Referee basher? Get out and don't come back

Hi Mary, better late than never for a comment. As a bronco supporter, I thought the 3 quick successive penalties to the Cowboys turned that game and at first had a view that they were 'crowd friendly' decisions because the Broncs were well on top. However, on reflection after a night's sleep, I watched highlights of the game & reckon the Broncos could have easily avoided giving those penalties away, even if they got back further than the cowboy defence or got off the tackled player more quickly. Basically, don't allow sympathetic calls by being a stickler for the rules. So, it wasn't a stitch up, they blew it. There, I've said it.

Clump has a rabid anti rugby league obsession CC. He doesn’t even deny it. To carry on in such a ridiculous manner suggests he lacks any real confidence in the code he follows. At best it’s childish behaviour on a grand scale. Regarding the ref bashing, Cecchin resigning has really set Rothfield and his cronies back in my view. He has acted scurrilously and is a blight on the game. We deserve better than him.

Clip has a bad habit of ignoring the poor TV ratings in Sydney for the AFL clubs(one for 36years) domiciled here, only applying the crowds in their updated all seater stadiums. NRL has been fairly dominant on Pay Tv with the majority of highest raters.But apparently that doesn't count. He did after all mention inner Sydney,when in fact Sydney's population is at last reports concentrated,North,South and indeed West. Serious long term anti rl obsession,is not good for one's health.Maybe Clip would be better served in the AFL threads, asking why Mr Gaff received a wet lettuce penalty of 8 weeks ,for his onfield disgrace? We have a problem with referee bashing, in which the media has to share part of the blame, with their continuous agitation.I note Rothfield is now backtracking ,when he was at the forefront of all the ref dramas earlier.Trying for a get out pass.

Now you are just lying clump. I have never claimed the nrl always beats the afl on fox every game. It simply isn’t true. What I have said ad nauseam but you choose not to understand is that the nrl significantly outrates the afl on fox overall every weekend. Last weekend the afl had 9 games and the 8 nrl had 8. Nrl games averaged 230000 viewers and the afl 175000 viewers. And that’s a good week for the afl and standard week for the nrl. The afl only gets better numbers in metro areas but not every week every game. I’ve said that consistently. I can’t help it if you are too bigoted to understand simple truths. It isn’t my fault you hate rugby league so much you have to tell porkies. That is your problem. I suppose that’s what comes from being a narrow minded sporting bigot.

You keep moving the goalposts. First you say the AFL never beats the NRL on fox. When I produce evidence of it happening 3 times in one night you move your story to 'on the weekend' It's not semantics. If you say 'generally wins' that implies there are a few times when the other side wins. As I've said, I have not seen the NRL beat the AFL on a metro basis on a night, weekend or week this year.

Thanks clump. You reveal your ignorance yet again. This isn’t about network wars. This is about how many people watch football on television. I have not recorded one weekend this year where afl has outrated the nrl on either fox or regional ratings. Reason? It hasn’t happened. As for the metro data, you are playing with semantics. Generally or usually who cares? The problem is you, as usual, are unable to cope with anything that is inconsistent with your pathetic little afl suburban view. The facts prove you wrong as usual,

We'll have to disagree on that - I would think that each network would place being no. 1 for the week and year as the pinnacle. I would also disagree about NRL always winning the Fox ratings - Just look at the ratings for Saturday 4/8- The AFL had the top 3 rating games. I would also say the AFL just about always wins the metro, not generally wins. I could be wrong, but have not seen a day when they haven't won the metro this year.

This year's "buzz" words. Cracking (describing just how good something was/is). Lock (how likely it is a player will be picked for a certain position). There's others I can't think of right now but I'm sure there's others out there who can add other buzz words.

Exactly right Muzz Everyone is looking for someone else to blame. The refs are an easy target that makes me wish I followed another sport sometimes when I hear the over the top critics. For me the NRL are probably the best officials in world sport. They have so much more to focus on than most other sports with so many bodies in motion and a ball that can move in so many directions. In the end all the whingers should do us a favour and go out and get their referees certificate. It must be that easy they could be refereeing SOO matches in no time

I watch most football casually (and enjoy all) and while whinging about refereeing decisions is universal, the degree to which it dominates the narrative in League is unrivalled. I am a massive soccer fan and it is not unusual to see refereeing decisions decide a game where scoring is critical and 'staging' is rife. Coaches, commentators, pundits and fans alike will have a rant about this but it doesn't seem to reach peak hysteria post game or hang around between rounds as the major source of angst among the faithful like it does in league. There is less of the 'refereeing is ruining the game' discussion in other codes and I am pretty sure that visually and statistically the rugby league being played now is both better refereed and more entertaining than the dire and violent wars of attrition played out in the not too distant past. I definitely agree that the commentariat in particular need to tone down the emphasis on refereeing decisions, take off their sepia tinted glasses and take the lead in improving the standard of debate and discussion surrounding the code.

That’s a very simplistic narrow minded approach to ratings clump which ignores both the regional and fox ratings. It’s been well documented this year how well the nrl ratings have held up while afl ratings went into free fall. As for weekend footy the afl generally wins the metro and the nrl always wins the regional and fox ratings. That is a fact afl fanboy.

Justin, it's you, not me that gets confused with ratings. I know how they work - the channel that gets the best percentage wins the week, the channel that wins most weeks wins the year. Ch 7 have already won the year with 21/40 wins. On the weekend there were two days when 7 was 14 percentage points ahead when 7 was showing AFL and 9 showing NRL. No doubt this helped them win the week and by doing so the year.

Got your bile out for the day clump?

I don't know what you get paid to write rugby league articles Mary (nor do I want to know), but I do know that if it's in the same ballpark as the top NRL referees, (about $100K) a season, I'd expect better from you as I do from them. The money they get paid these days means that they can afford to be professionals and by that, I mean full-time, and not have to be supported by a day job, not professional in the sense that they must be upstanding representatives of the code and above being "human". I do understand your empathy for them, however, we can't just bury our heads in the sand and roll out cliches like, "they're only human" and "we all make mistakes". People's welfare and careers rest on the decisions they make and someone like a Ricky Stuart, for instance, could easily lose his coaching job over the howlers the Raiders have been on the wrong end of this year (btw, I'm a Tigers supporter and have my own axe to grind with refs but I won't go there). Some of the fundamental mistakes are at best laughable, most are teeth gnashing. I'm also over the number of times we need to go upstairs. On the weekend, Henry Perenara was literally one metre and unobstructed away from a simple close-to-the-line try and yet he felt the need to ask the bloke sitting 75 kms away at Fox Studios what he thought. Did he need to see what the Colonel's special was so he knew what to pick up for dinner on the way home? Please, give me a break! Like you and most of your readers, I too believe as you do that threats of violence against referees should never be allowed to happen but you'll have to forgive me when I say "No Mary, I won't overlook and forgive their ineptness". It will invariably cost a team a premiership at some stage, particularly at the rate that the standard is diminishing.

How could anyone have missed that - it was all over the news that the Jets, playing in a suburban comp, got more people than NRL stalwarts Canterbury, Manly or Parramatta. It certainly isn't anything for the NRL to be happy about - perhaps they should swap them over!

Great article Mary. I hope more people follow your (and Warren Smith's) lead. We hold 80 minute players up as heroes, and pay them millions of dollars if they are able to do a top level job in their position only most of the time. Yet the refs play 80 mins every game and are integral to every single play inthe match. And we expect them to be perfect. All the time. That's just nuts. Two refs is not the problem. The bunker is not the problem. The penalty crackdown is not the problem. The problem is with us - the fans and the commentators and the sports media. We expect perfection from officials that we don't expect from players. We are increasingly (society wide) inclined to blame someone else for our problems ("We were robbed!") and we are too easily seduced into anonymous abuse on comments, forums and social media. A number of posters here have pointed out that there's a big difference between saying "That was a rubbish decision" and making a death threat. What they also need to understand is that there is a broad range of unhealthy and (as you note) uncceptable behavior in between. So let's start by acknowledging that no game is ever decided SOLELY by a poor refereeing decision. The notion tht 34 players and 2 coaches have doen everything perfectly and the final difference comes down solely to the man or woman with the whistle or flag or coloured button is a self-serving fantasy. However, I don't believe that not talking about the refereeing, or refraining completely from criticising refereeing is practical or helpful - any more than not discussing or criticising players. Personally, I would love to see a weekly column devoted to an INTELLIGENT AND INFORMED review of the refereeing across the round - noting the great calls, the controversial calls (and reproducing the rule and the current admistration' interpretation) and consistency of application accross matches. I think the absence of an objective and informed report on officiating allows a vacuum that attracts angry rants and uninformed posturing - because there's nothing to point to and cal bull An objective and considered discussion like this would do more to stop the rot than adopting an "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" stance.

Well it was a sweet story deucer. One of your better ones. You have a fertile imagination.

Yaeh you are right I dont need to get too worked up I just feel that having a go at the ref is not Ref bashing.......I like to point out the refs errors but certainly do not condone death threats.....I also wonder why this ref decided to keep going for 12 mths after this incident and feel that he has just decided enough is enough rather than the 1 incident making him give up reffing

Justin - I agree - if you're a NRL fan, like the father in the story above, there is no funny bit.

And I'm glad people with your point of views are on the decline and losing the battle of popular opinion. The sooner we can get your way to selfish thinking out of the mainstream consciousness, the better of we'll be. Good riddance.