forward before they released the ball and compare it to the ball once passed). its just something ur not gonna get right.
there are lots of short forward passes evey game but its the long ones which get noticed more. you watch where the ball is recieved from the stationary dummy half (so no forward momentum to worry about) and how often its taken in front of the player passing. with momentum taken out of the equation its a forward pass. i see about 5-10 a game like this (and yes some individuals are worse than others but i wont get off topic).
March 22nd 2010 @ 1:25pm
ScottWoodward.me said | March 22nd 2010 @ 1:25pm | Report comment
soapit
Thanx and well said.
Physics had nothing to do with the Parra pass, it was plain and simple human error.
March 22nd 2010 @ 2:01pm
Springs said | March 22nd 2010 @ 2:01pm | Report comment
soapit you have to take a pill, you’re making too much sense.
March 22nd 2010 @ 1:07pm
M1tch said | March 22nd 2010 @ 1:07pm | Report comment
Why dwell on the forward pass, when we also witnessed one of the great tries!!
March 22nd 2010 @ 1:13pm
Firebrand Sally said | March 22nd 2010 @ 1:13pm | Report comment
Isn’t the reason both rugby codes are a turn off in AFL land is because of scrums?
Phil Gould said on the Roast yesterday that scrums should be abolished from the game.
One forward pass isn’t go to turn off Victorians.
Getting rid of scrums might make league a lot more popular with AFL fans.
March 22nd 2010 @ 2:12pm
captain nemo said | March 22nd 2010 @ 2:12pm | Report comment
sally, my understanding of Goulds comments were that he was longing for the good old days of semi fair dinkum scrum feeds and a hooker who could rake!! Thats why they were showing the old parra vs manly scrums with stirlo feeding them.
March 22nd 2010 @ 2:23pm
M1tch said | March 22nd 2010 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
ahh the good old days with neck injuries, cauliflower ears, collapsed scrums and then the scrum penalty lol
March 24th 2010 @ 7:52pm
Chris said | March 24th 2010 @ 7:52pm | Report comment
As a Union fan I can say the greatest idea League ever had was to bring in uncontested scrums. I wish Union would follow the same path. Was at the Brumbies v. Lions game a couple of weeks back with a friend who was a League fan – after one particuarly bad scrum which was reset for 6 whole minutes (after 5 or 6 re-sets) he just said “what the hell do you like about this sport.” At the time I was tempted to agree with him.
March 22nd 2010 @ 2:17pm
Redb said | March 22nd 2010 @ 2:17pm | Report comment
On the contrary scrums are good if the roll forward like union. In league scrums are a waste of time as the feed always goes to the same team as the player who throws the ball in.
This is not about what AFL fans think anyway.
It was a ref mistake no big deal, happens in all codes from time to time.
March 22nd 2010 @ 2:26pm
Springs said | March 22nd 2010 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
Well RedB the player who throws the ball in is the feed, winning against the feed is very rare nowadays in the NRL. But in other forms teams still try. Hookers are still allowed to rake for the ball, just the coaches and referees have basically removed it. A simple rule would be that the half has to feed the ball in front of both the loose head props feet, which means it is impossible to just role the ball vertically back past the props foot. This will send the ball behind the hooker giving the opposing hooker a chance at raking the ball.
There is no rule against it, just bad coaching.
March 22nd 2010 @ 2:37pm
Redb said | March 22nd 2010 @ 2:37pm | Report comment
Springs,
Whilst I realise this is often a criticism of league from union fans on scrums i dont think it matters, it just seems that scrums are anachristic in league.
March 22nd 2010 @ 5:35pm
Ryan said | March 22nd 2010 @ 5:35pm | Report comment
Scrums in league are a joke and are only worth having to keep the forwards out of the backs so the backs can have a crack at each other
March 22nd 2010 @ 6:04pm
Firebrand Sally said | March 22nd 2010 @ 6:04pm | Report comment
Except that if you look at a NRL scrum, the backs are packing into the scrum so that they can break fast! Have a look and you will see it.
March 23rd 2010 @ 12:47pm
Dogz R Barkn said | March 23rd 2010 @ 12:47pm | Report comment
People continually make the mistake of looking at a League scrum in a Union context – forget about it – any links are historical and have long disappeared – it’s now a means of restart, where the feeding team is rightly advantaged, and where they are rightlly given plenty of time and space to try something on – that’s what the League scrum is all about in the modern era – and that seems about a good a reason to retain the scrum as any.