Officiating and the VR : Fri Mar 22, 2019 7:42 pm
I just thought this was worth a separate thread, as it's more general, than just last night's obstruction thread.As the late John Laurie would've put it..... We're doomed. DOOMED.
The standard of officiating is at an all time low, and it's going to get worse. We've got a load of inefficient robots, controlling each match. No consistency from match to match, from referee to referee. It's a casserole of confusion, each week. Last night's previously mentioned obstruction try, being the tip of the iceberg. SCUMings (Sky's refereeing "guru couldn't see anything wrong with it, neither the other game time "pundits", yet Hicks gives "no try". I know it's down to opinion, but where was the obstruction?.... There wasn't any. The RFL (and Sky) don't want people switching of, when games are getting too one sided, so, it was deemed "no try", too stop the inevitable landslide.... It certainly helped.
Which brings me on to VR
The Mamo "no try", where, let's face it, Thaler wasn't concentrating, Mamo made his attempt, and as an afterthought, Thaler poohed his pants, and thought, better let that go upstairs and let them decide. WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL THIS TRY OR NO TRY? If you've not seen it, let someone else decide, WITHOUT giving the VR a leading decision. There was no clear way even superslow TV replays could decide whether the ball had touched the deadball line, so a try SHOULD have been given. Speccies go to games to see tries. Not no tries.
Kyle Wood's second try (the scruffy double kick one). It went to VR, but, if you look closely, on the second kick, Wood is ahead of the kicker, but VR (iirc) wasn't frozen for that. What's the point of VR, if you can't get the basics right.
Generally, I now no longer think that RL has a rule book, anymore. More like a set of guidelines, giving refs "elbow room" to just officiate how they want. Case in point, Tomkins' trip in the GF. HE SHOULD BE OFF. Tripping/Cumberland throws are illegal. Yet Hicks bottled it, because it was a big, televised game. Officiate properly. It doesn't matter if it's a GF, or Crosfield v Woolston Rovers U11's. DO IT PROPERLY.
Now, I know we're not angels. Brough whinged about our laying on, last night. Of course we did. Everyone does. They (we) do it, because they (we) can get away with it.
Get some decent refs, who officiate PROPERLY, and all this laying on will stop.