Fox Sports should appoint an ex-referee to commentate

RN - yep that was a segment I'd watch if they have it again, I normally don't watch that show anymore after kafes incompetence a few weeks back with the rule book when he was showing how Wallabies lost to ABs due to bad ref calls. But Peter Marshall was brilliant, honest, knowledgeable & straight down the line. My favourite comment was 'the ref probably missed the Bok being offside as he was so far offside" !

What annoys me most is it used to be turn the sound down or listen to the commentators. Now teh refs are miked if you turn the sound down to avoid teh commentators you miss what teh ref is telling the players & this is what adds most to the understanding of what's going on. Now you can always listen to sports radio & watch th game, but if you record the game ^& watch it later there goes that option

Who needs a ref in the commentary box..........the way it's presented by Foxsports we have more than enough coaches, refs, experts and one-eyed supporters in the shapes of clarke, martin and kearns......the latter two having been promoted it seems from pub talk to commentary box without any qualifications or up to date knowledge of the rules. Hasn't any mate told these 'blowhards' that the further rugby players are removed from their playing days, the more they blow hard. Living proof that on the field success obviously breeds the same in the commentary box!!!

Last night's Wallaby vs Springbok rugby test (08.08.09) broadcast must go down as the worst ever produced by the Foxsports "team." Here we are sitting in front of expensive equipment, paying to watch the most abject abysmal "Live" technical display by Foxsport sound engineers eliminating traditional rugby match sounds only to have to listen to the domineering hysterical screams of three 'wannabe' commentators who embarrass the most neutral viewers with inane comments about the opposition, call the referees decisions into account at every whistle , are so confused about the laws of the game that they take up valuable airtime correcting each other's comment and in general treat the rugby viewer as idiots . Add to this the limited but poor camera work and the limited editing facilities and not only have you a recipe for disaster but a wholly unprofessional presentation.........the Wallaby broadcast support was even worse than the on field performance. When will Foxtel wise up to the fact that it's far more entertaining for viewers to pay the dues to the host broadcaster and adapt from that , than spend $oooo's sending two so-called greats monkey commentators with an 'on the job' trained "organ grinder to call a game If you thought TJ and Murray Mexted are bad , we're shocking. Please put an end to this b***sh*t farce and start giving viewers value for money. As if it's not bad enough having to support a losing team .......having a third rate bunch commentating and producing is the pits..........................and as for the great Robbie Deans.............havn't you seen through the ARFU's con of the decade yet!!.........there's nothing wrong with most of our Wallaby players ( except for the tight five , maybe but the game plans continue to suck!! So please !!....no more Foxsports b*llsh*t

uuummmmmm...... make that 3 walllabies sent off! Looking forward to a good game at Suncorp. May the best team win!

Phil Kearns and his fellow commentators are a bunch of whingers!!! I have never heard such biased comentary in all my life. Get a life and if you want to be a ref, get on the field and do the job otherwise commentate the game. Where has the professionalism gone in commentary where you call the game as it happens instead of undermining the people in charge all the time. Worst bunch of losers ever. Whinging about the kicking and what th eopposition is doing all the time...... did you notice that 2 wallabies were sent off in the boks game today? One for a clearly dirty dead which was explained away by saying the person is not a dirty player. Get real! I am sick of watching games the three of you commentate. Perhaps we should ring in nuetral commentators as well as neutral refs and then we can at least get commentary on the game instead of the competance of the referees. Please let us fans enjoy the game and stop your whinging and sarcastic coments.

I have refereed in a number of countries across both junior and senior levels. i have also been a member of a number of refereeing associations. There are different interpretations and guidelines (e.g. forward pass - ball was "thrown" backwards but travels forward - forward pass or not? some say yes some no). There are differences between what individual referees focus on (individual game philosophydoes come into it). Aus frustration with Kaplan. SA frustration with Dickinson. Referees don't make the law they apply it. There may also more focus on what they do not blow (why tell a player to get back when he has transgressed? Why not just a chat after a high tackle?) These are all aspects to be taken into consideration. The more consistency between referees genrally and also individual refereeing decison making the better. Players need to play with the referee on the field - those that adapt fastest will do best. Commentators (as ex players) love controversy - remember not all viewers are specialists either - many played years ago when the laws were different. As for me I love the contest, i'm pleased the ELV's are gone (the kicking was driving me crazy), and i love watching the teams play with whoever is refereeing at the time.

For the guys who have commented on 'Kafe' & his knowledge, well last nights Rugby Club had him doing a piece on how the Abs are losing because they're playing negative rugby. He used 3 supposed examples of illegal play at the breakdown & was actually wrong on 2 of them (I think he was wrong on all 3 but I ws foaming at the mouth by the third example so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. Get a ref in there, at least they have a chance to remove their bias.

Rickety Knees, seen the Youtube clip yet? All is revealed and it's much as both the Fox and Seven Network commentators described - BIg Al was copping it simply for being Big Al, otherwise there nothing illegal or inept about his binding whatsoever. Spotlight on Joubert at Eden Park http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYO3tNit2c&feature=channel_page Link, "Fox rugby team (save for maybe Kafer) is not in the same stratosphere as Gould and Sterling for example." Sorry to disagree but Clarko, Kearnso and Marto along with the Seven team are fine by this spectator. Ex refs? Holy jeezuz, that'd be a nightmare, though the best ref I recall was Englishman Chris White, down the middle honest and fair.

I'm also against having a ref as a commentator - commentators should be picked for their speaking ability. But the repetative, continuous and ignorant comments that come from commentators the world over only hurts the game. Someone on the commentary team needs to have an excellent understanding of the laws. If they personally disagree with the ref, they can voice it (like they do now) but we need to stop the ranting from TV guys when the ref is clearly correct, and they are wrong. It's not about protecting refs, or making them untouchable, its about getting a correct opinion out on an already complicated game.

Fox Sports wouldn't have the balls to do this. They would probably say they could not afford to do it but I could think of at least 20 blokes who would gladly offer their time for free ... as they have done for years on the paddock. Phil Kearns, an ex Wallaby skipper has NO IDEA, not a clue. He still thinks Campo's try against Italy in Melbourne was the "worst decision in International rugby ever". He needs to give himself an uppercut and as a minimum try to read Law 22.4 (g). There is even a photo for forwards to explain. As for Marto - he's made more League references than I have had hot dinners and he's now got the others singing to this stupid tune. Is this the best we can do? Without doubt the best commentators are from RSA.

Personally I think the article goes nowhere near justifying the headline. Too short and to incoherent an argument. I understand that it comes down to opinion from viewers, hence I quite enjoy the FoxSports rugby commentary. Every commentary team needs a balance of callers and characters, and I think they get this down pat with the clear calling from Clarke and insightful analysis from Kafer, and the intentionally bias but colourful commentary from Marto and Kearns. As for making a ref a commentator, as others have pointed out even refs disagree on calls; I know this as a current referee, and often get confused and even angered by some calls. Personally I couldn't think of anything worse than listening to the coarse Australian accent of Peter Marshall - good referee, and nice guy (I've met him), but some people don't have the sort of voice you want to hear for 80 minutes of a match. D

Dumb idea in my mind. 1stly we do have a referee commentating and he is a pain the backside - Gordon Bray. Secondly, the fact is there are a lot of grey areas in rugby, and there is not consistency in the decision making. This is why teams have to adapt to different referees interpretations and seek meetings with the different referees before the game. So having a referee in the box would only confuse things more. In my mind a lot of the referees are overly pedantic and don't allow the game to flow. At the end of the day the fox sports commentators are simply reflecting the frustrations of the majority of viewers. 3 cheers to them for doing so.

johnno42 - that is just classical !

kearnsey: who knows what kaplans doing whats the ref thinking? kaplan hates the waratahs marto: does the touchey even know the rooles? (turns out the ex player/commentator doesn't) mexted: "Spencer's running across field calling out, come inside me, come inside me." "I can tell you it's a magnificent sensation when the gap opens up like that and you just burst right through." now i would much prefer to listen to Murray, he is truly a colourful commentator. any day.

I don't agree. I'm sure if you'd given Palu a test before the game he would have known that rule. The reason he didn't follow it in the game is that he rushed, didn't think, didn't think anyone would see/care, etc. People break rules all the time. Doesn't mean they don't know them.

I reckon that there would be plenty of players, even at super 14 level that wouldn't know the rules

I'm not objecting to this - I wouldn't mind a ref as a commentator... But I find amusing the implication that ex-players don't know the rules but ex-refs will. Some of these ex-players played the game for many, many years (albeit often many years ago) and you'd expect them to know the rules pretty well, wouldn't you?!? Most of the players that play the game at the moment seem to know the rules pretty well to me... they just don't always follow them. Maybe what is required is someone more contemporary - ref OR player?