Abuse Of Referees

[cpwigan]

I played football and the PE teacher who refereed used the 10 yard rule in football and after the initial shock trust me behaviour improved.

RL wise the RFL need to be tougher.

Even with fans, they tell me referees are afraid to come to Orrell because a lady wielding a walking stick gives them so much grief

[slimshady]

I agree with CP that woman with the stick is terrible.

When I was kid we got Refereed by Mr Mchugh and believe me if he blew the whistle for anything nobody argued because we new even when he was wrong he was right and thats still the case when I see him now.

[gpartin]

I strongly believe the offender should be marched back 10 mtrs.I agree re sin-binning but at the moment nothing is being done to deter players from abusing the officials.

totally agree. If I was a ref and anyone gave me any nonsense I'd be really strict on dissent. They must see how bad it is in football and be thankful Rugby isn't as bad but by letting things go they're making a rod for their own backs.

The thing is evidence has shown we wouldn't get away with half of the stuff teams seem to against us. Even though we're champions I think we have been ridiculously hard done by this season at times with refs and the disciplinary and it still irritates me thinking about Fielden defending himself v Hudds and getting a ban, 2 tries stopped by Hudds professional fouls no cards IIRC, we have a man sinbinned at Knowsley Rd for moving off the mark when KFC dummies a tap, Coley's spear tackle nowhere near as bad as Buderus' but he gets off without a ban and we end up without Coley in huge game v Wire, Ablett most blatant sending off ever (Leeds only ban at a hearing this year?) but he stays on field yet Coley gets ten mins for a committed tackle, Thug Bailey 'defending himself' with his knees on George Carmont, Senior 'accidentally' kicking out as Lee Smith did a few years ago, Coley off and banned for high tackle v Cats yet Peacock goes for Sam's head twice no action taken, Liam Farrell late challenge on kicker gets him sinbinned yet Lulu taken out week in week out etc etc.

I've been fortunate enough to see nearly all our games this season either live or on DVD and the number of times momentum has turned due to a run of pedantic, often baffling penalties or teams have only scored against us when we've had 12 men on has been ridiculous and I think the change in our defensive style probably contributed a bit to this earlier on (Silverwood and Bentham particularly call held sometimes then immediately blow whistle for holding down as if we'd have time to move), and how many times did we get done for not standing square in the first playoff game v Leeds when they had one or two markers mostly stood 6 yards back stopping us from running from dummy half. All anyone wants is consistency.

This has been the most frustrating season I've ever known for things like this and its a credit to the players and coaching staff that all this has gone on and we've not resorted to dirty nasty thuggish tactics, constant mouthing at the ref, gesturing to opposition fans, shaking posts and although we gave a lot of technical penalties away when it came to the knock out playoff games we had a total transformation. Has anyone been sinbinned or sent off against us this year without one of ours going to make up for it?

Right, needed to get that off my chest and I'll never mention any of it again I promise because WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

[MrDave]

I think the RFL need to teach the referees how to have a better on field presence when dealing with players. Thierry Alibert is way too 'soft' with players to deal with a big match and the players push him for everything. Ganson and Silverwood command much more respect on the pitch because they do not tolerate the back chat as much, they don't need to send people off to put the player back in there place.

In the last play-off game against Leeds Silverwood didn't tolerate the Leeds back chat, he penalised Senior for throwing a tantrum, told Sinfield to 'stop taking the mick' and responded to any other Leeds back chat to with a simple but firm 'No'.

[RJ]

Definitely needs stamping on smartly. There is too much of it going on at the moment. The ten metre penalty is probably the most effective way but why are the refs themselves not using it? If offenders get marched back ten metres every time for mouthing off it will not take long for their team mates to stop them doing it again

[Lil Feka's Dad]

With the Graham incident, Silverwood's changed his decision from a scrum to Wigan for a knock on (which was correct) to a penalty to Wigan for dissent - thus giving Wigan an advantage. I don't know the exact rule, but I can only recall a player being "marched back 10" for dissent when disputing a penalty.

I think the logic is, that awarding a penalty instead of a scrum is punishment for dissent. Once a penalty has been awarded (ie for a ball steal) the only way to increase the punishment is to award the other team territory - thus moving the penalty forward 10.

Graham had a hissy fit and maybe another ref on another day would have sent him to the sin bin, but personally I thought the incident later in the game involving Wellens & Wilkin was worse - Silverwood stopped the game to explain his decision, and once he finished talking they both hurled abuse.

I believe a captain should have the right to have a decision explained by the ref, but the increase in general abuse towards the referees by players is not good....That's my job!

[gpartin]

With the Graham incident, Silverwood's changed his decision from a scrum to Wigan for a knock on (which was correct) to a penalty to Wigan for dissent - thus giving Wigan an advantage. I don't know the exact rule, but I can only recall a player being "marched back 10" for dissent when disputing a penalty.

I think the logic is, that awarding a penalty instead of a scrum is punishment for dissent. Once a penalty has been awarded (ie for a ball steal) the only way to increase the punishment is to award the other team territory - thus moving the penalty forward 10.

Graham had a hissy fit and maybe another ref on another day would have sent him to the sin bin, but personally I thought the incident later in the game involving Wellens & Wilkin was worse - Silverwood stopped the game to explain his decision, and once he finished talking they both hurled abuse.

I believe a captain should have the right to have a decision explained by the ref, but the increase in general abuse towards the referees by players is not good....That's my job!

the later incident also involved Graham throwing his arms around and shouting but didn't see it on Sky, only live. I was baffled Graham wasn't called over having already been penalised earlier.

[Kittwazzer]

If the current referee disrespect is not nipped in the bud, it will only be a matter of time before someone crosses the line and gets himself a lengthy ban. It needs stamping on asap!

[fred_flintstone]

What has happened to the 10 yard rule? when it first came in it was a regular occurrence especially when a certain Mr G was refing.

[exile in Tiger country]

I agree that dissent needs to be stopped, I have a sugestion and would like you opinions.
If a penalty is disputed, allow the first penalty to be taken, kicked for touch or whatever, then allow the second penalty to be taken fron the point the ball crossed the line but in line with the original penalty.
A team could go from their own try line to a good attacking position, or from half way to a kickable penalty.