Reactionary ARLC chops tall poppy Harrigan
Columnist By David Lord, 27 Oct 2012 David Lord is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Bill Harrigan, NRL, nrl referees, Rugby League, stuart raper
NRL referees co-coach Bill Harrigan speaks to the media about some of the controversial referee calls during last nights State of Origin during a press conference at Rugby League Central in Sydney, Thursday, May 24, 2012. The NSW Blues lost to Queensland in the first of three State of Origin matches. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Related coverage
The missing-in-action ARL Commission surfaced yesterday to sack refereeing legend Bill Harrigan as the ref’s coaching boss
Nice to know the ARLC is still operative after their deafening silence over the James Graham biting incident in the grand final, and the Bulldogs’ disgraceful Mad Monday antics.
No better way to come alive than a headline grabbing display of tall poppy chopping.
And by the acting CEO Shane Mattiske no less, with some soppy words of gratitude for a job well done over many years.
But no sign of ARLC boss John Grant, who normally thrives on being in front of a television camera.
Fact: Harrigan has been well below his lofty standards earned as a ref this season, with some howlers in the Origin series, and the NRL rounds.
He lived by one of his great quotes – “If you set your goals and follow them with commitment and dedication you can achieve great results in whatever you choose to do”.
And died from not doing what he has done since 1986, where he became rugby league’s most celebrated and successful referee with 392 first grade games (record), 10 grand finals (record), 21 Origins (record), and 25 Tests (record). His record bears testimony to his commitment and dedication.
So how on earth did Harrigan get it so wrong as the NRL’s referee’s coach that he made at least two shocking decisions during this season’s Origin series, and far more in the NRL competition, that caused him to be sacked yesterday?
If the undisputed very best ref in league history can get it wrong with all the time in the world to view television replay footage, under no pressure, little wonder the current crop of whistlers are so sub-standard.
To keep the record straight, Harrigan’s side-kick Stuart Raper was sacked as well, even though I have never been able to understand why and how he was appointed in the first place.
So both need to be replaced, and it seems as though the ARLC’s intention is just one boss, with the leading contenders Russell Smith, and Steve Clark, both very, very ordinary refs in their day.
If the very best can make mistakes, how can the ARLC expect far lesser lights to do an acceptable job?
The concept of the ARLC is spot on, but the governing body must be more visible, more transparent.
David Gallop was. For a decade Gallop was visible every morning, noon, and night in good days for the code, and bad.
He never shirked anything, but was very quickly out the door by an ungrateful and muscle-flexing Grant, despite four years left on his contract.
Rugby league will rue the day Gallop was gunned down.
And despite his out-of-character brain explosions this winter, showing Bill Harrigan the door will have far-reaching effects, as well.
Passionate about your league? Then sign up to The Roar's brand new daily league email, delivering Roaring articles directly to you day-in, day-out. You'll love it!
Click here to join now!
Looking to join The Roar team? We're searching for an experienced Group Sales Manager to lead our team in Sydney. Yes, this does mean you get to work with the site all day long! If you're a digital media sales star, we want to hear from you. Apply now.
- Explore:
- Bill Harrigan, NRL, nrl referees, Rugby League, stuart raper
October 27th 2012 @ 6:30am
Christo the Daddyo said | October 27th 2012 @ 6:30am | Report comment
I always struggle to understand why organizations are so quick to sack someone when there is not an obvious replacement. It’s very easy to say “he’s got to go”, but who will replace him, and where is the proof he’s going to be an improvement?
October 27th 2012 @ 6:49am
David Lord said | October 27th 2012 @ 6:49am | Report comment
You have nailed it Christo, no proof whatsoever.
October 28th 2012 @ 6:51pm
Rabbit Ears said | October 28th 2012 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
David Lord’s agenda laden contribution seems to leave out the crucial fact that Gallop’s disastrous, no other word fits, negotiation of the last TV contract bar one resulted in issues such as SBW, Folau and Hunt leaving the game; rugby league being massively undervalued; salary cap issues; sponsorship consquences etc. etc.
Real positives. The lack of funding into the game over the last 5 years was totally caused by Gallop’s incompetence.
But forget about that…
Concentrate on your own prejudices. You will get a job at the Sydney Telegraph with such quality anti-ARLC material, David. They are making it an art form as we speak.
October 27th 2012 @ 10:07am
Ryan O'Connell said | October 27th 2012 @ 10:07am | Report comment
That’s a more than fair point. Unless you can guarantee that the replacement will do a better job, or at least as the credentials to potentially do a better job, it’s a bit irresponsible firing the incumbent(s).
October 27th 2012 @ 11:51am
Campaign to retore Melbourne's lost Premierships said | October 27th 2012 @ 11:51am | Report comment
Its about sending a clear message that what is going on is unacceptable and that we are going to have change. Harrigan’s position had become untenable and if he was half the man I thought he was, then he would have resigned. Now he has been pushed and quite frankly he needed to go.
I must say that I take exception to the headline in this article. It would have been reactionary to have dismissed them after the Origin debacle or half way though the finals series but to wait a reasonable time after the season finished to make such a decision is responsible and decisive. I would say a very big well done to the ARLC for this action.
What needs to happen now is a massive simplification of the rules. We don’t need touch line lawyers to adjudicate on every play. What we need is something that can be understood by all and is clear and consistent.
October 27th 2012 @ 4:17pm
Gerry@YourLawnAndGarden said | October 27th 2012 @ 4:17pm | Report comment
Campaign, you need to change your handle!
October 31st 2012 @ 4:14pm
andyman said | October 31st 2012 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
what rule changes do you suggest?
October 27th 2012 @ 6:59am
Johnno said | October 27th 2012 @ 6:59am | Report comment
No one likes Bill Harrigan, he never has won any popularity contests. Coaches don’t like him and fans don’t like him the man can;t win every where he turns in rugby league. He has left now very unpopular man for many reasons was hollywood harrigan. Heck even Manly hated him and that is saying something as everyone Hates Manly. One thing that is annoying me about John Grant is he is starting to resemble JON more and more. AN Ivory towers attitude. Hiding almost looking down from above. Dave Gallop, Andrew Demetriou, Eddie Mcguire, were everywhere, Micky Arthur too as head coach.
John Grant seems too far removed form the game like JON was a disconnect from the fans. It leaves a sour taste in fans mouth.
Demetriou seems far more in touch with the sherirn at a local junior footy club, than John Grant does with a stedden at a junior club presentation night. And John Grant is no non footy fine european swiss fountain pen collector, Swiss chocolate eater only or european chocolate eater only with no knowledge of rugby league. The bloke did play for Australia for crying out loud in rugby league.
But you wouldn’t know it lately with the disconnect from fans , out of touch ivory tower attitude.
The IRB ceo has a twitter account you can tweet to him and he replies back. seep blather of all people has a twitter account and replies back. JON and John Grant have no twitter accounts to allow the fans to reply too him. Ben Buckley does.
Why doesn’t John Grant allow fans to do what the warpaths and eels fans were allowed to do and that was get up close and vent there spleen at them about there teams frustrations. John Ribot went on tv and faced the fans on the footy show in the super league war, dave gallop and demetirou do go not he foot show and face the fans. but JON almost never did he did a few 1 on 1 small itnerviews but not in front of fans, and John Grant is the same. He should face the fans music and spleen like Gallop bravely always did and demetriou and Eddy mcguire does too on breakfast radio in Melbourne every day.
John Grant should have a fan forum and allow rugby league fans to attack him and vent there spleen about rugby league matters like for example do it not he footy show or at a local club. Gallop did he faced the fans and people. JON didn’t if you see his resignation press conference you would see why. Micheal Hawker taking over and defelcting the tough questions.
John Grant should not keep the ivory towers attitude going it won’t make him liked or popular. He will develop a dictator vibe more than a man for the fans and people.
October 27th 2012 @ 7:03am
David Lord said | October 27th 2012 @ 7:03am | Report comment
You have nailed the problem as well Johnno.
October 27th 2012 @ 7:39am
AGO74 said | October 27th 2012 @ 7:39am | Report comment
Johnno – you don’t like John grant. Fine. I am neither for him or against him. But essentially on this matter you agree with his decision to chop Harrigan.
October 27th 2012 @ 7:57am
yewonk said | October 27th 2012 @ 7:57am | Report comment
yes the commission have been very good at firing but cant seem to hire anyone.
October 27th 2012 @ 10:30am
Rob C said | October 27th 2012 @ 10:30am | Report comment
Johno, the difference between John Grant and all those people that you mention is that they are Chief Executives and John’s role is a Chairmans (non executive). He is not required to and for conflict of interest reasons should stay out of day to day runnings.
The main issue is that we do not have a credible CEO at the moment. Mattiske is too scared to make a decision because in reality he is not going to be the man going forward and he is intimidated by those in higher roles.
David Gallop should not have been removed until a better alternative was identified and secured. This is amateurish… But i will say that Gallop had to go and all the apologists need to realise is that he was and is identical to the current people we have now i.e. too afraid to make a decision and be pro-active and only good in a crisis management situations. David Gallop would have made a sensational COO, but he is too short sighted and lacked vision for a CEO. Who ever comes into this role needs to be strong minded and a leader. One that can cut through all the crap and get all stakeholders aligned and working together. A tough job and one that if successful will change the game both in Australia and regionally forever.
October 27th 2012 @ 1:38pm
Murph said | October 27th 2012 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
Johnno, I know little about John Grant, but you need to compare apples with apples. Grant’s AFL opposite number is Commission Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick doesn’t engage in public discussion over issues. He may do a couple of radio interviews through the season, but that’s it. Fronting the media on each and every issue is the CEO’s task, not the Chairman’s.
October 27th 2012 @ 7:26am
AGO74 said | October 27th 2012 @ 7:26am | Report comment
Seriously David – how many articles can you bring up the Bulldogs and James Graham. We get it. You don’t like what they did. Time to move on. I think most of us have.
As for Harrigan, he was a great ref but a bad refs boss. Terrible actually. We’ve seen great players be terrible coaches and vice versa so there is no reason that logic could not apply to the head of the referees. Bad/ wrong ref decisions increased significantly under his watch. Ok, so they may not have a permanent replacement yet but if the guy who was currently doing the role was a repeatedly incompetent then why would you retain him?
October 27th 2012 @ 7:41am
David Lord said | October 27th 2012 @ 7:41am | Report comment
AGO74, the reference is what the ARLC didn’t do, not what the Bulldogs did. There’s a huge difference in the meaning. There are a lot of areas where the Commission hasn’t done anything, so what are they doing in their ivory tower?
October 27th 2012 @ 8:07am
Gaz said | October 27th 2012 @ 8:07am | Report comment
David you don’t like Grant either do you!
Is it because he comes from Queensland perhaps?
What has the ARLC done in their first year you ask, well I’ll be the bunny and tell you.
Got rid of that blight on the game McItyre system.
Got rid of News Limited’s puppet Gallop.
Got rid of Harrigan and Raper.
Got 1b tv deal to future proof the game.
Not a bad start in anyone’s book, except yours apparently.
October 27th 2012 @ 11:58am
WrestleManiac said | October 27th 2012 @ 11:58am | Report comment
What they are doing David is helping rugby league. James Graham got a 12 week suspension, and the Bulldogs were shamed. We don’t need a return to the real reactionary era of Gallop, where the media screamed and Gallop jumped to do their bidding. Harrigan deserved to be sacked, and given this has been discussed all year it can hardly be labelled reactionary to sack him now, at the end of October.
Harrigan has been responsible for complicating decisions, from the farcical separation rule for tries that would be a knock-on anywhere else on the field, to a subjective jugdement on intent when a player ‘accidentally’ grounds the ball in their own in-goal. The rules of the game are simple and need to be enforced by referees, each rule doesn’t need ten KPIs on how it should be interpreted, and the players don’t need to be coached by the ref during the game, they need to be penalised until they obey the rules.
Like many I want the ARLC to improve the standing of the game, expansion and promoting internatinal rugby league being chief on my wish-list, but in ditching the arrogant Harrigan they have taken another step towards a better future.
October 27th 2012 @ 12:11pm
Campaign to retore Melbourne's lost Premierships said | October 27th 2012 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
To be blunt David, you don’t know what the ARLC is doing or has done on various areas. The fact that they don’t hold a press conference over every little internal matter like Gallop did is a good thing. We shouldn’t be washing our dirty linen in public which is what we have done big time for the last 10 years.
The commission is still in its first year but has made some good decisions. Its failure to get rid of channel 9 is obviously one negative but I suspect that there may have been be some very good reasons for that. I am sure that Grant would not have been unaware of the very strong public opinion on this matter.
It does seem that the ARLC is focussing on the big issues in our game which is what it should be doing. Unlike Gallop who could only focus on the negative and on the administrative such as the biting incident. That is as it should be. The commission needs to be setting the strategic direction for this game and changing things where they need changing something that Gallop was spectacularly inefficient at.
Things are happening of that I am sure and I for one am glad that the commission are not rushing into the appointment of a new CEO or a new Referee Structure.
October 27th 2012 @ 7:43am
Roarsome said | October 27th 2012 @ 7:43am | Report comment
Now the replacement will come in a make a swift change somewhere. Just to place his mark on the game and show he’s here. Will it be cutting one of the two refs or perhaps bringing back an in goal touchy? Who knows. Sometime I think the league generates these things just to make news in the middle of the cricket, a league seasons.
–
Comment left via The Roar’s iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
October 27th 2012 @ 7:43am
oikee said | October 27th 2012 @ 7:43am | Report comment
Harrigon should never have been appointed refferee boss in the first place. Same as Raper.
Neither can see the problems that is stuffing the game, like the Torso rule, the knock forward rule. When a ball is allowed to be play on after going 10 yards forward off a players body you know their is something terribly wrong.
If you fix the rules then you ellimate major mistakes.
Harrigon and Raper keep standing down the video refs for making mistakes without addressing the issue “why” they were making the same mistakes every week.
Could you imagine these 2 working in a bomb factory. After every explossion they would rebuild to have the same explossion happen again and again. All the employees would be gone, but those 2 would be safe and sound knowing they are immuned. Well not no more. Who, that majic man “WHO” has turned up and sacked both of them. Good, i say goodbye to bad rubbish, no good trying to sugar coat this, they were the worst 2 in charge i have ever seen.
As for someone to replace them, put anyone in charge, it wont matter until you fix the rules causing the problems.
October 27th 2012 @ 9:28am
steve b said | October 27th 2012 @ 9:28am | Report comment
Your last sentence says it all oikee !!
October 27th 2012 @ 10:08am
Ryan O'Connell said | October 27th 2012 @ 10:08am | Report comment
Every now and then you drop a real nugget of wisdom, Oikee. I agree with Steve – your last sentence is very astute.
October 27th 2012 @ 6:57pm
paddyeff2 said | October 27th 2012 @ 6:57pm | Report comment
Make the rules black and white, like the good old days, I suppose oikee?
Surely the nature of human perspective makes black and white interpretations of human action impossible, especially given it’s one man making the decision, and the game is played at incredible speed, with a million things to look out for. Sure, the torso and knock forward ones are controversial, but saying “Fix the rules” is an all too common catch cry of an ignorant fanbase.
October 31st 2012 @ 4:31pm
andyman said | October 31st 2012 @ 4:31pm | Report comment
what rules exactly? They are pretty clear. Assuming you have read them, section 10 rule 1 ” a player shall be penalised if he deliberately knocks on or passes forward”: key word there deliberately. everything else is accidental – see rule section 10 rule 2.
try contacting you local league and put your hand up to do a course and referee some local junior games. its a lot lore difficult when your in the centre and hypoxic from running around for an hour or so.
October 27th 2012 @ 8:45am
Crosscoder said | October 27th 2012 @ 8:45am | Report comment
Grant is the chairman for heaven’s sake ,the commission is working on various aspects of the game ,including refereeing standards.Reactionary LOL.The ref standards this year at times have been abysmal.If they had been reactionary both would have been given the flick after SOO ,and not after detailed examination of examples throughout the year,up to and including the G/F
The dislike for Grant revealed in the media and blogs is amazing.Which as some have suggested, h musst be on the right track.Especially when News Ltd hacks9Wilson & Rothfield) ,invariably give him a serve.
News conference on Monday,we may be all enlightened,instead of going off at a tangent.
October 27th 2012 @ 9:01am
db swannie said | October 27th 2012 @ 9:01am | Report comment
So the commission has so far
1. Got massive $$$$ for the tv rights ,after yrs of fans screaming about how undersold we were.
2.Got rid of the dictatorship at the heart of the refs problem ,after yrs of fans screaming they wanted Bill gone .
Rome wasnt built in a day.
Grant & co are taking a steady as she goes ,approach to yrs of built up problems (DG cough cough).
& as CC said if News Ltd & the Um Ahhhh um ahhhhh DG fan club are upset ,then they are doing plenty right.
If Russel Smith takes over i would give him a chance to fix problems .
He was a good ref when he first started in the NRL..But Hollywood Dill soon tainted him..
Fresh ideas(not allowed under the ref dictatorship) will hopefully improve some very very ordinary reffing.
October 27th 2012 @ 9:21am
Tommy said | October 27th 2012 @ 9:21am | Report comment
I don’t get what the ARLC is supposed to have done about Graham and biting. The judiciary found him guilty & suspended him. It isn’t the ARLC’s job to intervene in NRL’s daily operations. No one could foresee that the biting was to happen. Is the ARLC meant to have some special abilities? Meanwhile the NRL has been sacking referees bosses long before it had an ARLC.
October 27th 2012 @ 9:41am
Dave said | October 27th 2012 @ 9:41am | Report comment
Wow, David Lord is still harping on about the Bulldogs. Strange he hasn’t felt the need to give the indiscretions of others players the same column inches. Surly the alleged assault of a police officer by Jorge Taufau (Manly) and BJ Leilua conviction for distributing pics of his ex girlfriend warrant aention is his moral crusade?
October 27th 2012 @ 11:45am
David Lord said | October 27th 2012 @ 11:45am | Report comment
Dave, don’t you read the other posts. The mention is what the ARLC HASN’T done, not what the Bulldogs DID. There are times when I just can’t believe some posts, and just how badly you miss the point.
October 27th 2012 @ 10:27am
Lovey said | October 27th 2012 @ 10:27am | Report comment
It is reported in the SMH that they lost their jobs for defending the two video ref decisions in the State of Origin. It seems the NSWRL wanted them to say the decisions were wrong, then they would have been a bit happier. The thing is, both decisions were right, on a benefit of the doubt to the attacking side viewpoint. Nobody can say there was no doubt, I recall the talking heads being evenly split on both decisions, and it was not just down State lines.
If this is why they have lost their jobs, they have been scapegoated. Which would be disgraceful. However I have no opinion on how they handled their duties overall.