Refs must be held accountable too

[josie andrews]

Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore says it is only fair that officials are held accountable for their performances in the NRL.

Moore and his club were left seething on Friday night when video referee Steve Clark disallowed a try for apparent obstruction in the dying stages of the Bulldogs' match against the Dragons.

NRL referees boss Robert Finch has already publicly stated that he thought the decision was incorrect.

The call ultimately cost the Dogs the win, the second time this season they have had to surrender two points.

Earlier this season the Bulldogs were docked two points by the NRL for having an extra man on the field in their victory over the Panthers.

Moore says officials should be subject to the same rules as players.

"Each case is individual, I don't think you can compare the two," he said.

"I just think there was a consequence for ours and we accepted that consequence.

"I just hope that there's a consequence for the people that made this decision."

Moore says his players have already shown they can recover from setbacks and are looking towards this weekend's big game against the Storm.

"We've got plenty of character in the group, we've got plenty of experience," he said.

"These sort of blokes - they've had their ups and downs right throughout their footy careers, they know how to bounce back.

"As a team, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

"Hopefully the blokes are really determined to put it behind them and come up with a really strong performance this week, which we will need to do because Melbourne are a very good team."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... d=newsmail

Seems like we aren't the only ones who had a bad referee at the weekend

[josie andrews]

IRATE Bulldogs officials were yesterday stunned to learn NRL referees' boss Robert Finch was sitting next to video referee Steve Clark when he made his contentious Jamal Idris "no try" ruling.

Already fuming over having two points snatched from them for a second time this season, the Bulldogs are bewildered and frustrated at the revelation that Finch, who is expected to sack Clark today, was with him at the time of the gaffe. Finch yesterday admitted Clark had blundered badly in failing to award Idris a try that would have secured the Bulldogs a last-gasp victory.

Clark made the decision without Finch's interference but the Bulldogs were angry that the referees' boss was in the box and did not assist Clark.

"This adds another dimension to the whole episode; it's amazing," Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said. "It frustrates me even more to think they came up with the wrong decision when you've got a video referee who has refereed more than 300 games, on top of the refs' boss, in the box.

It came at such a crucial time.

"We're disappointed but are man enough to accept the decision. As long as we can look in the mirror and like what we see - that's all that matters."

Finch yesterday admitted he watched the game from the video box but denied he tried to sway Clark in any decision.

"I pay the video refs a lot of money to make decisions. They make the decisions, I don't," he said. "I'm in the box at most games but when a decision comes to the box, I walk away. It's their (video ref) decision. They don't need me."

Asked whether he had any input into Clark's decision, Finch said: "No. I didn't even see it. I was out the back with the (video) technician."

Clark is likely to be dumped for at least one week.

The decision has again led to calls for the video referee to be scrapped.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... rrer=email

We had a match commissioner in attendance at the game on Friday night, I wonder if Mr Silverwood will be 'dumped' next week?? But even if he is it still doesn't make amends for the 'blunder' at our game

[josie andrews]

How many times have I said that the referees decide who will win/lose a game?

At the Newcastle/Fulham game the referee ruled out a perfectly good goal off Viduka, which meant they lost the game and the threat of relegation again hangs over their heads.

These so called professionals hold the livelihoods of coaches and players in their so called cackhanded decisions.

The champions league semi Barca v Chelsea again the ref ruled out numerous penalty decisions, okay, perhaps some of them may have been dubious, but it cost them the game. (You are not telling me tho', that the outcome of that game was decided long before the ref's whistle went for the kick-off).

But it is these inept performances that can jeopardise a clubs chance to progress to either a final or into the next round of a cup competition. I'm not just talking about football now, but all sports.

Look at all the bad decisions at Murrayfield, we were, I think, very lucky to have Mr Ganson.

[Fujiman]

I think the ref has a lot to answer for but don't believe they cost teams games. OK after the match the fans are sometimes seething because a decision went against them and they think its that one moment that cost them the game. Fact is the game lasts 80 mins and ref decisions are a part of the overall process of how the game progresses. Friday night in all honesty we weren't good enough. when we needed abit more to win we were lacking for whatever reason. Not the refs fault even though he did have a shocker

[turf]

How many times have I said that the referees decide who will win/lose a game?

At the Newcastle/Fulham game the referee ruled out a perfectly good goal off Viduka, which meant they lost the game and the threat of relegation again hangs over their heads.

These so called professionals hold the livelihoods of coaches and players in their so called cackhanded decisions.

The champions league semi Barca v Chelsea again the ref ruled out numerous penalty decisions, okay, perhaps some of them may have been dubious, but it cost them the game. (You are not telling me tho', that the outcome of that game was decided long before the ref's whistle went for the kick-off).

But it is these inept performances that can jeopardise a clubs chance to progress to either a final or into the next round of a cup competition. I'm not just talking about football now, but all sports.

Look at all the bad decisions at Murrayfield, we were, I think, very lucky to have Mr Ganson.

Who I thought didn't have a bad game on that day

[cherrywarrior]

Cummings has come out and said that we should invest in a louder hooter

[ian b]

we all know how much of a w----r cummings was when he was a ref dont we?

[gpartin]

Moore and his club were left seething on Friday night when video referee Steve Clark disallowed a try for apparent obstruction in the dying stages of the Bulldogs' match against the Dragons.

NRL referees boss Robert Finch has already publicly stated that he thought the decision was incorrect.

The call ultimately cost the Dogs the win, the second time this season they have had to surrender two points.

I wrote a separate thread on this, it was an absolute shocker of a decision from the video ref, the crowd, the commentators and me were totally bemused it was a perfectly legitimate try.

I think the ref has a lot to answer for but don't believe they cost teams games. OK after the match the fans are sometimes seething because a decision went against them and they think its that one moment that cost them the game. Fact is the game lasts 80 mins and ref decisions are a part of the overall process of how the game progresses. Friday night in all honesty we weren't good enough. when we needed abit more to win we were lacking for whatever reason. Not the refs fault even though he did have a shocker

WRONG!!

You obviously didn't see the above match in the NRL. The video ref made the wrong call in the dying seconds of the game, the referees boss even admits the Bulldogs try should have stood and they would have won the game if it had. How can you possibly say that this did not cost them the game?

[yoda warrior]

i agree, when a ref makes a bad call near the end of a tight game it seems as if they could have cost a team a game, but a game is 80 mins long and one incident doesn't decide the game. refs are always going to make mistakes and its unfortunate if it happens to your team.
remember millenium magic a couple of years ago? bradford complained bitterly about the try being given to an offside jordan tansey and even threatened to go to court. they seemed to forget that they dropped the ball twice in the leeds goal area in the second half. if they had taken their glaring opportunities the game would have been out of reach of leeds by the time the incident happened. silverwood missing the hooter was a bad mistake but it didn't cost us the game. we were lucky not to be behind at the time and they controlled a lot of the second half.

[GeoffN]

i agree, when a ref makes a bad call near the end of a tight game it seems as if they could have cost a team a game, but a game is 80 mins long and one incident doesn't decide the game. refs are always going to make mistakes and its unfortunate if it happens to your team.
remember millenium magic a couple of years ago? bradford complained bitterly about the try being given to an offside jordan tansey and even threatened to go to court. they seemed to forget that they dropped the ball twice in the leeds goal area in the second half. if they had taken their glaring opportunities the game would have been out of reach of leeds by the time the incident happened. silverwood missing the hooter was a bad mistake but it didn't cost us the game. we were lucky not to be behind at the time and they controlled a lot of the second half.

Yes, but if you lose because of your own mistakes, that's fair enough and you deserve to lose, but if it's the ref then it's beyond your control, and not your fault. It's not as if you can work on that in training!