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Neutral ref?

Harry Stottle
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Harry Stottle

Harry Stottle

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I see the appointment for Saturdays WC game is Wigan born and bred Liam Moore, I believe he still lives in the town, was a Wigan fan as a kid and came through the Wigan refs society, there are another 6 full time refs without a Wigan connection so my question is why?

Is this asking for trouble if there are any contentious decisions Wigans way.

I don't think any ref, touch judge or video ref should have any connection to any club in any game, not just this one.

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Copa

Copa

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Posted (edited)

In all my years in Australia watching the NRL and state of origin I’ve never once heard people complain about the origins of a ref.  Refs are neutral because they are professionals.

(edit:except for grasshopper… lol.. we loved to complain about him)

Edited by Copa
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Rioman

Rioman

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2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

I see the appointment for Saturdays WC game is Wigan born and bred Liam Moore, I believe he still lives in the town, was a Wigan fan as a kid and came through the Wigan refs society, there are another 6 full time refs without a Wigan connection so my question is why?

Is this asking for trouble if there are any contentious decisions Wigans way.

I don't think any ref, touch judge or video ref should have any connection to any club in any game, not just this one.

Makes a change from the Aussies dictating who refs the game. 😜

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Sports Prophet

Sports Prophet

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This is a very British mindset.

As far as I can remember, I can’t think of a single time where someone cared enough to comment on where the NRL referee grew up, supported or lives. I don’t think it crosses anyone’s mind. A referee is neutral in any case.

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Dunbar

Dunbar

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I'm in two minds.

I would prefer a neutral ref for any international game (club or country).  Having a ref from the same country as one of the participants doesn't look good to me, it just makes us look small time.

But if we are to have a ref from the UK (or an Aussie if the game was over there), I wouldn't care where he lives.

It is an optics issue for me.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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Damien

Damien

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9 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

This is a very British mindset.

I mean it really isn't. Practically every major sport uses neutral referees in international games such as this, whether that is Football, RU, Cricket, Basketball, Netball, Handball etc.

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gingerjon

gingerjon

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4 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Where’s this top quality neutral ref coming from when an English team is taking on an Aussie team in the WCC ? 

Harry is pointing out a specific Wigan bias not simply English/Aussie.

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Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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LeytherRob

LeytherRob

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Posted

To be honest, when the Aussies are involved having non neutral referee almost always seems to end up working against us anyway. Lost count of the times in the 2000's when a British ref would fail to send off an Oz player after a stonewall card incident. 

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Harry Stottle

Harry Stottle

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34 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Harry is pointing out a specific Wigan bias not simply English/Aussie.

No I'm not, and that is a very presumptuous comment for you to make, I well remember when RL refs had to be town neutral and still believe that should be the case.

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Dunbar

Dunbar

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1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

No I'm not, and that is a very presumptuous comment for you to make, I well remember when RL refs had to be town neutral and still believe that should be the case.

That's what gingerjon said.  You are pointing out his town... Wigan.

Maybe he should have said any perception of town bias but this is all about perception, nobody thinks he actually will be demonstrate bias.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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Click

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Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

No I'm not, and that is a very presumptuous comment for you to make, I well remember when RL refs had to be town neutral and still believe that should be the case.

I don't understand what you are pointing out then, if it isn't a particular Wigan-bias.

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LeeF

LeeF

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31 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

No I'm not, and that is a very presumptuous comment for you to make, I well remember when RL refs had to be town neutral and still believe that should be the case.

So a Wigan fan living in say Leeds would have been ok to referee a Wigan v Leigh match 

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Harry Stottle

Harry Stottle

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38 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

That's what gingerjon said.  You are pointing out his town... Wigan.

Maybe he should have said any perception of town bias but this is all about perception, nobody thinks he actually will be demonstrate bias.

I took it to mean that Ginger was insinuating a Wigan bias by me raising the point.

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JonM

JonM

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4 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

This is a very British mindset.

It really, really isn't. It's pretty much universal. Just about every other international sport has neutral officials - football, cricket, rugby union, events in the Olympic Games. 

Maldives Football flies in a referee from India or Sri Lanka for big games because every referee they have is an ex-player of one of the small number of clubs they have.

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Hopie

Hopie

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Based on the OP seems a very odd choice, but as is also noted English refs tend to notice their "biases" and go the other way. English refs tend to look scared of sending off an Aussie, and scared not to send off a Brit in the same situation. Aussie refs would watch a winning try for England on replay and disallow it anyway...  

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StandOffHalf

StandOffHalf

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Posted
1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

Harry is pointing out a specific Wigan bias not simply English/Aussie.

Yeah, there are plenty of refs from other places in the north of England that would typically hate Wigan amost as much as they would the Aussies.

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StandOffHalf

StandOffHalf

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6 minutes ago, Hopie said:

Based on the OP seems a very odd choice, but as is also noted English refs tend to notice their "biases" and go the other way. English refs tend to look scared of sending off an Aussie, and scared not to send off a Brit in the same situation. Aussie refs would watch a winning try for England on replay and disallow it anyway...  

The Suttons say Hi.

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