Re: Dont Blame The Ref
Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 2:41 am
So? He had already made his descion to end the play.robjoenz posted:
Yes DaveO I have understood your point of view right from the outset so there is no need to be so patronising.
In my opinion Kirkpatrick called the last tackle and then realised something had happened that he had not seen because of a poor vantage point from behind the attacking line.
Clearly he did have an idea of what had happened because he called held. He had judged the tackle complete and the play over. Otherwise he would not have called held.The Wakefield players went upto him saying it was a try, the Wigan players saying that he had already shouted held (our captain was suggesting to him that he consult the video ref). He had no idea what had actually happened so in my opinion the fairest thing he could do was goto the video ref.
He had made the judgement that the requisite amount of time had elapsed sufficient for him to call held.
Wakefiueld scored after he called held so if he was to ask the video ref anything it ought to have been did the offense continue to play after he had made the call so he could decide if it was play-on and 6th tackle or was it a penalty to Wigan.
Of course we know the video ref can't judge that because he has no sound so could not make that call.
So what KK did was change his mind after he had made a call that said the play was complete. There is simply no way to justify this.
It might seem fair to you but it was not technically the correct thing to do. He made a mistake and put the video ref in an impossible position.
He is not supposed to make a deciion, then ask the video ref to second guess it. It is that simple.
It is the first time I have ever seen a ref ask the video ref to change it for him!This is not the first time a referee has changed his mind.
The difference there is that a ref has called it and then the touch judge has come on or attracted the refs attension. There is nothing wrong with that obviously but for that to apply in Friday the video ref would have had to have contacted KK to tell him about the player plonking the ball on the line.I have seen matches before where we have been given a scrum then the touch judge has given the referee some information and the feed was awarded to the opposition. I have also seen a scrum signalled and then a penalty given (accidental offside from a knock on I think it was).
It was the other way around after KK had already made a decision.
It is not about whether we would be going mental or not it is about whether or not he was right in what he did. You could arguehe was being fair about it but ignoring the rules to be fair is not what he is employed to do.Put it this way, had the incident been the other way around how many Wigan fans would have been stood there saying to their mate, "oh dear he's shouted held there so it's no try, fair enough!" We'd be going mental if he'd told us to play-the-ball. Had it gone to the video ref however it would be easier to accept. Video ref made the wrong decision!
The simple fact is that the ball was placed down after he called held. Did he call held too soon? It doesn't matter, what matters is he called it. He is not competant whichever way you look at. He was either too hasty, badly positioned or he made a huge blunder or all of that!
Dave