Chris Kendall

[Alan Robertson]

Surely, he has to be selected to referee the final.

I'm not necessarily suggesting that he is the tournament's best ref but, for the sake of neutrality, he has to be given the role.

[MatthewWoody]

They've already said they're choosing the referees on merit, not on nationality.

[Damien]

We had two Aussies for the semi finals. I think it's safe to say it will be an Aussie in the final. As ridiculous as that is.

[Alan Robertson]

4 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

They've already said they're choosing the referees on merit, not on nationality.

I'm not actually expecting him to be appointed. 

I could have, at a stretch, accepted an English or Australian ref if the final had been Eng/Aus due to (at present) limited options regarding experienced referees from outside of those two nations.

In this instance, there's an experienced ref that isn't from the same country as either of the finalists...

[Alan Robertson]

3 minutes ago, Damien said:

We had two Aussies for the semi finals. I think it's safe to say it will be an Aussie in the final. As ridiculous as that is.

You're correct, I believe. The fact that Kendall wasn't used, on the pitch, for Aus/NZ tells us everything we need to know.

[Toby Chopra]

I don't think Samoa will mind if it's Sutton or Klein, they'll all be familiar with them from the NRL. In fact - subconciously - an English ref might be more likely to be in awe of the Aussies.    

[Archie Gordon]

I hope it's Sutton. I don't think he's a particularly good ref but he will allow Samoa time to breathe whereas Klein is non-stop.

[Hughsehhh]

20 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

They've already said they're choosing the referees on merit, not on nationality.

That rules Kendall out then.

The Pacific islanders moan incessantly against the English refs and how they supposedly don't know the rules, imagine how they'll respond when one turns up with an Australian shirt underneath 

[Damien]

24 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

They've already said they're choosing the referees on merit, not on nationality.

This is also plainly not the case as we have had NRL referees in this World Cup who haven't even refereed a NRL game all season and have only been touch judges. That isn't choosing referees on merit.

[Jughead]

The World Cup Final getting Kendall’d would be quite something. 

[Farmduck]

22 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

I hope it's Sutton. I don't think he's a particularly good ref but he will allow Samoa time to breathe whereas Klein is non-stop.

I thought fans preferred non-stop. I know I do.

[Eddie]

We need an Aussie ref, there is a small chance that Samoa might win and the NRL can’t have that. 

[Farmduck]

26 minutes ago, Eddie said:

We need an Aussie ref, there is a small chance that Samoa might win and the NRL can’t have that. 

Do you have any evidence to support that claim or is it just a whining slur, like "The election was rigged?"

How does the NRL win or lose if Samoa wins? On the one hand, so many people here are convinced that the NRL doesn't care a fig about the international game but, at the same time, they care enough to rig the result. Which one is it?

[Eddie]

28 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

Do you have any evidence to support that claim or is it just a whining slur, like "The election was rigged?"

How does the NRL win or lose if Samoa wins? On the one hand, so many people here are convinced that the NRL doesn't care a fig about the international game but, at the same time, they care enough to rig the result. Which one is it?

Both. They don’t care about it and them winning this tournament easily justifies that. 

[Eddie]

30 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

Do you have any evidence to support that claim or is it just a whining slur, like "The election was rigged?"

How does the NRL win or lose if Samoa wins? On the one hand, so many people here are convinced that the NRL doesn't care a fig about the international game but, at the same time, they care enough to rig the result. Which one is it?

Having an Australian ref their WC semi final is so tin pot you couldn’t make it up. Would that happen in any other sport? 

[Rioman]

The ref will be whoever Australia say it has to be.

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

Anyone but Kendall for me please.  My heart sinks when I put a game on and see him in charge or part way through when his name appears as vid ref. 

[MatthewWoody]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

This is also plainly not the case as we have had NRL referees in this World Cup who haven't even refereed a NRL game all season and have only been touch judges. That isn't choosing referees on merit.

I'm not saying their choices are right. 
I'm saying they made cleare they're not chosing on nationality. 
Given they can't guarantee neutral referees (if England played Australia, they couldn't guarantee it), they renounced to neutrality and made other choices. 

[Tippytoe]

1 hour ago, Farmduck said:

Do you have any evidence to support that claim or is it just a whining slur, like "The election was rigged?"

How does the NRL win or lose if Samoa wins? On the one hand, so many people here are convinced that the NRL doesn't care a fig about the international game but, at the same time, they care enough to rig the result. Which one is it?

I think its a general view that even though the WC is in England the southern hemisphere seem to hold sway on who officiates games and their interpretation of the rules.

[Damien]

5 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

I'm not saying their choices are right. 
I'm saying they made cleare they're not chosing on nationality. 
Given they can't guarantee neutral referees (if England played Australia, they couldn't guarantee it), they renounced to neutrality and made other choices. 

But they aren't choosing the best people either when people who haven't refereed a NRL game all season are being given World Cup matches.

Not guaranteeing neutral referees is a red herring and is certainly not why we don't have them. For a long time we could guarantee neutral referees but stopped them because the Aussies had a hissy fit after Perenara gave a few calls against them. We could easily guarantee them again too, all we need is at least one referee from a 3rd county. That really isn't difficult to achieve.

[Eddie]

1 minute ago, Damien said:

But they aren't choosing the best people either when people who haven't refereed a NRL game all season are being given World Cup matches.

Not guaranteeing neutral referees is a red herring and is certainly not why we don't have them. For a long time we could guarantee neutral referees but stopped them because the Aussies had a hissy fit after Perenara gave a few calls against them. We could easily guarantee them again too, all we need is at least one referee from a 3rd county. That really isn't difficult to achieve.

Indeed, France or NZ being the obvious places. 

[Tippytoe]

50 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Having an Australian ref their WC semi final is so tin pot you couldn’t make it up. Would that happen in any other sport? 

Another way of looking at this would be to ask how many times have English refs been invited to Aus or Nz to officiate in say the last 10 years?

[barnyia]

An Aussie ref, reffing two teams that are made of players mostly born in Australia, makes sense, 

[Agbrigg]

Kendal is a poor ref in my opinion. 

[MatthewWoody]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

But they aren't choosing the best people either when people who haven't refereed a NRL game all season are being given World Cup matches.

Not guaranteeing neutral referees is a red herring and is certainly not why we don't have them. For a long time we could guarantee neutral referees but stopped them because the Aussies had a hissy fit after Perenara gave a few calls against them. We could easily guarantee them again too, all we need is at least one referee from a 3rd county. That really isn't difficult to achieve.

So you'd prefer having a worse but neutral referee.