Penrith coach Ivan Cleary has escaped sanction for approaching referees during halftime of the Panthers’ NRL clash with Canberra.
Cleary was accused of swearing at the match officials in Panthers Stadium tunnel during the break on Sunday.
He admitted post-game that he had attempted to speak to the referees but insisted there was “nothing untoward”.
An NRL spokesperson on Wednesday confirmed the governing body wouldn’t be issuing Cleary a breach notice following their investigation.
“There were a number of conflicting versions about the events in question,” the spokesperson said.
“There were no complaints from the match officials. Additionally, neither referee was aware of any comments directed at them by Ivan Cleary.
“It is however a timely reminder that coaches should not place themselves in a position where they might be perceived to be approaching referees during matches.”
The decision comes despite NRL head of elite football Graham Annesley confirming coaches are strictly prohibited from talking to referees during games.
It is understood Cleary, Fox Sports reporter Andy Raymond and the match officials were interviewed by the NRL concerning the matter.
Penrith had lost their past nine matches and 13 of their past 15, when referee Ashley Klein had been officiating.
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson remains the last coach to be fined by the game after comments made to referee Ben Cummins in 2016.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Panthers fans are very familiar with their team's awful success rate under Ashley Klein's officiating. It seems Cleary might have thought it was time to try a more direct approach to try to get a positive result ? I think the whole issue is a massive storm in a tea cup. A coach yells out to a referee to get the opposition players off his players quicker ( with a rude word thrown in) . That is a frustration call that was rightly ignored by the officials at the time, and subsequently, despite all of Paul Kent's confected remonstrations.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Well, standard is set now eh? Kent went through the other coaches who have been fined for equal or less. The barn door is open now boys, go up the tunnel, and near the ref, spray your captain about what illegalities the other mob are getting away with on the field...
Emcie
Roar Guru
Given the guy that witnessed the incident and broke the story live (and whos testimony seems to be the focal point of this whole saga) said Cleary was lucky the ref's didn't hear it when he broke it I highly doubt the ref's are lying.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
Yep. Mentioned it on Monday that if you are going from the coaches box to the dressing rooms at Penrith, the tunnel is not on the direct route, so I would love to know why he was in the tunnel if not to get to the officials. But did we really expect any sort of leadership from Annessley?
Adam
Roar Guru
Have to agree. While I don't really like the whinge at a presser at least that is palatable compared to confronting them at half time. If anything it is tantamount to cheating and/or intimidation and a 50k fine seems about right. Considering Trent Robinson was fined 40k for a similar incident I thought the precedent was pretty much set...
Peter
Guest
The player equivalent would be something like “No no, he didn’t hit me in the head with a swinging forearm. My jaw has always had a tendency to spontaneous breaking. All those 20 cameras just had the wrong angle.” Can you imagine the howling from the pitch-fork waving mobs if the referees had actually said “Yes the coach approached us at half-time and abused us”? The referees knew perfectly well they were on a hiding to nothing and chose not to deliberately commit career suicide. But it does mean that Raving Ricky can now lurk in the tunnel at interval with complete impunity.
Rob
Guest
Ivan Cleary should have copped a $50k fine and a first and final from the NRL. Coaches and players confronting officals during a match is zero tolerance IMO. I can live with a legitimate whinge at the press conference and talk through the proper process but don’t intimidate officials during the course of a game. What is the League doing?
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Inconsistent interpretations of rules, judiciary penalties & now reactions to coaches' "complaints". Fans are left scratching their heads.
Emcie
Roar Guru
I reckon he's just very lucky none of the on duty officials heard it.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
How?? Or did he actually 'say it to his captain' who just happened to be beside the ref at the time? Cleary went a long way out of his way to be where he was at the time..