Ben Thaler

[waterside glens]

cpwigan

Good post albeit with post-match adrenalin obviously still kicking in.

Your final comment was a bit OTT as I reckon BT is one of the best of a poor bunch this season. That said, I have not yet watched the match on TV. Allow me to reserve final judgment and get back to you tomorrow!

it will look worse,a terrible performance by anyone's standard

[DaveO]

I can't comment on the sending off as I didn't have a good view from the East stand except to say no matter how mild or bad an incident it really is, it will be justified technically by refs apologists by the standard "its a gainst the rules so if he hadn't done it" ignoring the notion refs are supposed to judge the calls not slavishly apply the rules (which they don't anyway or we'd finish most games as six-a-sides).

I don't need comment whether it was a sending off or not though because even if you ignore it completely Thaler was awful in general throughout the game.

If you were not there then you may not have noticed on the TV sound the sheer volume of the chanting of "You're not fit to referee". I don't think I have seen the entire South, East and even West stands so united in their simultaneous expression of disgust over some blatant mistakes and inconsistent decisions. I don't even think Klein has roused the crowd this much.

They were even replaying some of them on the big screen. Please someone tell me when they replayed the ball being punched form Feka's hand and Thaler giving a knock on the Sky crew were not justifying it? It was with 33 mins or so to go in the second half. It started the build up to a Wakey try as well.

I think it was Matthew who mentioned the three penalties they gave away and IIRC it was each time for professional style fouls. There was plenty of easily justifiable sin-binnings in the 2nd half.

Dave

[FROM A TO B]

Spoiled the game for me.
A disgrace and could of cost us the season. Missing things now and again I can accept, but tonight was a catalogue of errors or blatant favouritism.
Has anyone looked at the drop out awarded when it looked as though Tommy was tackled in the air?

What is more worrying is if the RFL hand out a ban so as to justify BT's decision

[DaveO]

What is more worrying is if the RFL hand out a ban so as to justify BT's decision

I expect they will because as I said in my post it's (probably) technically leading with the arm and of course Mathers has been sent off before.

I am getting very cynical about the seemingly invulnerable position of refs as everything seems to be justifed to the nth degree by thr RFL.

No one seems to be prepared every now and again to hold their hand up and say "Yes, we made a mistake".

Mature, confident organisations do that. Incompetent ones will argue black is white to justify their actions.

Dave

[Kittwazzer]

Seen it om TV now and yes, BT had a nightmare!

I would be amazed if Mathers gets a ban. In fact, the committee should award him a 'Get out of Jail' card against any future sending offs!

HEY GUYS WHAT THE HELL IT WAS 2 POINTS!!!

lets face it, we have had much worse Friday nights!

[Wigan_forever1985]

never a sending off in the memory of man even eddie (stains fan) said that wigan never get the rub of the green when it comes to decsions from the ref, it was never a red

[cpwigan]

What did annoy is Hemmings describing it as an elbow.

It was a forearm and it went into the neck/throat. What does not look good is Mathers instinctively raises the arm prior to contact but then pushes it forward in a second motion although to be fair you could argue he is trying to fend the opponent off.

[ddtftf]

Just maybe he got a whisper in his ear from the video ref GANSON?

[highland convert]

Why did sculthorpe stay on the pitch. If you have the viseo look at his try. He barged through both elbows flayling. He elbowed the wigan players out the way. And it was video reffed. :conf:

[GeoffN]

never a sending off in the memory of man even eddie (stains fan) said that wigan never get the rub of the green when it comes to decsions from the ref, it was never a red

Eddie also pointed out that a Saints player (can't remember who - might have been Fa'asavalu?) did exactly the same last week and didn't get sent off.