There is plenty of talk about crowd numbers being dismal for an NRL finals series and loads of reasons are put out there as to why.
Fixture timings, locations, public transport, the teams that are playing (interstate fans), and the ‘watch-ability’ of rugby league on the TV, right through to the price of tickets and hot dogs – these are all paraded out as reasons why these stadiums aren’t being filled.
Sure, some or all of those things are factors for some of the fans, some of the time. But none of these things will be a factor all of the time. None of these things are turning people away from the game itself.
Having three coaches from four games played on the weekend getting stuck into referees in the press conference is certainly not a good look for the game. But one thing that will turn people away from the game for good is being emotionally invested in a rugby league team and continually watching them lose games of football based off the poor or, even worse, inconsistent decisions of referees.
This is especially noticeable when it is costing your team a finals spot or a game within the finals.
I can feel for the Cowboys in years gone by and I certainly felt for the Titans last year. The fact the Cowboys may (or may not) have got one back from the universe for being ‘unlucky’ in previous years does not help the Manly fans this year.
Paul Kent said in his article on Monday that “no other game in the world questions its officials like rugby league”. While I would beg to differ on that point, especially when it comes to European football, I would also say that no other game in the world has referees that are so consistently inconsistent.
Every week we have howlers from our referees that are inexcusable. From a blatant knock on in front of the ref to a Bunker who gets to watch it multiple times in slow-mo and still comes up with a way to get it wrong, there’s no justification.
I bet if you asked all of the refs to rule on a send-off right now we would get plenty of different answers.
From game to game, the same referees are making different decisions on the same pieces of play. How are we supposed to get different referees to be consistent with each other?
Todd Greenberg said that the game needs to grow up. I say Todd Greenberg and all of his recent predecessors going back to David Gallop need to wake up.
Wake up to the fact that their referees are not improving. Not a single bit. Protecting them and fining coaches for calling out their incompetent performance is not going to help.
The fan that has just seen his team dudded wants his coach to rip into the referees as much as his players do. Like it or not, when that coach gets fined, that fan gets even more pissed off.
Now I can see those wanting to protect the referees now lining up to have a crack at me. But I doubt very few of you would say that Shane Flanagan, Trent Barrett and Brad Arthur have not a single thing to complain about – and you’re probably ready to tell me the refs weren’t the difference in three of the four finals games played on the weekend.
(AAP Image/Jane Dempster)
Then tell me this, how, in a competition that is meant to provide such an even playing field with an even salary paid out by each club, are teams supposed to win games when refereeing decisions appear to be so wrong?
Yet we want to focus on how many missed tackles or errors a team made, like it is impossible to win a game with so many errors or missed tackles.
Don’t get me wrong. I was delighted with the Cowboys getting over the Sharks and will still not give up a chance to stick it to a Sharkie fan if given the opportunity.
My little brother is a Manly fan and I will have no problem telling him that both the calls Barrett was blowing up about were more than likely right calls. Parramatta, on the other hand, had every right to be upset with the refereeing after really taking it to Melbourne on Saturday night. No explanations will convince Parramatta fans the first two Melbourne tries were iron-clad correct decisions.
On the flip side, Parramatta could have had players in the bin at one point in the second half. But I guess that’s my point. Some of the controversial decisions detracted from a fantastic spectacle.
Shane Flanagan is right. We can forget about these other reasons crowd numbers are so low because fans being gutted by refereeing is a bigger problem for the NRL than how long it takes to get a park at a Sydney stadium or the price of a hot dog.
Those fans that don’t turn up to games for these reasons aren’t lost to the game. They’re still sitting at home cheering on their team.
The NRL just has to find a way to do better.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
TB great Post. 1. I agree, not everything he was complaining about was correct. The part the headline refers to is his comment that the NRL has bigger problems. 2. Your comment comes with the premise that all the ones he was referring to were 50/50's. That is incorrect and I'm sure on review even the refs in question would admit some of them weren't 50/50 and they got them wrong. 3. Only one eyed fans spit the dummy on a legit 50/50. Some of the ones on the weekend were far from that. 4. The premise that ball can't be thrown backwards while running is false. Where that ball travels relative to the lines is another story. The error with that call was how the ref handled it. See my comment below. The Cronk to Glasby juggle on the other hand? 5. Depending on where the ref is there are plenty that can be forgiven. What can't be forgiven is a touchie telling him it was passed forward and him having the technology to check it and him refusing to use it. In that 0.05 of a second are you telling me the ref is 100% sure it wasn't projected out of the hand forward? He's got a touchie telling him it was forward, he knows it was touched making it a possible knock on and he just awards the try. The fact that it went so far forward should have had him erring on the side of caution and going to the bunker.
The Barry
Roar Guru
The Cowboys didn't have the 'rub of the green' go their way. The Sharks scored two tries / ten points directly off the back of dubious 50/50 calls. That's what makes Flanagans outburst so childish and so wrong. You're only saying the Cowboys got the rub of the green because they were good enough to win. If the Sharks were good enough to close the game out in extra time, Cowboys fans would be talking about the rub of the green.
Karma Miranda
Guest
On the contrary, Wild Eagle's point is completely valid. We didn't hear Paul Greene blowing up about bad calls on Sunday after his team had the rub go their way. But it was a very different story when the Cowboys lost to the Storm a month ago and he was fined ten Gorillas for his own rant, wasn't it?
The Barry
Roar Guru
WE - I accept that you saw something different to me. That doesn't make you right and me wrong. Doesn't mean you're wrong and I'm right. It certainly doesn't make the referee wrong. But that's at the core of this whole problem. If we get 100 knowledgeable people in a room and ask about that try we'll get a variety of answers. Look at the comments over the last couple of days about this and the other decisions. There's no consensus on any of the decisions. The problem we have is the people (like yourself) who think it was a forward pass and then blow up for days on end. Can't you see that if the ref calls it forward we still have a people blowing up at the decision? The same with all the decisions over the weekend. If everyone has your attitude every decision is a howler and the refs can't win. How do they make decisions on this pass, the Peachey try, the Gallen knock on, etc and keep everyone happy? Your expectations are literally impossible. Overall I enjoy your contributions here - a bit Manly centric but that's cool - I'd love to hear your practical response on how the refs can adjudicate on these 50/50 decisions and not have 50% of the people blowing up.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
The touchie was telling the ref the ball was passed forward and he completely brushed him because it was touched. He cut him off and only wanted info on the put down. He didn't even let him finish. That was the bit that needs better performance from the referees. He could have taken it to the bunker once he heard forward but was too arrogant to. The second it touched the parramatta player it was no longer in the forward pass category it was in the knock on category.
Bunney
Roar Rookie
You're missing the point Wild Eagle. The decision you are referring to may well have been an error or a bad call by the refs...but the point is these "bad" calls happen multiple times each match / week / season and they in essence balance out. If you're not going to get upset about the refereeing standard when you get a dud call in your favour, do you have any right to complain when you get a dud call go against you? I would suggest not.
Big Daddy
Guest
I hope Flanagan doesn't have a dog. It would have got a kicking Sunday night.
Big Daddy
Guest
Same as his comment not knowing his players were on peptide's. He's in denial.
Wild Eagle
Guest
No teams are ever shafted by wrong decisions apparently so if it can't happen to Sharks ,Eagles and Eels then it didn't happen to Knights. I am certain the Knights and the Eagles lost games this year due to wrong calls but because Barrett spat the dummy both he and I are wrong. The logic is just so daft. Good teams overcome adversity I am lectured to. A young Knights team can't over come a dud call but this call doesn't alter the result I am told.
Wild Eagle
Guest
The fact that he did or didn't mention the refs doesn't alter one thing. What happened in the game is what needs to be examined truthfully not what either coach say. Teams who win tend not to worry about refs errors , they have just won! Wow what a big surprise.
Wild Eagle
Guest
Greg McCallum, former leading ref said "the ball clearly left the hands in a forward direction" I saw the same thing as did the commentators and even in the replay I didn't see a Gorilla. The ball traveled far enough to tell the direction it was travelling in and I had no trouble seeing that. The former ref also said 'We need desperately to get a system in place to offer support on detecting forward passes' TB's comment is untrue.
Bunney
Roar Rookie
Except that this isn't even true. Matthew Elliot on Grandstand the other day revealed the Storm are not even in the top 5 for slowing the play the ball down. Time for a new argument
Bunney
Roar Rookie
"Flanagan would not have even mentioned the refs if Cronulla had gotten the win" 100% Ergo, his rant cannot be taken seriously
Bunney
Roar Rookie
Hey Chris, TB's final comment here is pretty spot on: "Anyone who can say they absolutely know that the ball was travelling forwards in the 0.05 of a second between Scott throwing the pass and the ball being touched by a Parramatta hand is kidding themselves." I suggest you try reading this book. Might help you realise the prescience of the quote above: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Invisible-Gorilla-Christopher-Chabris/9780007317318?redirected=true&utm_medium=Google&utm_campaign=Base1&utm_source=AU&utm_content=The-Invisible-Gorilla&selectCurrency=AUD&w=AF45AU998C153GA80CSHAFLX&pdg=kwd-104397864819:cmp-680104063:adg-35279697055:crv-151944834650:pid-9780007317318:dev-c&gclid=Cj0KCQjwruPNBRCKARIsAEYNXIgTTt8MkgpLMuX0g7nrhm1yYmNDd6vx-azYVQ1FLbQdaoxmXB8wnacaAmiCEALw_wcB
R N
Roar Rookie
Love it! Some of the players might benefit from doing that too!
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
No he is not. That is all.
Peter Phelps
Guest
Not so sure about that, I remember a certain Storm v Broncos GF that even Wikipedia says had some dubious decisions in it (look it up) however in the main you are right. I don't care if the ref makes the odd mistake provided their is no bias and with the bunker adjudicating a large proportion of tries and with the media focus, there is little evidence of bias that I have seen since that GF. For the most part, the refs do a dammed good job.
Peter Phelps
Guest
If the sharks are posing the same thing on their website then they should get a massive fine like $250K ?
Peter Phelps
Guest
The other advantage would be that it would cut down the whinging. After all it is hard to whinge about the ref's decision on an incident if your own captain didn't challenge it. Something would need to be done about off the ball and minor incidents otherwise we could get lots of these being challenged.
Peter Phelps
Guest
I would tend to say that a captains call should be an automatic referal to the bunker. After all, the captain is either challenging the ref's decision or something which the ref didn't see. Speed is good and the bunker is reasonably quick these days but not at the expense of accuracy.