It seems that every Monday, the water-cooler chat is dominated by one thing – referees. We Aussies love a good whinge, one of many traits left over from our English forefathers I imagine.
But are we taking it too far? Or are there legitimate issues with current officiating standards?
A quick search through The Roar shows league fans to be the hardest critics of any Australian sport. With easily double the number of articles constructed about officials than the next, which is rugby union.
Hating on the referee is as Australian as meat pies, but it certainly seems worse now than at any point I can remember. It seems to be the go to explanation for any and all losses. But why?
Anyone with a good enough memory or a couple of old VHS tapes can easily see that the standard of refereeing today is light years ahead of where it was. Case in point, I watched a DVD copy of the first Origin match the other day.
For a game that is held on such a pedestal, it was filled from start to finish with errors and mistakes by the, admittedly very animated and entertaining, referee. But no one seemed to mind. The decision was made, the game moved on, and that was that.
I see several reasons for this increased scrutiny we are placing on the men in the middle. The first is the easiest. The quality of the broadcast. Even in the much maligned standard definition you can make out individual blades of grass that a ball or person may or may not be touching.
Back in the 80s on the old 34-centimetre screen you were lucky if you could make out whether the player with the ball was the opposition’s forward or your fullback.
Secondly, I think it is a phenomenon known as cognitive bias, which I won’t go into too much detail on, but suffice to say our brains are wired to observe what we already believe to be true.
In sport that means that your team are hardworking champions while other teams are rotten scoundrels. It is the reason New South Welshmen can wake up in the morning thinking that Nate Myles is a worse human being than Paul Gallen.
Our brains love being right, and it affects what we notice in the world around us. It means we are far more likely to notice an infringement against us than an infringement we commit. No matter how much we try to be impartial.
I believe this possibly explains why I thought the refereeing of the recent Panthers versus Roosters game was great. Because I didn’t have a vested interest, perhaps I could not see what others have claimed to see.
Or perhaps what I saw was an unadulterated version. Perhaps we will never know. The point is that reality is not exactly as we think it is.
One thing I thought was great in that game though was the two incidents where the referee made an on-field call, and within seconds it had been quietly and unobtrusively reviewed upstairs, and the referee was able to correctly overturn his previous call. No one will ever convince me that this is not the way forward.
The third and, I think, most important cause is the players and coaches having free reign to whinge and complain every game through their post-match interview.
This is a terrible look for our sport and I think the NRL needs to come out and say, “No one is to speak back to the referees on-field, and they are not to be mentioned in post-match pressers.” They also need to issue an edict to commentators that they should dispute calls, but that they should move on with the game quickly and reasonably.
They will never be perfect, for your perfection might be my hell. But with the support of the NRL, at least maybe they can stop being the Monday headline every week. Good luck to the remaining teams, and may your victories be free from controversy.
Muzz
Guest
All good, mate.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Nicely played Muzz. What you are failing to take into account though is that I hate the Panthers equally. Hate is too strong a word for either of these teams. I would say it is more that I dislike the Roosters, due to them being wa*kers, and I just plain don't care about Penrith. They are a nothing team filled with nobodies. Always have been and always will be. So it equals out to about the same level of me not caring who won... Nice try though. You will catch me out if you keep looking. I am a contradiction unto itself.
Muzz
Guest
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Muzz
Guest
Jay C - In your article you have written the following "I believe this is why i thought the refereeing of the recent Panther versus Roosters game was great.Because i didn't have a vested interest, perhaps i could not see what others have claimed to see" Then in Ryan article you state - " I'll take a piece of those 7 to 1 odds.And i hate the Rooters" Interesting stuff Jay C : )
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
I think it started to come about when CH9 introduced more cameras and slow mos etc and then started to over analyse every decision.
Rellum
Roar Guru
It is not just you two. It is depressing to see on this site, and in the media in general, people blaming the ref for every set back their team suffers.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
Mushi I mentioned on another thread a while ago that player errors outnumbered ref errors and so players were more responsible for the outcome of the game than the refs and I got absolutely blasted by some nong Good to see that someone else agrees with me.
mushi
Guest
And I do love that for the Roosters Penrith game which had what ~25 errors and ~80 missed tackles that the bloke in the middle making two or three errors defined the game
mushi
Guest
I do think the Ch9 team might be the worst commentary team in sport that I've ever come across.
mushi
Guest
but if it isn't a certain call on the foul play how can you exclude it? either way putting foul play to one side, not making the call is still a decision where you are exercising power. If the intent of your final comment is a "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." kind of line then I find that odd when that is exactly what you are asking the referee to do. Not calling 50/50s (which are better termed "grey" calls in my mind as I doubt they are all a perfect 50/50) is basically telling the ref that outside of something outright and blatant allow people to infringe till their heart is content.
Fairy fairfax
Roar Rookie
Error count! Love it. Puts a bit of perspective on it.
Rellum
Roar Guru
It is a societal thing, but it is also combined with the cultural influence of league fans which I think has been influenced for the worse by the commentators, ch9 and certain radio and news outlets trying to pump up the drama instead of talking about the game and how it unfolded. People seem to love buying into that.
Fairy fairfax
Roar Rookie
Maybe instead of constantly and confusingly revisiting the penalties, lets chuck out all the infringements instead and write new ones?
The Barry
Guest
It's not about ref the whole game. There was a knock on in the play that led directly to a try. If they change the rule fine but as it stands the technology was used correctly and the correct decision was made. The only reason people are complaining is because there were 15 passes or whatever. If Bromwich had knocked on as he tried to barge over from dummy half and the video ref picked it up no one would care.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
we are too harsh on refs. Penalty counts are in fact error counts for the teams (unless the ref really was wrong) but coaches and lots of fans see them as ref errors not player errors.
P.Marlowe
Guest
Good article Jay C. Another point (which you may have covered) is that there really are some very fine margins between what is and isn't a penalty (see loose carry/knock on vs stripping penalty) with our natural bias leading us to go with whichever interpretation supports our own team. In real time and with obstructed views, it is really very hard for the refs to make those calls. It would be, I imagine, a very difficult and somewhat thankless task.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Jay C, you hit it right on the head: "For a game that is held on such a pedestal, it was filled from start to finish with errors and mistakes by the, admittedly very animated and entertaining, referee. But no one seemed to mind. The decision was made, the game moved on, and that was that." It was a different game then. Players could compete for the ball in scrums, play the balls and in the tackle. Since then, scrums are now meaningless, the marker can't compete in the play the ball and ball security has gone because players can't strip anymore. No one minded because a team could win the ball against the feed, ruck it back in the play the ball, etc. So if the ref made a mistake it wasn't the be all and end all it is now. In the game now, players can't compete for the ball and there lies the problem. league is the only football code in Australia where players can't compete for the ball. Maybe if they could we would see an improvement.
Jay C
Roar Guru
The most depressing part is it's pretty close to the mark...
Knightblues
Roar Guru
What's wrong with rugby league? Why do 99% of us hate the poor refs so much? Without them we would see the ball chucked away and have a mass all in brawl that would last 20 minutes instead.
MAX
Guest
mushi, I have always excluded foul play from being seen in the same light as the 50/50. If it is an offence to recognise a fault and do or say nothing about it then the game will be in a descent from which it may not recover.