Referees

[Phil]

Thought I'd start a new thread rather than comment on some of the posts in the super 8s thread

 

I was a referee for 23 years in both the amateur and pro games. I can honestly state that in that time neither myself or any of the officials I worked alongside ever cheated any individual or team.

Yeah I had bad games, yeah I missed stuff, just like the players do eh?

I get more than a bit ticked off when I read on here that"(name of ref) has never liked us" or that "SL don't want us to win anything"

There were and are clubs I didn't like but I was professional enough to leave that in the dressing room, just as all my colleagues did. 

There's one or two on here really need to take a look at what they are saying and at how daft it makes them look. 

[Padge]

Welll said Phil, and it needed saying.

Some of the accusations are down right libellous.

[Padge]

I apologised to Ian Smith after a Wigan supporter, who wasn't with our group, collared him in a bar in Perpignan and gave him loads of grief, unfairly, over the game he had just reffed.

He said thanks but it was ok, you have to be thick skinned to be a ref. I took the opportunity to ask him about one decision during the game which I didn't get, he explained in detail why he gave a penalty and after his explanation I fully understood what was going on. his parting words were great though. He said "The problem is most fans don't realise that the ref doesn't give a$h!t who wins".

[Tommygilf]

Indeed, such a negative and often aggressive attitude towards referees put me off from doing it. Nothing but respect for the bloke in the middle. Yes they get things wrong sometimes but in the grand scheme of things its not that important and I think these things balance out anyway. 

Certain teams/players trying to con the ref or being unsporting is a far more destructive imo.

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

I only ever played amateur, but went through juniors and played 16 seasons at open age, not once did I ever come across a referee that I thought was a cheat or bent. Some were not very good and a few totally incompetent, most were decent honest blokes who made mistakes but mostly got it right, the odd few were exceptional. I found with the vast majority, that if there was a decision that you really felt aggrieved about, if you approached them in the right manner and asked about the decision, they would explain what they saw or why the gave what they did, more often than you'd expect they would admit an error.

I think we should more often remember that without them there is no game

[Scubby]

15 minutes ago, Phil said:

Thought I'd start a new thread rather than comment on some of the posts in the super 8s thread

 

I was a referee for 23 years in both the amateur and pro games. I can honestly state that in that time neither myself or any of the officials I worked alongside ever cheated any individual or team.

Yeah I had bad games, yeah I missed stuff, just like the players do eh?

I get more than a bit ticked off when I read on here that"(name of ref) has never liked us" or that "SL don't want us to win anything"

There were and are clubs I didn't like but I was professional enough to leave that in the dressing room, just as all my colleagues did. 

There's one or two on here really need to take a look at what they are saying and at how daft it makes them look. 

I was enjoying this forum until the ref came on here and spoiled it for everyone!

On a more sensible note, well said Phil mate. Referees are the lifeblood of the sport. Why would they go through all the grief and hassle if they weren't interested in the good of the game?? Kudos to you and all your fellow whistle blowers! Your role is the most important cog in the game full stop! I wish more people would realise that.

[Phil]

17 minutes ago, Scubby said:

I was enjoying this forum until the ref came on here and spoiled it for everyone!

On a more sensible note, well said Phil mate. Referees are the lifeblood of the sport. Why would they go through all the grief and hassle if they weren't interested in the good of the game?? Kudos to you and all your fellow whistle blowers! Your role is the most important cog in the game full stop! I wish more people would realise that.

Had many more good times than bad times and made a lot of friends

I won't say I enjoyed every minute of it (freezing rain, hail and sleet at Queensbury anyone?), but generally it was great 

 

[West Leeds Riviera]

I'd quite like to try refereeing but there's never any courses available. And they say there's a shortage of officals

[snapski]

Thing is there are 2 types of ref. 

1 the ref who likes to blow the pea out of his whistle, for everything. Hicks.

2 the ref who lets play flow as much as possible. Bentham.

thats why fans get frustrated. Every game is subjective to a refs perspective.

[Padge]

4 minutes ago, snapski said:

Thing is there are 2 types of ref. 

1 the ref who likes to blow the pea out of his whistle, for everything. Hicks.

2 the ref who lets play flow as much as possible. Bentham.

thats why fans get frustrated. Every game is subjective to a refs perspective.

All good coaches have a game plan for every ref, who is in the middle isn't the problem, its players, players who think they can get away with breaking the rules, then its fans, fans who think their side should never be punished.

[Scubby]

3 minutes ago, snapski said:

Thing is there are 2 types of ref. 

1 the ref who likes to blow the pea out of his whistle, for everything. Hicks.

2 the ref who lets play flow as much as possible. Bentham.

thats why fans get frustrated. Every game is subjective to a refs perspective.

But there are as many fans who get frustrated at infringements being let go (letting it flow) as there are refs creating a stop-start game due to players infringing (blowing the whistle). I don't get this labelling of referees. Do you have the data to back this up?

[Futtocks]

2 minutes ago, snapski said:

Thing is there are 2 types of ref. 

1 the ref who likes to blow the pea out of his whistle, for everything. Hicks.

2 the ref who lets play flow as much as possible. Bentham.

thats why fans get frustrated. Every game is subjective to a refs perspective.

And in case 1, the fans claim the referee's picking on them by trying to kill their momentum.

In case 2, the fans claim the referee's not penalising the opposition enough and letting them get away with murder.

What Phil said in post #1 is not just something worth saying; far more importantly, it is something that needs hearing. The second part is the impossible one. Every game is subject to the judgement of a trained professional, who knows the laws far better than those in the stands, who have already mentally red-carded every single member of the opposition squad before kick-off.

[Scubby]

6 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

And in case 1, the fans claim the referee's picking on them by trying to kill their momentum.

In case 2, the fans claim the referee's not penalising the opposition enough and letting them get away with murder.

What Phil said in post #1 is not just something worth saying; far more importantly, it is something that needs hearing. The second part is the impossible one. Every game is subject to the judgement of a trained professional, who knows the laws far better than those in the stands, who have already mentally red-carded every single member of the opposition squad before kick-off.

Funny you never hear that "Off! Off! Off! Off! Off!" chant from the fans of the player who has just clothes lined the opposition?

How about "Report! Report! Report! Report! Report!"...?? 

[Padge]

4 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Funny you never hear that "Off! Off! Off! Off! Off!" chant from the fans of the player who has just clothes lined the opposition?

How about "Report! Report! Report! Report! Report!"...?? 

 

Also you don't here people saying, "we should have lost that, good job the ref was bent in our favour".

[Phil]

One thing that happened on more than one occasion, I'd be having a civil conversation in the clubhouse or pub about some point of the laws and I'd say "ok let's have a look at your clubs copy of the laws of the game". There was never a copy available, not one club had a copy of the laws in their possession 

[Scubby]

3 minutes ago, Phil said:

One thing that happened on more than one occasion, I'd be having a civil conversation in the clubhouse or pub about some point of the laws and I'd say "ok let's have a look at your clubs copy of the laws of the game". There was never a copy available, not one club had a copy of the laws in their possession 

"Rulebook?? Laws of the game? It's all up 'ere mate! All up here!"

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

Thanks for the sanity of this thread - Phil for starting (well, said, Phil) and those who have responded...possibly Snapski aside.

I sometimes think that a good new rule would be to automatically penalise who throws up their arms in a showy gesture of alleged or faux frustration because they think the opposition have offended at a PTB.  Forget what actually happened at that PTB, just penalise the protesters and it would soon stop!  Or maybe move the PTB ten yards to the advantage of the non-offending side, in the way a penalty can be moved for dissent.

[MZH]

45 minutes ago, Phil said:

Had many more good times than bad times and made a lot of friends

I won't say I enjoyed every minute of it (freezing rain, hail and sleet at Queensbury anyone?), but generally it was great 

 

I couldn't possibly picture a game at Queensbury without freezing rain, hail and sleet.

[shaun mc]

Some refs can be 'kind' to much inferior opposition, but not bent

When I first started playing at college we had a scratch squad of a few players with RL experience, a few union players who either wanted to give RL a try or were totally peed off with the union clubs attitude or complete ringers. We were hammered in most games for 2 years, but I did find that many refs were very good to us as he could see we were inexperienced and the opposition being 50 points ahead had a few more 'technical' penalties against them

[meast]

Without the officials there is no game to play

Without the players/coaching cheating and bending/pushing the rules to gain an advantage there would be no need for referees to award penalties

We all like to have a go at ref's when really we should be having a go at the players, ref's don't cheat, players do!

[snapski]

6 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Thanks for the sanity of this thread - Phil for starting (well, said, Phil) and those who have responded...possibly Snapski aside.

I sometimes think that a good new rule would be to automatically penalise who throws up their arms in a showy gesture of alleged or faux frustration because they think the opposition have offended at a PTB.  Forget what actually happened at that PTB, just penalise the protesters and it would soon stop!  Or maybe move the PTB ten yards to the advantage of the non-offending side, in the way a penalty can be moved for dissent.

Ha ha great stuff. how a certain ref officiates grates on the fans. There doesn't seem to be an in between. Must be hard for the players too. You are playing the ref as much as the other team. One will allow slow play the ball, and lying on. Another fast play the ball and let the game flow. 

[Phil]

1 minute ago, snapski said:

Ha ha great stuff. how a certain ref officiates grates on the fans. There doesn't seem to be an in between. Must be hard for the players too. You are playing the ref as much as the other team. One will allow slow play the ball, and lying on. Another fast play the ball and let the game flow. 

So alter your game accordingly 

[snapski]

Just now, Phil said:

So alter your game accordingly 

Which is what the players do. Giving the refs a thankless task. They will milk the lenient refs. And get frustrated by the ones who constantly blow. There should be a happy medium that everyone plays to.

[Padge]

3 minutes ago, Phil said:

So alter your game accordingly 

Exactly

2 minutes ago, snapski said:

 There should be a happy medium that everyone plays to.

Why?

Refs are not robots, you cannot program them to all behave exactly the same. You are being naive in the extreme if you think that you can. 

[Jacko45]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

Had many more good times than bad times and made a lot of friends

I won't say I enjoyed every minute of it (freezing rain, hail and sleet at Queensbury anyone?), but generally it was great 

 

I bet that was the better days,it's always cold at Queensbury.