: Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:57 am  

TV BOY wrote:

Sorry Maur. As much as I thought Daver had a good game I also thought Hobbo did his bit for the win. He put in some good hits and if there had been a decent set of officials out there today Wignes's penalty count would matched, no passed ours. Mr Laughton and Tweedle De and Dumber should be put out to pasture. No, put down. I have never witnessed a more one sided reffing of a match and some of the decisions were disgracefull.

If you went to donny you would have known what to expect. this ref is a disgrace.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:54 am  

etoile1 wrote:

I honestly do not think it is just Laughton that gives Leigh absolutely nothing. Look at the facts. As I posted last week , your team consistently gets absolutely nothing from refs. You are a great set of fans, because you hardly ever seem to comment on it. I have been assessing ref performances during Leigh matches all season and I am being very objective. Surely you realize by now, that you are being absolutely robbed. Even I am becoming fascinated by how refs can give a team so little, when they are playing teams from their own league. Well done Leigh on the victory today by the way. As I posted on the Widnes forum earlier in the week, there is very little between the two teams.

Interesting post...It certainly seems to me that certain officials seem to have an agenda against Leigh. Yesterdays performance from Mr.Laughton was shambolic to say the least! It does make me wonder if officials are being given directives to penalise Leigh at every given opportunity.
One bad game is forgivable but Mr.Laughton seems to continually under achieve.
I know for a fact that in football, referees are demoted on poor performances, does this happen in Rugby League? If so, then on the evidence of yesterdays performance Mr.Laughton would be officiating in the Pennine League, Division 7 next week........No offense intended to the Pennine League

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:10 am  

The bad decisions look even worse on the DVD, I don't like to criticise refs but Laugton had a bad 'un AGAIN!!

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:16 am  

Don't ever remember over the last few years a game involving us that Mr. Laughton has reffed and come out with any credibility.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:43 am  

FredParky wrote:

The bad decisions look even worse on the DVD, I don't like to criticise refs but Laugton had a bad 'un AGAIN!!

That makes it worse

It could of just been that we all had our cherry and white glasses on but if the DVD proves so as well, then it was an atrocious performance from Laughton. I hope it's long time before he is the official of one of our games.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:52 am  

The worrying thing for Leigh, is that it is more than certain officials that seem to give them very little. From what I can gather, it is the vast majority of them. If it was just one ref and he had had a bad day, well that would be different, but apparently it is not. It is the fact that Leigh are consistently losing penalty counts, having tries ruled out and men dismissed which smacks of something more sinister . I know a lot of fans do not like to criticise referees and believe it or not, I do not like to criticise refs or players particularly myself. However, I do find the situation regarding Leigh and this so called lack of discipline absolutely fascinating.
I am not claiming that sometimes players do not make mistakes that contribute to their own downfall. Of course they do. However, refereeing performances, imo should be looked at exclusively of this. There is little doubt in my mind that is very unlikely that every ref who refs Leigh just has a bad day. Think how improbable that would be. There seems to be more to it than that. None of the other teams in this league that I have watched this season are being treated in the same manner. I find it hard to explain, but when I am watching them, you just do not get the impression that the ref has as much of an agenda. However, having said all this, I really hope I am wrong because I wouldn't like to think that this was happening in such a good sport as rugby league.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:03 pm  

etoile1 wrote:

The worrying thing for Leigh, is that it is more than certain officials that seem to give them very little. From what I can gather, it is the vast majority of them. If it was just one ref and he had had a bad day, well that would be different, but apparently it is not. It is the fact that Leigh are consistently losing penalty counts, having tries ruled out and men dismissed which smacks of something more sinister . I know a lot of fans do not like to criticise referees and believe it or not, I do not like to criticise refs or players particularly myself. However, I do find the situation regarding Leigh and this so called lack of discipline absolutely fascinating.
I am not claiming that sometimes players do not make mistakes that contribute to their own downfall. Of course they do. However, refereeing performances, imo should be looked at exclusively of this. There is little doubt in my mind that is very unlikely that every ref who refs Leigh just has a bad day. Think how improbable that would be. There seems to be more to it than that. None of the other teams in this league that I have watched this season are being treated in the same manner. I find it hard to explain, but when I am watching them, you just do ot get the impression that the ref has as much of an agenda. However, having said all this, I really hope I am wrong because I wouldn't like to think that this was happening in such a good sport as rugby league.

There has been a pattern since SL, as a new team we were battered on counts, not that it would have made much difference. A certain RFL top dog was then shocked we wanted to get back in SL, I cant recall too many refs in our favour since. The one ref I always welcome at Leigh is Ganson, he never seems to tow the party line at HQ and is always fairly straight with us. Cummins as a ref killed us every time, coincidence??

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:23 pm  

I hate to see this bias in sport. Does anybody know if the Leigh club has done anything to try to counter this apparent unfair treatment? Do they complain to the RFL etc? I think the fans really need to get behind your team more than ever. To have won three out of four fixtures so far this season, when they seem to be so harshly treated, does seem to be a very good achievement.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:29 pm  

In fact as I ponder yesterday I have come to the conclusion that Mr Laughton ' won ' the game for us

By the totally biased display he galvanised the fans and the players to the point were a momentum built up

We all saw Dave McConnell asking what they hell was going on and then Mr Laughtons blatant reaction to the forward call from the Widnes fans

This resulted in our calling of all Widnes's passes for the rest of the game , this lifted the players as they could see that we knew they were being cheated

Their reaction was for all to see

Thank you mr Laughton

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:43 pm  

optimist wrote:

Interesting post...It certainly seems to me that certain officials seem to have an agenda against Leigh. Yesterdays performance from Mr.Laughton was shambolic to say the least! It does make me wonder if officials are being given directives to penalise Leigh at every given opportunity.
One bad game is forgivable but Mr.Laughton seems to continually under achieve.
I know for a fact that in football, referees are demoted on poor performances, does this happen in Rugby League? If so, then on the evidence of yesterdays performance Mr.Laughton would be officiating in the Pennine League, Division 7 next week........No offense intended to the Pennine League

Still wonder what would happen if we got him at home. (all his games in charge of us seem to be away. In answer to the question about demotion, I offer you this:-

A certain Mr. Childs incensed Widnes and Leigh supporters in the first two games in the NRC, followed by another amazing one-sided penalty count against Barrow, at Halifax. He then caned Lokomotiv, at our place - anyone see a pattern emerging? Mr. Childs was then awarded a SL game, where he was heavily criticised, but he's back there again this weekend!

The moral of the story? The more Championship teams you upset, the better your chances of promotion!!