Give them a break, no referee means no game

The officiating is garbage. I don't necessarily blame the refs but the systems in place at the moment are a joke and don't support the refs at all. We have an outdated rulebook. The refs as a body decide which rules they will enforce, which they'll ignore, when they have crackdowns, etc. It's a farce. The rulebook needs to be overhauled to reflect the game we have and / or want. The cornerposts are a perfect example. An olde time rule that made no sense. The game has objectively improved since that rule was changed. There are many more like it: - double movements - difference between the ball crossing the pane of the sideline vs the in goal (Matt Moylan incident v the Broncos) - grounding of the ball vs seperation vs downward pressure - 7 tackles for anything in goal - the strip rule vs knock ons vs dropped ball - concussion replacements - refs call In yesterdays game Cornish scored from a kick when the chaser was clearly offside. We end up with a farcical decision that the try is allowed because the on field ref called try and the video ref couldn't 100% deny the try when on the balance of probabilities it wasn't a try. When you look at the rules the refs made the right calls based on what they saw...but the rules are flawed and we ended up stuck with a ridiculously incorrect decision because the refs are hamstrung by a cobbled together rulebook. It's all well and good saying "live with the refs decision" but it was at a critical stage of the game and could have cost the game and it was WRONG. Not the refs fault though. These incidents happen every game, every week.

Go Cass. Yesterday was a classic in terms of what you are saying.

How about we get Phil Gould and Company to call the game live and WITHOUT the benefit of replays and we'll see how many calls they get right. The games commentators and "experts" need to take serious accountability for the amount of pressure put on the referees each week. Every game the same old experts complain again and again about the mistakes of the officials when they are sitting up in their air conditioned box looking at multiple replays. Just call the game and stop with the vilifying of the officials. We absolutely need them and there is already very little incentive for younger referees to stick with it and not leave the sport. We tend to forget if there's no ref then there's no game.

This is why we are loosing to the Kiwi’s, because in house top tier game is unprofessional. The Refereeing standards in State of Origin are the worst in the world. The refereeing standards in State of Origin is even worse than 3rd tier comps.. http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img537/1593/lQkmrX.jpg SOO Game 2, no penalty given …

Constantly changing rules and interpretation fix one cause another refs can't keep up its like watching a bad cricket captain constantly changing the field because the batter hit one four .... -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.

You are correct but only to a point. Hockey, AFL, football and union ALL allow players to compete for the ball. Except in rare circumstances, league players cannot compete for the ball. Scrums are a joke, players can no longer compete in the play the ball, poor ball security equates to a penalty for your side. If a ref makes a mistake it can be match changing because the other team gets more tackles. In many ways the video ref and no it all commentators don't help the referees.

Ben Cummin$

Throughout my experience I have identified two types of referees and touch judges. The first are those who make their decisions purely based upon what they see. The second are those who are partial and easily influenced by the din of the crowd. Home ground fixtures often showcase this hidden advantage through vocal crowd numbers and officials who think it fair to appease the masses. Consistency is all we ask for. Respect naturally follows.

You have got a good point mate. League and union refereeing include a ruck interpretation that dictates how the game is played so comparisons to afl, soccer and hockey don't work. Unions interpretation is so loose and refereed differently by everyone. It's a joke so league shouldn't complain to much. However referees generally have a style though and sometimes the type of game they will implement is known. League referees and the referees boss only have one gripe from me and that's their different interpretation from game to game. State of origin was painful to watch in the first 2 games and the maroons weren't the only ones on the receiving end. Game 2 was just a farce with fans expected to believe the defences incredible line speed was just us seeing the best players, that's insulting. Any normal person can cop a bad decision or 2 a game but the 10m rule and ruck completely dictate what contest will unfold. Fans who watch 1 or 2 leagues games a year will usually watch origin. They don't realise 1 out hit ups for 75 mins is far from normal unless there's a cyclone. The referees are responsible for the games greatest advertisement and allowing it to be played at a crawl should be a hanging offence. It didn't produce a big hits bashathon which is the only explanation I can think of. It produced one of the most boring and close games you will see. If a referee takes an origin game they are taking on responsibility for delivering the highest quality footy that the current interpretation allows. If they make a mistake they will be forgiven. If they blatantly ignore the rules fans expect they deserve a shellacking. Maybe Gus shouldn't belittle every referee failing. The important ones don't get the attention they deserve.

I doesn't need to be faster per se, but I definitely think it needs to go back to more of an endurance game. The point of RL used to be playing exhausted. Now it's just get the biggest human you can find and let them run in 15 minute intervals.

I think the problem is the rules, not the refs. The rule for a tackle in the NFL is incredibly simple, but here its not. Also, the rule makers are obsessed with game speed, they think we want a game at 100 miles an hour...ok...well the game we get is fast and full of errors and scrappy play and, sometimes, lots of penalties. We want a high quality, close contest, league is already fast enough, it doesnt need to be quicker at all. The NRL has sooo much potential, but it needs a Steve Jobs-type visionary who just *gets* sport and *gets* what fans want. Our crowds are worse than than last year, which were worse than 2013! Simplify the rules!

What happened to the bunker idea so many were calling for at the end of last years SOO? The video refs do not watch the game, they have no idea of the score or time in the game. They are only fed footage of actually incidence, and adjudicate on that incident. This is the system of the NFL that has been going for a long time and is proven to work.

Amen to that and they have to apply the law fairly and justly so no team is unfairly advantaged and to compare players with he ref is a no brainer.The ref is there to point out the mistakes of the players and the ref has technology to give him a second bite at the cherry.

Good article. Conjecture and angst arise when real time is reduced to hundredths of a second. Human eye can't compete with camera. Constant changes to rules in the past have created problems as well. Still love to yell at them though!

This is why a lot of fans have been turned off NRL. Its round 11 and there still has not been one week where i have not seen a number of articles about referee's. Hell, i cant remember the last time referee's were never in the spot light in NRL. It's tiresome.

I agree with this article, I played and umpired indoor cricket for years. The problem I see is that the officials don't back themselves and hand out punishments required to earn the respect of players. When I was abused I would give a warning, second offence minus 5 runs and third offence off you go. The next time you got that team they knew the boundaries and would respect them or the same would happen. Also as mentioned the media need to focus more on player mistakes and how the losing team may have contributed to thier side losing, instead of blaming the officials all the time. We need a big cultural change in this area.

Seriously, how do you do it? Not trying to be sarcastic at all and extremely sincere when I ask this. But how do you remain a perfect person and never make mistakes? Can you please answer because as one who does make mistakes I need to know. This could be life changing for me!

I'd like to go to a system that doesn't have multiple replays of decisions. Accept it and move on.

There are times when I find myself wincing at a penalty count and it's significance but never about the decisions mistaken or correct. But this article once again illustrates that the problem is not, never was and never will be refs or their decisions. It is truly much more about the attitudes and reactions of an awful lot of people to refs, to decisions they don't agree with, or rules they simply don't like. There is an atmosphere of intolerance that appears throughout the game and finds its greatest expression where ever someone with a keyboard and too much time, finds a place to vent. At best keyboard angries, pundits, coaches and players are wrong as often as they are correct and at worst they simply neither know the rules nor the interpretation being used at present. And more importantly they make no where near as many decisions in a month as refs have to in 80 minutes and most couldn't even get the filling of a sandwich right!