Agar v Childs

[josie andrews]

Hull coach Richard Agar fined £6,000 for ref outburst


Hull FC coach Richard Agar has been fined £6,000 following his outspoken criticism of referee James Child.

He was found guilty of breaching the Rugby Football League's operational rules and respect policy for his comments after losing to Castleford.

Agar described Child's performance as "disgraceful", accusing him of completely ruining the game.

And he has been fined £3,000, payable immediately, with a further £3,000 suspended until the end of the season.

After the match at the KC Stadium on 1 April, which Hull lost 20-18, Agar said: "I'm angry. I saw this bloke referee a trial game between Salford and Hull KR and I thought: 'I'm dreading when we get him'.

"Sure enough he's backed it up. Just a disgraceful performance. I've got seasoned Test players in there coming in shaking their heads in disbelief.

"It's just been a good game and a good spectacle punctuated by ridiculous decisions, completely ruined by one bloke."

After the April Fools' Day home defeat, Hull were 11th in Super League, just four points off the bottom, with just two wins from their first eight matches.

But they have since lost just once in five matches to climb into the play-off places.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 991839.stm

[exile in Tiger country]

Although Agar should have been more circumspect with his comments, the fact that in the eyes of the RFL an official can do no wrong must surely be questioned.
Agar or a representative of Hull FC should have been invited to review the game with SCummings and allowed to show what decisions they felt were incorrect and had this taken into account.
This "The official is always right" attitude does our game no good at all.

[bill.inger]

How many other coaches are now saying "I'm glad I kept my trap shut or that could've been me."

[exile in Tiger country]

How many other coaches are now saying "I'm glad I kept my trap shut or that could've been me."

Not Nathan Brown, he can apparently tell his players to take the rules into their own hands and get away with it.

[Wes]

Its a funny 1 this, if the Agar would have kept schtum and gone through the necessary channels would his complaints have had any effect or been ignored?

I am in agreeance though that if refs are scrutinised in the media spotlight by coaches or players then the rfl should come down heavy, we have great respect in our game for refs lets not lose that!

Lastly my pennies worth is we should have another panel within the rfl and just like every game gets reviewed for neglegent play by the players they should look out for bad games by the ref, 1 bad game every blue moon is acceptable they are only human but week in week out or terrible decisions should be punished.

Now how would you punish the ref's, simple you would score them from say 100points per game, for every wrong decision or complaint they get a number of points knocked off, the ref with the most points at the half way stage which is round about now gets to ref the CC final, the ref with the most points after the regular season refs the GF!

This would be seen as reward for good reffing consistency but if you have a poor game you get constructive criticism with your score, this way we would see refs trying harder so they dont keep getting poor scores but the RESPECT policy would remain, Rugby League should take the initiative because the sporting world would love the posotive media this would bring!

[onedego]

sorry wes, gotta disagree with you on the points and rewards system. Their reward is to be paid to referee, and to referee in the SuperLeague. If that's not enough, then they shouldn't be involved in the sport.

To be totally honest, I don't like Agar very much, but i'm damn sure after his performance so far this year, i dislike Childs even more. Yes, I beleive that we should keep the respect policy in regards to referees on the field, BUT if a coach is asked by the media "How do you feel about the referee's performance" or "what went wrong", he should be allowed to speak his mind, and voice his opinion.

For The RFL to fine Agar for saying that the arrogant git is shocking, the RFL are basically saying that he's not shocking. Which we all know to be factually incorrect.

Sorry, but the situation with the RFL disciplinary is very quickly descending beyond a joke. It's time that Cummings was given his marching orders, and get someone in who knows what they're doing and has the sports best interests at heart.

[Kiwiseddon]

I for one am glad he's been fined as I've never liked him. A moaner and a crap coach is the nicest thing I have to say about him. However, I don't necessarily disagree with him.

For me, it's a win-win. Agar gets a massive fine for being a whining little girl and Childs will be aware of just how much pressure is on him now to perform.

Childs deserved the criticism. Agar deserved the fine. It's strange how that is the case but it is without doubt.

[Mike]

For me the problem is that the refs have a siege mentality which is supported by their boss. In there own eyes, they can do no wrong. No matter what the decision, if any technicality can be drawn upon to say it is correct then that will be used. I would prefer and honest and open agenda.

For example, if referees have been given instruction on interpretations between SL rounds then that guidance should be made public. If they have not been given guidance, but interpretations clearly have changed between match to match or ref to ref, then an explanation should be given. If there is no explanation and a game was refereed inconsistently with the other matches that round then a statement should be made saying so.

Refs are only human and before anyone complains about the standard they should try refereeing themselves. I'm serious, it doesn't have to be RL, try refereeing anything. See what its like when you get that judgement call that someone disagrees with, or maybe that you have second thoughts about later. These things are tough and you have to call them on the spot and regret it later. Consider how many bad passes and dropped balls happen in a match. Compare that to the number of errors a ref makes and consider how many decisions they have to make during a game. They are not that bad, even compared to some of our best players.

The real problem for me is that they need to admit they can improve. Their policy is to deny, deny, deny. Until they admit they have a problem, how can they get better?

[Wes]

Onedego players get paid but they still have the chance to represent their country and win awards such as man of steal etc etc as well as man of the match refs should be competative too, im not saying my idea is the answer but it would lead to better reffing and I also agree with Mike in a lot of what he says reffing is damn hard at anything! They deserve a reward for being consistently good, also my idea would naturally remove the seige mentality as cummings would be in charge of the refs but their would be a panel to look at them and score them.

They are professionals and chose their jobs but just like normal people in normal jobs bonuses and incentives can bring the best out of people!

[botica]

I agree Agar should have been fined for his outburst, there is no room for this kind of thing in rugby league. But it is also no worse than Nathan Brown's we will go in to harm and main attitude/outburst either and that should be fined!

I believe however the main issue is the referees are rubbish and across them all to a certain degree. So long as Cummings is in charge then i see nothing changing. The inconsistency during the length of a game never mind between ref to ref is astonishing. Alibert and Child are by far the worse but the rest are IMO not far behind. This working together thing with the refs i believe make the incompetence spread amongst them and they are starting to share each others bias thoughts. They are untouchable and so can please themselves!