With some extra time on my hands last weekend I decided to do an academic study for submission to the The Roar. I was determined to prove my hypothesis on one aspect of rugby league.
To ensure I had a valid sample size I locked myself away in a small dark room, fuelled myself with caffeine and pizza Shapes, and watched replays of every top-flight match from 1908 to 2014.
Excitedly, I bought myself a box of pens and six notebooks to record every instance of the phenomenon, but sadly, as I emerged bleary eyed from my rugby league marathon I hadn’t gone as far as taking the cap off one pen.
So what was I measuring that would require such an extensive study? I wanted to see how many times a referee changed their mind on a decision after being challenged by a player.
The answer, of course, is a big fat duck egg, or as a friend of mine would say, a brontosaurus egg.
How could this be? I was sure that the way players carry on during matches there must have been thousands of examples. But “sir, I definitely didn’t knock the ball on”, was never met with “oh really? Sorry, my mistake, you can keep the ball”.
And even more surprising was the fact that 27 players rushing towards the referee arguing the point still didn’t make them change their mind.
So why do they do it? Why expend that amount of energy and effort on such a futile exercise? As a coach once told me, worry about what you can control in a game.
That’s not to say that referees don’t influence matches of rugby league. Students of sport and real academic studies would know that there is an almost consistent 55 per cent winning rate for home teams in almost all documented professional sports. Many academics have studied this phenomenon, and each and every study has shown that it’s not the travel or interrupted preparations, in fact teams play no differently away than they do at home.
Instead the bias is attributed to referee decisions influenced by the social pressure felt by the referee from the home crowd. Whether its calling a strike, awarding injury time or blowing penalties, home teams receive the rub of the green more often than not. In fact, if you’ve ever been unsure about attending a match it’s also proven that the larger the crowd and the higher percentage of home fans, the larger the bias is.
At the start of the season the NRL announced that referees would only speak to players during breaks, mostly in response to serial pests like Michael Ennis and Jamie Lyon who spend more time arguing with referees than actually playing the game. This seemed to work quite well, although after a few weeks the rule seemed to have been forgotten and not policed, just like the third man in below the knees.
But what worries me is that rugby league is slowly becoming more like football, where any disagreement in a decision is not only argued, but players rush from all points of the field to put in their two cents. Not only is it a bad look for the sport, but it sends the wrong message to junior players who could make life even tougher for referees at lower levels.
So to all NRL players, worry about your game and let the referee do his job. Because in the end, fans booing for an offside penalty will have more influence than you anyway.
MJB
Guest
You have it backwards, it's time for those silly men in pink to stop telling Jamie Lyon how he should referee the game.
Pillock
Guest
Problem starts with the coaches. They hold the refs in contempt and that flows down to the players. Toovey Hasler Bellamy always give it to the refs no matter what. Players & coaches make far more mistakes during a game than the refs yet it's the refs fault. More use of the bin is the start but watch for the whinging from the coaches, it will be priceless.
slurpy
Guest
dont forget brad fittler managed to get bill harrigan (from memory) to reverse a decision in an origin game. apart from that one loan occurrence, get it out of the game.
legless
Guest
I agree completely the refs are almost coaching players telling them how to pack a scrum if they don't know how to pack scrum by now penalize them not coach them and repack the scrum all the time
davey
Guest
No !!! I'm !!! not !!! with !!! you !!!
E-Meter
Guest
The refs are being coached to 'manage' the players. How often do you hear them - stay onside at the kick off; move from the tackled player; don't do that again; you're offside Jeremy Smth!. On and on again it goes. Just penalise them, where they infringe and the message will get through. Also the refs need zero tolerance to dissent. March them 10 metres, sin bin. Whatever it takes.
Hoy
Roar Guru
The difference between respect for the ref between professional League and professional Rugby is canyon-esque. In rugby, you can talk to them, ask them questions for clarification, but they will not take abuse, or overt questioning of their role. Even at low, subby club level, I have never seen a player behave like Ennis did a few weeks ago swearing and carrying on. And that little episode was let go by the League ref.
Fairy fairfax
Roar Rookie
Tough love, nothing like it.
chasmac
Guest
I would have thought that the intention of anyone running in to talk to the ref is not to get the decision reversed. By complaining at the time, they are trying to buy some leniency on the next decision. " you missed that one so you better square the ledger down the track." Squeekiest wheels likely to get the most service. Overall, very hard to measure. Can they put the player on report for too much dissent? Sin Bin would be too harsh. Maybe they need a 5 min sin bin.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
It's more than Ennis, Lyon is just as good at slowing down the play by having a chat with the ref. Still my favorite captain is Steve Price, he never said boo to the refs, just accepted the decision and moved on, and guess what, we still won heaps of games.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
it is a major problem and is often just a tactic. 1) It slows down play and 2) The hope is that the referee may feel he was wrong and make a corrective decision later. The obvious answer to this is for the ref to just tell the player knock on, offside, strip. No reasons, just the penalty. Second to this is that if a player questions the decision, march the team 10 metres for dissent. If it continues,. ten in the bin. The referees are in charge, not the players.
MAX
Guest
A leading whistleblower once told me that the main responsibility of a referee was to stop the teams from killing each other. Even today, I am not sure if he was joking. It's like me saying "If referees didn't make mistakes, players would have no argument" Only Joking. or perhaps "Dissenting players can't be wrong all the time" Moore Park would do well to invite a panel from the Roar to guide them in the policy making process. There are some very cluey boys with solutions to a package of problems needing urgent attention.
GD66
Guest
Referees do regularly invite, in fact instigate, dissent with poor decisions, none more eye-opening than Cummings' knock-on call against Hodges last weekend, but seeing players backchatting, arguing and demeaning the ref cannot be considered acceptable as a spectacle by the game's governing body. Compare the relative sea of tranquility a union ref operates in (regularly addressed as Sir, as well !) where no backchat, debate or criticism is even entertained. The 10-metre march is something that has to be top of the list for next season. And well done identifying Ennis and Lyon as serial protagonists, but they have plenty of emulators....
Liatrevlis
Guest
Maybe if the refs weren't so poor players wouldn't have to remind then of the rules !!! The way things are going soon players will just ref themselves , just like we used to as kids in the playground !!! Remember !!! No one argued then and if they did it was sorted out and we went on with it !!!! Get rid of the ref !!!! YES !!! Are you with me !!!!!
Fairy fairfax
Roar Rookie
Agree entirely.
Elma Dudd
Guest
Ennis is the reason they attempted to bring this rule in . Serial offender and a quick ten metre march would shut him and his kind up quick smart. This would be the most degrading part if the game at the moment .
Jay C
Roar Guru
March them 10 for dissent. Easily fixed.
The Barry
Guest
Agree it's a bad look. Is it a symptom or a cause of the lack of respect for refs? Refs don't help themselves though. In the publicised game against souths it was the refs that kept calling Ennis out to speak to him. He actually only approached the referees once.
andy
Guest
I agree, only Manly players should be allowed to argue ref decisions case closed :)