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Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:31 am
by josie andrews
Former Super League referee Richard Silverwood has called for Sky Sports’ pundit Stuart Cummings to be more honest.
Cummings, himself a former top-flight match official, is part of the Sky commentary team for Super League and gives his opinion on referee’s decisions during games.
Despite the former Director of Match Officials now having no affiliation with the RFL, his input on Sky has often been questioned by supporters.
And Silverwood took to Twitter during the Wigan-Warrington clash on Friday night to call for more honesty from Cummings after he backed a controversial obstruction call made by referee Ben Thaler.
https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/silverwo ... ngs-21812/
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:10 pm
by Wiganer Ted
I don't think Cummings is dishonest at all.
Whether he's backing the referee or explaining why he's given the decision is often difficult to work out.
He didn't agree with Thaler indicating "No Try" for Patton's disallowed double movement. From the outset SC said he thought is was a try and it would be allowed. It wasn't!
I like having SC there to explain why decisions are made. For years we had Stevo saying "it should be a penalty" as the rules say this or that when he didn't know the rules at all.
Very few know the rules of the game as well as referees. To have a former referee is fine by me if it stops commentators and summerisers banging on about rules they know next to nothing about.
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:16 pm
by Nezza Faz
Agree with above post Ted, 100% - fans in general don't know the complexities of the rules as much the officials, and naturally are more inclined to be biased in favour of their side anyway.
One example is fans regularly post why the TJ's don't wave and raise their flag for various incidents, like forward passes, knock ons, offside, etc. Within the RL rules, these do not allow this to happen, they can, mainly, only flag up incidents of foul play and obviously, touchline and goal line passages, and of course, goal and no goal attempts.
The officials are usually wired up and so therefore don't need to wave their flags in any case - there are a multitude of technical decisions continuously being made, that fans don't see, or realise.
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:03 am
by josie andrews
Nezza Faz wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:16 pm
Agree with above post Ted, 100% - fans in general don't know the complexities of the rules as much the officials, and naturally are more inclined to be biased in favour of their side anyway.
One example is fans regularly post why the TJ's don't wave and raise their flag for various incidents, like forward passes, knock ons, offside, etc. Within the RL rules, these do not allow this to happen, they can, mainly, only flag up incidents of foul play and obviously, touchline and goal line passages, and of course, goal and no goal attempts.
The officials are usually wired up and so therefore don't need to wave their flags in any case - there are a multitude of technical decisions continuously being made, that fans don't see, or realise.
Exactly Neil.
I have a guy who sits two rows behind me & who continually shouts, very loudly, 'linesman', (which does my head in to start with as it RL not football, we have touch judges) for every offside, forward pass etc from the opposing team.
As you say, unless you're a ref or have studied the rules back to front, like my nephew who sits with me & used to play & coach, he's always telling me things, we don't know the ins & outs of the rules etc.
He said straight away on Friday that Patten's first try was a double movement!
And I've always said too, we are all biased towards our own team &, more often than not, do not see, notice or fail to comment on our misdemeanours during the game.
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:00 am
by moto748
Fair enough, Josie, but nevertheless, surely touch-judges are responsible for detecting forward passes?
And I don't think they really do a good enough job. There are way too many forward passes in our game, especially from dummy-half.
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 5:43 am
by nathan_rugby
moto748 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:00 am
Fair enough, Josie, but nevertheless, surely touch-judges are responsible for detecting forward passes?
And I don't think they really do a good enough job. There are way too many forward passes in our game, especially from dummy-half.
Where are you judging these forward passes from?
Multiple angles make the same pass look forward, level and backwards. The same would therefore be true for watching a pass whilst live.
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 5:08 pm
by Firestarter
Easy solution for forward passes....... overhead camera....... the lines dont lie
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:44 pm
by Mike
Firestarter wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 5:08 pm
Easy solution for forward passes....... overhead camera....... the lines dont lie
They do if you're running.
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 6:18 am
by old hooker
Why in heavens name do we need a ref on the commentary team? Clarke, Barry Mac, Wells, O'Connor, have been involved in RL for so long and should know the rules by now.There is so much time spent discussing decisions whilst play is going on its a joke.
Re: Silverwood calls for honesty from Sky pundit Cummings
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:26 am
by Firestarter
Mike wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:44 pm
Firestarter wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 5:08 pm
Easy solution for forward passes....... overhead camera....... the lines dont lie
They do if you're running.
just follow the path of the ball mike...... imo forward is forward