NRL referees: With control comes respect

Good article Hayley, but a bit condescending of we roarers to tell you.

Lots of good points well made Mick, and an excellent piece to start it all Hayley! The players have an in-built need of their own, and are also coached, to push every possible boundary to gain any advantage whether it's over the other player/s and team, or the referees. The most effective means of policing for the refs are to punish the players, and indirectly, the coaches for systematically breaking the rules. Marching players an extra 10 should be used more, and sadly the sin bin has all but become redundant in today's game. If the capability is there, please use it, and use it consistently for all levels of the game, juniors to Origin.

Careful! Say anything about archer and you may not get posted! Wonder who pays "the roar" and how much!

Oh, by writing an article on a league forum, making comments yourself, reading and considering what other contributors think, debating the bits folks believe to be most important ... that sort of thing. That'd be a good start. :)

the video ref did not award the try on Monday night it was actually the on field ref who awarded the try but he was right in front he should not have got the decision wrong.

When the commentators and players complain about penalties blown turning their game into Union (like that is bad), they don't seem to graps it is the players that are to blame, not the Refs. Players cause penalties. The Ref penalises illegal play. Simple as that. If you are penalised, how is that the Refs fault? If the Penalty count is up at 30 for the game, whose fault is that really? Stop blaming the Refs, and take a look at yourselves. It is a disgrace when I see players abusing the ref about a decision or yelling "F off" running back to the line after giving a penalty away... I think that should be marched 10 metres... Give away a penalty? Shut up and go back 10. That is how it should be.

Hey people ..We can talk about this until we are blue in the face ..BUT , How can we get actually something happening to make positive change/s ?

well said Neville. The clowns in the commentary boxes need to have a good hard look at themselves. They are predominately ex players, many wiith too many head knocks or ex coaches. They need to stop their favourite sport of nit picking and articulate the finer points of each game. Imagine turning on the TV and haviing commentators actually praising the game, the players and ref. In Gay FL, they don't analyse the game to the empth degree. Come on boys, lets follow their lead.

The worst that has happened is the NRL having the referees calling players by their first name. We get this in City/Country, SOO and internationals. Players are now badgering the referees like a European soccer match. Watch the rugby whether it be Shute Shield, Super 15 or internationals and compare how they speak and treat referees compared to the NRL. Conversely, in speaking to players it is number offside, number 7 not releasing, captain please. It isn't helped any either when the main FTA commentators also refers to all players by their first name or nickname.

They used to have 5 minute sin bins but by the time the player dawdled off the field, the non offending team takes the penalty, a little time wasting and there's your 5 minutes.

Agree totally. A great example was the Greece/Ivory Coast FIFA world cup game this morning. A penalty in the 92nd minute. How often do we see kickable penalties in close games in the last 5-10 minutes of a game.

"not to mention the open licence it seems to give to juniors"

That is the most damaging impact of the matters being discussed here.

Probably so Boz, notwithstanding my view that they ought to be, and feel, wholly detached from an responsibility for maintaining or enhancing the spectacle. You get rare ones such as Hartley and Harrigan who display a personality without impairing their ability to act without fear or favour, especially Harrigan who performed with real authority. Hayley's point about not "coaching" and djcooper's about speaking to players as numbers are well made. Rugby union maintains those practices and referees are better treated there. I have noticed at senior club level that rugby referees remain fairly aloof even in post match functions and it has been that way for years. They are assessed in just about every match in the higher grades, they do take their jobs seriously and will argue objectively about their decisions and admit error. I've long believed that when players stop dropping the ball, making poor passes and missing tackles then they may mount a more self righteous case against referee error.

Agree with all said so far. The referee is not your mate, he's a rugby league policeman who sees infringements and applies penalties. He does not coach, that's the coach's job, and he does not carry on conversations with anyone other than the Captain. All this ref bashing began when the video ref initially got involved and the motor mouths in the commentary box began to second guess every decision. Toughen the ref's up, remove their sense of humour for eighty minutes at a time . and, above all, shut up the coaches and the controversy seeking commentators

Well said Mick. Do you think perhaps making the Sin Bin 5 minutes only would make the referees less reluctant to Bin players?

Agree djcooper. There was one game where the Broncos were playing, and the ref said "You're off Corey", and both Corey Norman, and Corey Parker who were standing next to each other in the line stopped. Why can't he just say, "You're offside Number 10"?

They shouldn't have to explain a decision at all. It's not a debate. The decision has been made. It's not going to be changed. They can discuss it after the game.

The old adage "play the whistle" is as true today as it was at the games inception. There is no doubt that referees make mistakes, but if players didn't make mistakes, the referees job would be easy and most coaches life would be far easier as well. The upshot is that the ref is in control of the game. He sould be shown utmost respect no matter what. Decisions are not going to be changed by Darius Boyd type in your face bullying. Where are we going to get future referees from if they are continually abused. The refs should come down harder on players, Boyd should have been binned as well. The remonstrations predominately says more about the quality of the person wearing the jumper than the perceived mistake. There are avaenues whereby the refs game decisions can be protested, use them not the media. The abuse of referees is far too common and most importantly shows a terrible face to the viewers, not to mention the open licence it seems to give to juniors. I'm with the refs here, go hard on it and wipe it out of the game, While you're at it, sin bin the captain for 10 minutes when the fourteenth player, sorry the so called runners are on the field when they shouldn't. It's becoming a joke. Runners are on the paddock from the kick off to the end of the game...yes Alfie Langer was on the field from a kick off. Whe questioned, Alfie with a wry smile joked that he had to pick up the kicking tee. It's no joke Alfie, its a blight on the game.

I'm bemused that any fan would find a player innocent in these circumstances:

"Rather than letting it get to the point where players are questioning their integrity, they need to call the game as they see it and stop warning players"

but they do. The players have worked themselves into the enviable position of protected species to the extent that the League and the referees now feel obliged to apologise for invoking the rules. It seems so long ago when referee Bill Harrigan sent Gordon Tallis from the field for an attack on his integrity, without hesitation, and caused a furore. The League could have fixed the problem right there and then - ignored what the likes of gurus Benny and Gus and the immortal junkie had to say about it, immediately lent unequivocal support to the referee and shut down debate. I looked in on the last State of Origin match for a bit to witness any player who felt like having a say have his say, in unison with his team mates, including a grown man (based only on visual assessment) bawling like a lunatic at the referee at one point - not whinging or shouting but literally screeching at him, and getting away with it. I suppose that glassing girls without sanction then being a serial drunk yet finding huge dollars shoveled at one would embolden one. Bottom feeders and the League.

"and referees are paid to enforce the rules. If both sides concentrate on what they’re supposed to do, the game will be better for it"

Over many decades I've seen few more effective measures than a referee marching a side 10 yards, then marching them again when the players failed to recognise unilateral as it stared right at them. It shuts them up quick smart. My observation is the sin bin is little used, so as to not deprive the fans of a "fair contest" - utter twaddle of course. If a player breaks the rules then let him and his team and his fans suffer until he stops breaking the rules. The referee has no obligation to make the game lovely and fluffy and "everyone gets a prize" for the players - that is their responsibility. They can forget the excuse that players have a right to know for mine, entitling them to question the referee's decisions. If they haven't studied and understand the rules in their spare time they ought not be on the field. The captain should be the only spokesman, speaking rarely and briefly. This charade is merely an invention of the coaches to create chaos, confusion and capitulation. The amusing bit is that if one set out to narrow the field of future players, to render the game so unattractive to young parents that they'll not permit their sons to participate, then the League has used the perfect formula to allow the situation to deteriorate so. Well done article Hayley Maher, clearly and simply expressed.

Completely agree. Players should be called by their number not first name. Only the captain should be able to talk with the ref and only at stoppages. Cut out the coaching and blow a penalty. If those changes are implemented we would have less instances of refs being influenced by certain personalities on the field. Also my personal input would be turfing Tony Archer as head, was always easily influenced on the field, especially by a home crowd. Go back to one ref and two linesmen. Allow linesmen to have a say in the officiating especially in regards to forward passes. How many times have we heard forward being called from a linesman, only for the ref to take no notice and the resulting passage of play leads to a try. Less tries should be taken upstairs. Cecchin is a horror with this having almost every try referred to the video ref, it turns the game into NFL style stop start affair, and a massive promotion for Isuzu/KFC. Also considering the video ref awarding Lui's "try" on Monday night, and in some fans minds Thaiday's no try in origin, it is obvious that some of these video refs can't be trusted to make the correct call, even with 8 different angles and a world of time to review the decision. If we do have to have a video ref they should not be ex players. Their is too much room for personal bias to come into play. Lastly if an indiscretion is blown as a penalty in the 5th minute, the same indiscretion should be a penalty in the 75th minute. Provide some consistency then the fans and players might have more faith in the officiating of the game.