Phil Bentham

[sedbergh]

The guy sat next to me pointed out that both lines-men were directly opposite each other on the defensive line when one should have been watching the attacking line. It was about 20 minutes into the second half when an obvious forward pass by Huddersfield was not punished that the lines-man finally realised he was in the wrong position. About a minute later the same lines-man got a call completely wrong, can't remember exactly what it was now but I think he indicated a scrum to Huddersfield after a Huddersfield player had knocked on.

Linesmen? Where you at a football match?

TJs only go with the ruck when play is within 20 m of them or when a kick is expected, e.g. on the last.

I don't know who this Robjoenz is, but the guy talks a lot of sense.

[mike binder]

What did he do wrong chaps?

mr marsden you are allways first on the bandwagon to critice anything the warriors do ,yet you go watch this match and ask what did they do wrong ,if you dont know why 95% OF THE CROWD WERE BOOING HIM YOU COULDNT OF BEEN THERE

[cpwigan]

Mr Binder I only criticise when there is a need to and I praise whenever I can. Indeed, on this occasion I need to make an unreserved apology to the officials concerned because Robjoenz has now rightly educated me regarding how the rule actually work. Thanks Rob.

Personally, I think the conditions ruined the game as the spectacle it could have been. I do not buy into the criticism of Huddersfields tactics. I presume by agreement and by demand, SL officials have deliberately been more tolerant at the Tackle/POTB in 2009. RL is the only sport where officials control the pace of the game. I have always argued the rabid barking for players to get off in the tackle pre 2009 created a scooting low skill game as players ran through gaping referee induced gaps in the opposition defence. The World Cup exposed this IMO.

In 2009 we have not had any farcical penalty thon matches which we have at the start of previous seasons and teams are having to create tries through skill. We are where the NRL was pre 2009. It will clearly take teams / coaches time to adjust but in the long run it will be better. If we wanted to make a quantum leap we would as a sport introduce the 2 referee system which is a fantastic innovation ASAP and it would mean SL would not be chasing the tail of the NRL.

I surmise Mike Binder is rattled as Mrs B is ahead again in the prediction league and he wanted to wear Gemma's Mecca Bingo outfit

[GeoffN]

The guy sat next to me pointed out that both lines-men were directly opposite each other on the defensive line when one should have been watching the attacking line. It was about 20 minutes into the second half when an obvious forward pass by Huddersfield was not punished that the lines-man finally realised he was in the wrong position. About a minute later the same lines-man got a call completely wrong, can't remember exactly what it was now but I think he indicated a scrum to Huddersfield after a Huddersfield player had knocked on.

Linesmen? Where you at a football match?

TJs only go with the ruck when play is within 20 m of them or when a kick is expected, e.g. on the last.

I don't know who this Robjoenz is, but the guy talks a lot of sense.

Are you his brother?


What should we call them, Rob? "Merry flag-wavers"?

[Dawn O]

I mentioned in another thread on Saturday about the same linesman after the punch up, tapping one of the Huddersfield players on the back and smiling at him as he returned to his line. I think that was a blatent show of unprofessionalism on his part.
Surely the referee and touch judges come as part of a team now, and refs are relying more and more on help from his colleagues, so the whole official package from a game should be on "trial" after such a poor game, not just the ref. Even in Australia with 2 refs in charge wrong decisions are being made, so what chance have we got?

ah that touch judge would be mr warren turley brother of neil and one of the worst anti wigan bias refs ever - no wonder he got smacked when reffing an amateur game

[gpartin]

TJs only go with the ruck when play is within 20 m of them or when a kick is expected, e.g. on the last.

Been going to rugby all my life and have no idea what that means, please can someone explain in layman's terms?

[turf]

I would have thought that Bentham would have got a telling off for his display last Friday in our game with Huddersfield to tell you the truth.

[outback wiganer]

The thing is, in football, if a referee is deemed to have had a bad game, he is demoted to a lower league game. Will the same thing happen with Bentham, or will it all just be brushed under the carpet as usual. I will be very surprised if we get to hear about any telling off he gets. Thats if anything is said. Bentham is totally out of his depth at this level and should spend time at a lower grade of RL for a while and do us all a favour.

[turf]

The thing is, in football, if a referee is deemed to have had a bad game, he is demoted to a lower league game. Will the same thing happen with Bentham, or will it all just be brushed under the carpet as usual. I will be very surprised if we get to hear about any telling off he gets. Thats if anything is said. Bentham is totally out of his depth at this level and should spend time at a lower grade of RL for a while and do us all a favour.

I think the RFL have done this haven't they. Only a couple of times though.

[GeoffN]

The thing is, in football, if a referee is deemed to have had a bad game, he is demoted to a lower league game. Will the same thing happen with Bentham, or will it all just be brushed under the carpet as usual. I will be very surprised if we get to hear about any telling off he gets. Thats if anything is said. Bentham is totally out of his depth at this level and should spend time at a lower grade of RL for a while and do us all a favour.

I think the RFL have done this haven't they. Only a couple of times though.

They have, but with only 7 top refs, and 7 games each week, that becomes a bit tricky. It would mean giving someone like Laughton a game, which is less than ideal!