The video referee is stealing the heart of the game away from the fans and the enjoyment of the game from the players.
The video ref came about because the on-field referee was failing to get crucial decisions right. It was deemed they needed help rather than criticism.
So, the NRL invested heavily into the video ref system with the intent of getting the decisions correct, however all they have done in the process is to steal the excitement and wonder from the fans and the satisfaction and gratification of individual brilliance from the players.
We have turned the game into an antithesis of what it is meant to really be. Rugby league for the fan is meant to be exciting, nail-biting and hopefully a celebration. The video ref destroys every tenet of the fans’ experience which is, of course, the life blood of the game.
We love the game for its toughness, speed and the incredible talent shown by its players. However, the greatest attribute the game offered to the fan is the thrill when their team overcome the non-relenting opposition to score a try.
Sometimes the tries are scored through incredible individual skill and sometimes its through withstanding physical and mental torment.
When that moment happens fans are riding a wave of expectation and hope. There is, at this point, a connection between the fan and the player. Metaphysical, imaginary? I don’t know, but it’s real and it’s what keeps us coming back.
During this wondrous experience, who cares what happened a moment or a tackle before? All fans care about is jumping, screaming and combining with their team to celebrate what they just witnessed and feel a part of. But the video ref steals this experience. It destroys the heart of the best of what this game has to offer. It is destroying the reason why fans are fans.
This excitement is not just about points scored on the board, it’s more to do with the brotherhood of man.
It’s about screaming when you would never scream normally in public. It’s about jumping up and down in a public place when you would never jump up and down in public. It’s about joining together with a complete stranger and hugging them because of the experience you have just shared. It’s about allowing yourself to be unleashed by common societal norms and pressures, allowing unbridled enthusiasm to escape in wondrous ways that probably only comes second to sex for human experience.
This experience is as deep as our humanity reaches. It is spiritual. These experiences make sport the most popular past time on the planet. It brings us together regardless of our differences. Sport has proven to cross all barriers, all cultural, intellectual and financial divides that society can create.
However, the video ref is stealing and destroying the very experience a fan’s heart cries out for. The very reason we go to the game.
Instead of screaming and yelling when that ball touches down we wait for up to two minutes to see if it gets the all clear. If it does get the green light, the excitement is about 10 per cent of what it should have been.
The game will always have errors from players, coaches, and referees. We just have to learn to live with them. After all, we have to live with all the other errors that refs make when tries are not scored.
At the end of the day, it’s just a game. It’s not real life.
We have had the video ref long enough now to know that it gets around 30 per cent of the decisions wrong anyway. We just don’t need it.
We have real life to worry about. In real life we have bosses, wives, husbands, parents, police and the courts all employed to enforce that we do their will.
Give us our game and our excitement back or I will be looking elsewhere to hug a stranger while I’m yelling, screaming, jumping and uncontrollably crying with excitement when me and my team score.
Bill
Guest
Video decisions temper the peaks and troughs of sporting experience. They have turned "Ýeahhhhhh" or "Nooooooooo" into "meh, let's have a look at the replay". I think soccer have got it right on this one (albeit soccer does not by its nature suit vr)
Wild Man From Borneo
Roar Rookie
Another thing. If we HAVE to make sure that the play leading up to the try is legal then what about the previous tackles?? They are just as relevant. Why do the Refs limit the video review to the previous tackle? The answer is that the on field Refs decision up to that point is accepted as correct. If that is the case, why can't we accept the Refs decision for a try?? If the Ref decisions are acceptable for the majority of the game they have to be acceptable for the awarding of points as well. The Video ref is the major tool of the Fun Police.
Wild Man From Borneo
Roar Rookie
I agree with you fiver. The vid ref may get some calls right, it may get the majority of the calls right however it goes against the spirit of the game and kills all atmosphere at the game. TV is another issue but for the paying fan at the game, it's a killer. We just don't need it and I believe we need to get used to the fact that mistakes will happen regardless of technology
fiver
Guest
Gould is just as bad as Hadley. I would abolish the video ref, it kills all atmosphere and theater of the game. The video refs still makes incorrect calls anyway, i.e the Manly v Cowboys obstruction call. Perhaps give the players an option to go to the video ref if they strongly disagree with a refs decision but they only get to do it twice per game, something similar to cricket.
tigerdave
Guest
If we eliminate them there will be a big cry about not usig technology available, if we keep them we will continually complain. That is for various resons, amoung them, that people don't know the rules correcty, that they are influenced by some idiot commentators (I speak of Hadley), that it was their sdie that didn't get the 50-50 call, that they don't find compelling evidence to overturn the original decision made by the real ref. I reckon we should do away with them and stop the micromanagement of decisions and let the ref do their job. Before the 2 referee system, before the TV, before Hadly (god forbid), decisions were made and accepted and there wasn't so much pressure on the ref. The game was the winner. Now, they slow the frame and delight in any mistake made during the many decisions necessary during the game. The NRL fans have been made a bunch of Whingers by the media. Loot at the AFL, they do make incorrect decisions, look at the overturning of the hit by the Melbourne player last week. The difference is that the commentators don't delight in giving a rocket to the umpire/referee. The NRL have got the wrong end of the media rights deal with channel 9 coverage an absolute disgrace for the average punter, that can't afford Fox.
Edward Kelly
Guest
What I find annoying is the endless moaning about the video ref making decisions particularly from TV commentators who seem to think they always get the call 100% right and just moan and moan as the video ref has a look at a couple of replays. Very occasionally I hear a commentator say that on second look what was definitely a try or no try was actually the opposite with the aid of some replays. Rarely do I hear a commentator say that the ref wasn't actually in the best position to make a call. How many spectacular tries in the corners would have been wrongly called if it wasn't for a super slow replay? Personally I like watching the super slow replays on my big HD TV (when it is broadcast in HD: note to Nine) and I like the refs getting the majority of decisions right which they were not doing before the video ref.