You ever ask yourself why penalties are given for infringements at certain periods of the game, and then when the pressure builds, the same infringements never draw the same type of penalties?
Let’s face it, different rules apply at different times in games of rugby league.
Here are some examples of when different rules apply.
If a game is tight and we’re in the last ten minutes or so, offside, markers being square, and play the ball-type infringements draw less penalties then if they occurred earlier in the game.
The term ‘professional foul’ is often used by commentators and fans alike for many player infringements committed intentionally to give their team an advantage.
Why does one type of ‘professional foul’ draw ten minutes in the bin in 90 per cent of cases – that is when a player makes a clean break and is run down, and the defence slows the play the ball.
Yet when player(s) give intentional penalties away when they are defending their line, we all know they are obviously ‘professional fouls’, the referee only ever threatens to send a player to the ‘sin-bin’.
What about a defensive player who runs interference when a kick isolates a player – this happens in all kick-chase scenarios as the defence tries to shield the kicker from attacking players – are these not also professional fouls?
There are many other areas where attacking and defensive players commit deliberate infringements to give their team an advantage. These include holding onto a player after a scrum breaks, keeping square at marker and continual standing in an offside position – mainly backs and wingers are guilty of the last one.
Referees are content to abide with the ‘sin-bin’ rule for a punch, or on the Greg Bird slap we saw in the Titans versus Raiders game on the weekend. Why was that gentle slap worth ten minutes when so many other professional fouls happened in that game?
Tony Archer is to blame. During his time as the head of referees, he has been responsible for the lack of consistency in the ranks of all referees – remember the Bunker revolt on the obstruction rule a month or so ago?
Pattern did it his way and drew fire from all sides for the inconsistency. Archer has not told the referees to police ‘professional fouls’ in any equal fashion. The game is now so often a disappointment to watch when these infringements are treated in varying degrees of standards.
When players acknowledge and change their ways when they know any type of punch earns the perp a guaranteed sin-bin visit, should not applying the same rules to all professional fouls make the players accountable? The players are challenging the referees all the time in these grey areas and they know they can get away with it.
Either Archer has to go, or he has to make a statement as to why all unpunished professional fouls is acceptable.
All it would take is to have two to three players in the sin-bin and a show of consistency, and the coaches and players would show restraint as they have done with the ‘punch’ rule.
If it continues as it is now, fans will leave and I for one am frustrated with the game and its stop start action.
There was a game on the weekend where referee Jared Maxwell pinged a player by name five times for being deliberately offside. He made the comment to the captain, saying that ‘next time that player was offside he would act’.
It was only a matter of ten mins or so later that the same player was pinged for being offside yet nothing was done other than the penalty.
When the audience is waiting for a referee to carry out this threat, and then weakens on his position, it does send a message to the players, the coaches, and the fans alike.
I believe that referees police the game with intend to deliver penalties not so much on merit, but in an equally distributive context.
This applies more so during extra time, and in the last ten minutes or so when a game is close, where the policy changers and soft penalties are always never pinged.
If Archer thinks his policy and administration of policing the rules via his referees goes un-noticed, he is obviously not the man for the job.
Bruce
Guest
I have kept records of various refs and their predeliction to give decisions to the team that is behind on the scoreboard and the refs that do the most "levelling up" are the ones who get the big games or the free to air club games. Masters wrote about this some years ago and named the refs received no reaction - if this happened in another code there would have been lawsuits
John
Guest
I like to refer the inconsistent reffing as the "Daytona Rule". As some of you may recall Daytona USA (the arcade racing game) had built in mechanics which made your car go a bit faster if you were behind your opponents it built up the excitement as it made it possible for losing players to catch up rather than getting pinged for an earlier stuff up.
Mongo
Guest
Why does no-one talk about the stripping the ball rule - it is such a lottery that can change a game depending which way it goes and the referee has to guess...
Mongo
Guest
Possibly but what is more important for refs being selected for big games is that they keep the game close so the last few years have seen a great many decisions go to the teams who are behind on the scoreboard. The 2 top refs are renowned for generally getting close games because TV want the viewers to stay to the end. The NRL have changed the rules to make sure games are close eg scorer kick off (then abandoned), non scorer getting the ball back if the ball goes dead from re-start (what is the purpose of this rule?), stripping the ball is legal with some restrictions etc so its an impossible refs call. Esteemed people such as Warren Ryan and Roy Masters have spoken about decisions going to the trailing team.
db
Guest
"BTW please,please penalise someone for a voluntary tackle." It would appear penalising that infringement has gone the same way as requiring an attacking player to play the ball on the mark and feeding the ball straight into a scrum. I would have added penalising defenders who change their running line to block attacking players on kick plays but a penalty was awarded last Wednesday. I won't hold my breath waiting for the next penalty to be given for that particular infringement despite it occurring on every kick this weekend.
The EYE-BALL Opinion
Roar Pro
Now that is just too confusing ...
celtic bandaid
Guest
They consciously or unconsciously are aware that should they enforce crucial decisions, the rival coach will go ballistic, call the NRL that night, then call the Refs co-ordinator at 6.00am the next day ,who will then call them in for a chat that week and ruin their golf day they had planned . This is why they are not consistent, and spin doctors like Bellamy and Bennett get their own way and whythe NRL and Channel 9 have probably lost 1.5 million viewers ( none in Qld I might add) for Origin III as a)long term supporters are fed up with it and b) new supporters and those interstate can't understand it . BTW please,please penalise someone for a voluntary tackle.
celtic bandaid
Guest
Good tell Cameron Smith and remind the 2 refs to enforce it next time Melbourne or Qld play.
The EYE-BALL Opinion
Roar Pro
The 'crowding' aspect as replays of the Walker incident shows, is about using knees to assist the tackled player lose the ball when getting up to play the ball. Referees have been informed about the tactic and now take action - not always but at times when they decide to give relieving penalties. Again, not consistently.
The EYE-BALL Opinion
Roar Pro
Welcome to the ranks of those who care about how referees are a symptom of what is destroying our game.
The EYE-BALL Opinion
Roar Pro
You are so right - whatever Archer does when he or his team reviews the referee's performances after weekend games, does he count the number or errors his employees make? Fans have more of an idea how many mistakes are made. Archer only checks the referrals that come from Coaches and they stopped trying to get clarification a long time ago. Nobody respects them, least of all the coaches and players.
Jacko
Guest
Up until this year I was an avid league fan and recorded all matches Foxtel showed and watched them during the week. I am a Warriors supporter but just loved watching certain players from all clubs. This year I have stopped watching a lot because I am getting to frustrated at the total lack of consistancy and the reacting to media that the refs have served up this year. In one game I watched part of last weekend the ref penalised a team for being offside by not being back 10 metres yet the mark he made was 14 metres from where the original play-the-ball was so either the penalty was wrong or the ref got his mark all wrong. That is just one incident and I find that this year is the worst I can remember (in 35 yrs of watching league) for refs deciding games. Its not that they are making incorrect decisions as mostly they are right but they only apply the rules at certain times of the game and spend about 55mins not applying the rules then will give one team a run of penalties and possition which decides who wins. I still try to watch a bit but end up turning most games off before their conclusion and thats not the Warriors games but other games of the round
Samuel Laffy
Roar Guru
Players on a rugby team don't necessarily like or respect each other all the time - by your reckoning they'd turn down passes to team-mates with a clear run to the try-line as a result. Also, no doubt they respect some opposition players more than others - are you suggesting that they don't tackle as hard or don't try as hard as a result? Or do they act like the professionals they are, and simply do their jobs? Because referees do the exact same thing.
Mike from tari
Guest
In April I read up on the Rules of Rugby League for the first time in about 20 years, wrong thing to do, since then I have found myself yelling at the refs " penalise him" for every discretion & believe me I see plenty every game.
Mike from tari
Guest
That's the rule alright, so tell me when was the last time that you saw the player playing the ball penalised, it was before they said if the player steps forward off the mark he shortens the defensive line, this happens every tackle but the defenders get penalised for being inside the 10. Then we have the tackled player who steps to one side of the marker and plays the ball, he never gets penalised but the markers do so why do the refs not follow the rules of the game.
AlanKC
Guest
The last ref who generally was happy to make "crucial decisions" was hung, drawn and quartered... and virtually no NSW supporter remembers "Hollywood" (thus the nickname) fondly.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Under rule 10a of Section 11 it states that the tackled player is to be released and not touched again until the ball is played, and under rule 10b of Section 11 it states that the tackled player shall get to his feet where he was tackled and play the ball -- hence the markers have to take a step back from the tackled player.
Boz
Guest
Have to agree Armchair, and I support Qld. Why do the markers have to walk about 2 metres backwards to give the bloke playing the ball room?
Cadfael
Roar Guru
One of my gripes is that kickable penalties are not awarded in the last ten minutes of a reasonably close game or in the golden point period. If a player is offside and gets penalised in the first five minutes of a game why not the same in the last five minutes? I live in country NSW where referees don penalise and sin bin in these positions. I also follow rugby where referees seem to be miore respected and are not afraid to penalise, use the sin bin or send players off. To quote Julius Sumner Miller "why is this so". I do stress that the problem is much more with NRL referees than those in other rugby league competitions.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Spot on. In the origin game at one point, one referee said play on and the other called out knock on. You don't have this problem in the ESL nor do you have it in country rugby league. Why? One referee. Also in country league, a player is called by his number.