In the battle for the attention of rugby league fans, there’s a sure-fire way to appeal to as many of them as possible: bash the refs.
You see, in any game of footy there will be a winner, and there be a loser. That, in turn, means you will have winning fans, and losing fans.
Such is the love and passion that fans have for their teams, they tend to get upset when their team suffers a loss, and thus seek to vent their frustration.
The target of that venting can be the players and the coach, especially if the team didn’t play very well.
The other target – and more often than not, they are – is the referees. ‘We wuz robbed’ is a common sentiment in sport, right across the globe. However, it’s particularly prevalent in rugby league, a sport where whinging is part of its DNA.
It generally means that after any game, you potentially have 50 per cent of the audience very receptive to any notion that the refereeing was substandard, biased or incompetent, and therefore cost their team a victory.
From a journalistic point of view, that provides something of a goldmine.
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There are eight games a round, so that’s eight losing fan-bases that are usually only too happy to lay into the refs. Oh, and if those same eight teams actually win the following week, guess what? Bashing the refs again means you’re now appealing to the other fan-bases as well.
What a bonanza! Now you’re appealing to everyone!
With TV, radio, newspapers, websites, podcasts, blogs, Twitter, and more all vying for rugby league fans’ attention, ref bashing is low-hanging fruit. It affords the opportunity to appeal to a large number of people, unified by what they want to hear.
The problem with it is two-fold.
Firstly, it’s bloody lazy.
Secondly, it creates a culture where it’s okay to blame the referees; it enables everyone to jump on the bandwagon.
This is something that proves especially convenient for coaches, who, post-game, can shift responsibility away from themselves for the result.
This combination of media, coaches and fans aggressively ref bashing is dangerous because it puts even more pressure on the officials, which is probably why mistakes are made in the first place. Which makes refs… human. Just like the rest of us.
As long as there is the human element in the game, there are going to be mistakes.
That doesn’t mean you have to be happy about them when it affects your team, and it doesn’t mean the sport shouldn’t always be striving to eliminate as many of them as possible, but to think they’re not going to happen is naive. Refs are going to make mistakes, peeps.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that referees shouldn’t be held accountable for their mistakes. They most definitely should be. That includes being dropped or reprimanded – just as a player is after a poor game.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
I’m also not saying that rugby league personalities shouldn’t discuss the refereeing. It’s often a topic that needs to be talked about. However, please spare me the crisis merchants’ narratives of “worst it has ever been”, “the sport will be dead in 15 years”, “sack everyone”, and the like.
That really is bloody lazy. It’s lowest common denominator journalism to whinge about the refs to that hyperbolic extent. It doesn’t take much analysis, it doesn’t take much brains, and it doesn’t take much talent.
Pile on the refs, and you’ll easily find an audience happy to hear what you have to say. Do so in such sensationalistic fashion, and you’ll really whip the crowd into a frenzy.
When said crowd, plus the media and coaches, are allowed to blame the refs, confirmation bias occurs. They go looking for proof that the refereeing is killing the sport, and that ‘evidence’ is extremely easy to find, because refereeing mistakes will always occur. They always have.
Yet instead of them being viewed as just that – mistakes – they’re used as vindication for the ‘sky is falling’ narrative.
At this point, I could make a plea to the rugby league media to stop the ref bashing, like others have.
Yet if that’s what provides an audience, you can somewhat understand them continuing to promote such garbage. If an audience is watching, listening or reading, then they are consumers. Consumers provide revenue, and businesses are in the business of generating revenue. You can’t fault the media if people lap up what they serve up.
So, instead, I’ll turn the spotlight the other way: to the fans. If we – collectively – decide that’s not the type of journalism we want, the laws of supply and demand will kick in. If the media say they’re simply giving the audience what we want, perhaps it’s time to show them we don’t actually want sensationalistic diatribes.
Perhaps it’s time to not click, read, watch or listen to any crap that we feel is actually hurting the game.
Perhaps it’s time for some of that higher quality fruit; the type a little higher up on the tree.
Perhaps it’s time to demand better rugby league coverage.
The game deserves it. The players deserve it. Most importantly, the fans deserve it.
Paul
Guest
Now as an interested observer/outsider of what is happening in rugby league it looks like there is a lot of fear going around inside the game and they are looking to point fingers at who is to blame with the decline and the current state of play (declining crowds, participation, ratings, fan base, loss of blue chip corporate sponsors etc). The finger is currently being pointed at the referees. The above is not an overnight problem with an easy solution but rather a long term, many faceted problem which requires hard, difficult decisions if rugby league will survive and prosper in the future. I suggest giving the game back to the fans completely - play all games at suburban grounds as much as possible at crowd friendly times (rather than scheduling games to appease tv networks). Get rid of bunker completely or only have the captains challenge as so many fans seem to be advocating. The above is hard as the tv money provides the money for the game. But if the game loses its supporter base, then there will be no tv money next time and rugby league will be fully cooked.
Larry1950
Guest
Agree, another case in point was the match winning try to Cooper in the Cowboys-Knights game. Whinge about a 'questionable' final pass yet ignore the fact that it was a clear line break with an unmarked support player and absolutely no defence around. Who's at fault there, certainly not a ref.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
I'm fed up with the ref bashing, which has reached its zenith this year. The main offenders are the crisis merchants i.e. Rothfield,Kent in the Telegraph.The talking the game down, the emphasis on the negatives, has reached hysterical proportions. These journalists claim they have a lot of support ,just because they get support on twitter etc.Ignoring the fact ,there is a swell of support for the poor refs, and resentment to the repetitious agenda driven anti NRL administration stories. I cringe listening to some of the bile Rothfield and Kent direct to the NRL and Greenberg/Beattie on their 360 show. Ironically the former CEO of the NRL (a prior News employee) was treated like a protected species.Refs blundered then,salary cap and drugs issues reared their ugly head, nothing to see here apparently. It appears to me to coincide with the NRL having their own in house digital media dept,which provides news and stories to their fans.News Ltd operatives considers this an affront, to some sort of entitlement for them on stories. Stories whether they be negatives or positives are worthy of disclosure no argument from me, but not just one dominating at the expense of the other.,which these journalists do in spades.
Forty Twenty
Guest
You have no choice but to accept what you can't change Mushi but I would argue that there is a lot that can change in a similar fashion to other sports. Tennis and Cricket didn't accept the status quo and league will do the same given time.
Roger
Guest
Ryan, many of us have complained for years about scandal rags publishing the worst of articles and photos of celebrities. They still do it because it sells. P.S. Most people are stupid.
Gray Hand
Guest
Much as I like Tim’s writing, his attacks on the referee managers amounts to exactly the same thing as any other writer attacking referees: it just fuels the unrealistic expectations of fans regarding referee decisions.
Mushi
Guest
I think the part that doesn't happen is acceptance. We're happy with luck playing a massive part in everything else in life but not this?
Adam
Roar Guru
Too right! What else would we have?
Big daddy
Guest
What a world we would have if refs didn't make any errors. Then we wouldn't have anything to complain about on the ROAR site.
Nick
Roar Guru
I like the DT. It's smooth on the buttocks when in need of loo paper.
Forty Twenty
Guest
Todd Greenberg ' We've got to be getting those decisions right, they impact games and they impact livelihoods ' The second part of his statement challenges a few accepted wisdoms trotted out every time there is a controversial game. 'The referee didn't decide the game , the coach needs to look at his own teams errors and wake up to himself' Those who think refs rarely if ever play a role in a close loss have a massive point if they are correct. If they are indeed correct the whole debate and angst shown by coaches and fans and the rest is irrational. The catch is that they are wrong. Just like the players and all their decisions, all the different calls the refs and co make do influence the score and potentially the result. if anyone even mentions ref errors in a lopsided result you can almost feel the outrage of their critics coming thru the screen. The reality is that ref errors can alter the outcome of lopsided games as well. In a dodgy season for Manly , this round I was unaware of when they were playing. I found out when I turned on the radio with 12 minutes to go. True story. Four tries later the Pennies reminded me why I had not bothered to check the draw. If Manly had of got a couple of dodgy calls go their way in the last 12 minutes or so they were likely to win and possibly put a try on. Manly win 30 - 18 and anyone who dares to even imply that the refs helped Manly to a win are ridiculed. Everyone should be able to accept that humans make mistakes but everyone should also accept that this can lead to an unfair loss. Logic says that it happens. Greenberg and Sutton to their credit have acknowledged this .
Emcie
Roar Guru
exactly, no ones gonna be happy if all we can agree on is that it's currently not what we want but we all want different things anyway
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
That's a different (better?!) definition than I've ever come across!
mushi
Roar Guru
Agreed Ryan. Nothing more to add
Matt H
Roar Guru
Good call on the comments Barry. I would love the Roar to publish reads, not just comments. I assume they would know because they can tell me how many I read and advertisers would want to know. If I look at my own stats I seem to comment maybe 15% of the time compared to reading an article. It might be that we read the analysis articles, but because they may not provoke outrage, we don't comment. At least that's what I tell myself as I see a whole 4 comments on by last effort!
Big daddy
Guest
I was wrong once. But then I may be wrong about that.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
@Ryan ,yes I do So, do you accept this definition of incompetence..’ dysfunctional administrative behavior that hinders attainment Of organizational goals ‘..?
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Do you acknowledge one, if not both, of the two following things? 1. The referees are always going to make mistakes. 2. There is a difference between 'incompetence' and 'mistakes'.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
People are whining because they have reason to whine and the referees bosses response,of all people,to those whines ie agree with them is clear validation that this is not just perceived incompetence but unfortunately very real...
Ryan OConnell
Guest
Haha! Thanks RM!