Sometimes decisions are made, or actions taken, and you know right away that someone has stuffed up.
Two classic cases of this in the last week are the appointment of Jaco Peyper to ref the Lions/Hurricanes game in Johannesburg, and the corner that Cricket Australia has painted itself into re their negotiations with the players.
I can accept, to a degree, that referees can control pool games that involve a team from their country on account of the cost if they had to get a ‘neutral’ ref. But surely not for a game in the finals. Teams have worked all season to get a shot at the title, and why should this be put at risk through the conscious or unconscious possibility of home town bias?
Peyper is obviously one of the best referees in the world now, but he has been brought up in the South African way. And then to have South African officials to back him up is only adding fuel to the fire.
Glen Jackson should never have reffed the game in Canberra for the same reason. And he probably shouldn’t have done the Crusaders/Chiefs game as he played for the Chiefs. If you go to Court you don’t expect the police to appoint the judge because they have to be seen to be absolutely free of any bias.
And Cricket Australia has shown a similar arrogant blindness in their handling of the pay dispute with their players. For months they have known that they were putting at risk the tour to India and the Ashes series, but they have carried on as if they held all the cards and the players must crumble. In fact they hold very few cards.
No Ashes series, no revenue to fund CA. Channel Nine will not be happy, nor will Channel Ten. And cricket fans won’t be either.
I reckon it might help bring things to a resolution if the administrators in Cricket Australia had their salaries stopped, just like they’ve stopped paying the players. It doesn’t seem a fair go when only one side of the bargaining table is under the pressure of no money coming in.
My suspicion is that there is majority support for the players in this disagreement. They’re not the ones who are trying to take back something from the other side. CA have not accepted the suggestion of mediation throughout as I suspect they feel that common sense is on the other side.
They’d prefer arbitration, presuming I guess that the law always favours the haves over the have nots.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Cynical! How is that anti Kiwi? ~ simple mate because you obviously don't like New Zealand rugby, period, and you dislike Beauden Barrett because you've mentioned it enough times now about the said player being cynical and having form, seemingly as do every other Kiwi player, but they're used to rubbish like that and it just smacks of direct similarity to your nom de plume! being Cynical Play!! You say Peyper had a good game the last game, well, good onya' for that because in most eyes except a South African or a disaffected Aussie like yourself who is obviously annoyed like hell because your boys can't beat the Kiwis', think otherwise, ~ Peyper is not a good Referee and I ask again who qualifies as a judge to rank him as the best and merit based, because he's not the best on merit and certainly isn't neutral as are his hangers on bar one!
taylorman
Guest
Yes if he starts thinking like that he's at risk of freezing up, unable to make the decisions naturally, especially if he feels he has to even things Up. For me that's the main reason to appoint the big matches neutrally, the accusation of bias considerably less likely. I think that's more important than the 'best ref for the job' stance.
Jacko it is your prerogative to act out any way you want, even in a non South African manner if you so choose. ;)
taylorman
Guest
Suzie was recently inducted to the Rugby hall of fame though for some reason they declined her offer to prepare the meal at the presentation ceremony. ?
Jacko
Guest
Hannes they were asked so didnt come out and support anyone...or any ref...The press is so driven for controversy these days they will highlight any wrong decision by a hometown ref and will run with it like we saw last week with at least 3 articles saying it. Again tho do you ever remember a player saying...prior to a match...that the assigned ref is crap and you are expecting him to ref biasly?...Players would receive massive sanctions for that type of comment...
Jacko
Guest
Biltongbek I will take it as a given then that from now on I can, with your 100% approval, interpret anything you say in any manner I like...So stop insulting everybody with these constant anti Kiwi rubbish comments...Oh you didnt say any? I chose to interpret that you did...LOL...JOKE...Sarcasm...Doubt you will get it as its probably not the SA way...and interpret the hell out of that all you like
Jacko
Guest
Glad we wernt asking for an NZ ref eh Bun Fus....
Jacko
Guest
Would it be discussed at all if Neutrals were appointed?
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Rhino! Exactly mate and to go a bit further, there are no decent Referees in our South End of the Globe, the best by a country mile would have to be Angus Gardner, and to say the Officials were selected on merit is just crap, who the hell deems any Official as "the best based on merit"? ~ teaching us how to suck eggs methinks!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Darwin! How wrong you are mate and I personally think that Marinos of SANZAR, from South Africa. Peyper , and two of the Officials also from South Africa make a cute number of three Officials with one Kiwi to offset those SA appointments probably to semi appease the multiitudes , all tied in with an unfriendly crowd, and at an unfriendly ground re altitude etc against a team that rarely moved out of South Africa thereby not playing any New Zealand teams, ~ has, the undeniable balls all in their corner, ~ and with all that stacked against them, the Crusaders who in my opinion are a vastly superior side compared to the Lions in normal circumstances should win, but these are not normal circumstances and with the South African orientated win at all costs attitude, ~ I'd suggest it will be beyond the Crusaders, as they're not only playing the Lions in a Final, they're playing the Establishment and that's difficult indeed. The Super Tournament has been a dreadful and woeful exercise all round and this debacle just finishes it off! A lot's being said about Peyper and his excellent qualities as a Referee, I don't know what that opinion can be formed from, he's a dreadful Referee and always has been!
taylorman
Guest
Yes as then it just turns into just bad refereeing...Barnes, Joubert, Poite, Lawrence...
Chivas, like I said to Jacko, I will make up my own mind as to what the author means when he says "but he was brought up in the south african way" But that was not the main issue I had with Jacko, I don't like being "told" what I should think. Anyway. As far as Beauden's card. After looking at the incident a number of times I have come to the conclusion it was more a "look at me trying to get away, but don't look at the ball between my legs" than a genuine attempt not to slow down ball. As for the general performance of SA rugby, nobody are more disappointed than me.
Buk
Guest
Far out Carlos and Harry - what a massive job. Well done to the both of you. I have been called in to teach stats at the tertiary level a few times, so was very interested and pleased that in the midst of all the speculative comments, there was some actual research done. Just curious, Carlos, did you use Excel, or did you use some stats-specific software? And have you taught stats yourself? For those rugby players encouraged to get some form of qualification to cover their post-rugby lives, that would be an excellent classroom illustration of statistical analysis - would definitely hold their attention, given the subject matter.
Hannes
Guest
The decision on which ref to choose is trying to balance perceived bias with quality. As said before I lean towards quality as I rather have a referee that consistently makes less mistakes even if some supporters will claim bias for the few mistakes that is made than one that makes a multitude of mistakes, are inconsistent and will also be accused of bias by some supporters despite being from a neutral nation. An example of the latter was Bryce Lawrence from NZ that blown SA against WB in 2011 and had a very poor game (he was never good enough to be a RWC ref) and was accused of bias in SA because he "wanted to make sure that SA does not meet NZ in the finals". IMO the latter is just as much nonsense as the objections from NZ that Peyper handed the semi-final to the Lions when the Canes themselve agree they were outplayed. If a team has a problem they do come out to publicly support a ref they say nothing.
Jacko
Guest
It happen everywhere BTB...thats why it was crucial to appoint neutral refs...particully the ref and the TMO. ARs not so critical
Jacko
Guest
Hannes thats part of the isssue...Everyone has to be so careful about what is said publicly...I have never heard a team come out and say " The ref hates us and is always against us...Peyper is generally a very good ref and I have been happy to have him in the past but the way the 4 SA officials did the semi was terrible and showed me even Peyper is susceptable to pressure and he, along with his TMO and ARs failed to control their hometown bias. Even a simple error will be percieved as showing some sort of bias no matter who the error favours.Why did SANZAAR believe this was the best option? I would pick Owens over any other WR ref also
Kelefua
Guest
Hope Peyper doesn't read the hype & disadvantages the Lions in an effort to appear fair. Peyper is a very good ref arguably the best around atm. But people are still entitled to question why neutral refs aren't appointed for the finals as this would eliminate all this talk. Anyways the best team will win because they will take their opportunities. Both Lions & Crusaders have been consistent all year so they both deserve it. Bring it on!
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
Thank you, HJ!
Harry Jones
Expert
The TMO does not necessarily have a better angle than a very fit and active and anticipatory touch ref. Rasta did a great job getting in position, and he saw it easily. TMO is not the answer to every problem.
Chivas
Guest
One thing I will say about that Biltong, is SA is one of the greatest places to tour playing rugby. Hospitality plus.. as long as you watch out for serving girls named Suzie :-)