WARRINGTON WOLVES’ Sam Burgess has become the fifth Super League head coach to be fined in the past month for comments made about match officials.
Burgess has been fined £1,000, half of it suspended until the end of the 2026 season, for comments that followed his side’s Super League defeat at Castleford Tigers last month.
The former England captain expressed his frustrations with the match officials in his post-match press conference, with remarks including: “It’s becoming very common, these poor decisions.”
He went on to add: “It’s past the point of frustration. We’ve not had one bit of dialogue (from the match officials team), there’s no input, there is no opportunity for input in over three months, so I don’t know if the game wants to get better. That’s my question: does it want to get better?”
The RFL noted: “The sanction takes into account the fact that this is a first offence, and the comments were specific to performance and did not question integrity.”
It continues a clampdown by the RFL, who wrote to all clubs in May “expressing concern at the increasing number of public comments by head coaches relating to match officials”.
Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet and Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell were recently fined £1,000 each, with a further £1,000 suspended.
There have also been punishments for Steve McNamara (£2,000, half suspended) and Danny McGuire (£1,500, half suspended), formerly coaches of Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers respectively.
Sheffield Eagles coach Craig Lingard has also received a fine, of £250, for improper conduct towards a match-official at half-time of their Championship loss to London Broncos.
And Andy Mazey, chairman of Rochdale Hornets, has accepted a suspended fine for breaching the RFL’s social media code of conduct.