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I have a confession to make – on Saturday night, I swapped codes.
Instead of attending (or even watching) the NRL double header last night, I ventured out to ANZ Stadium to watch the Sydney Swans defeat the Carlton Blues to advance to an AFL preliminary final.
One thing that struck me while watching the game was the crowd. Last night the AFL drew 37,980 passionate fans – a decent crowd when you consider that one of the teams competing is Melbourne-based.
In comparison, an NRL double header with three out of four teams coming from Sydney only attracted 32,747. This is embarrassing, and certainly not the numbers the NRL would’ve hoped for.
There have been many reasons put forward for the declining crowds attending NRL games this year, one being disillusionment with the standard of refereeing.
Last night a refereeing decision arguably cost the North Queensland Cowboys the game, ultimately destroying their chances of progressing further into the finals series.
Many had predicted that this would happen at some point in the finals series. All of us hoped that it wouldn’t.
For those who missed it, Beau Ryan scored a try off the seventh tackle in a set of six.
As a Parramatta fan, this brought back memories of stories my father told me about Greg Hartley and the refereeing blunders which hurt Parramatta in the late 1970s.
What was the NRL’s response to this?
Dave Smith personally apologised to Neil Henry, who rejected this apology.
Does anyone blame him? An apology has no impact on the result and does nothing for the North Queensland Cowboys or their fans. Sorry simply is not enough.
Smith was not alone, with several NRL Commissioners also apologising to the Cowboys at the conclusion of the game.
What is concerning is that this is not the first time this has happened to the Cowboys.
In the 2012 finals, the NRL also apologised for another controversial decision in the game they lost to Manly – a loss which again ended their season.
In that occurrence, a knock on by Manly’s Kieran Foran was missed in the lead up to a try scored by Jorge Taufua.
Rugby league is a professional code that is being refereed like amateur hour. Fans will not tolerate this for much longer.
It is not enough to allow refereeing blunders to occur and then to apologise. Apologies do not revive an ended season.
When the outcome of games is decided by something completely out of the players’ control, we need to start asking questions.
Each game currently has six match officials – how can such a fundamental mistake be made? Does the NRL need to introduce an extra referee next year just to count tackles?
An inquiry is set to be made into the incident, but this won’t bring back season 2013 for the Cowboys or their fans.
As for Todd Greenberg’s reassurance that “this won’t happen again in any other game”?
It should never have happened at all. And for the Cowboys, this would leave a rotten taste in their mouth following their departure from the 2012 finals.
In a game where referees are unable to be questioned by players and by officials (just ask Ricky Stuart), it seems that we need to ask serious questions.
Unless the NRL wants 32,000 to a finals double header again next year, while the AFL continues to grow at its expense.