{"id":297038,"date":"2023-05-15T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T22:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=297038"},"modified":"2023-05-16T00:58:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T00:58:31","slug":"standards-took-a-dive-after-disgraceful-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=297038","title":{"rendered":"Standards 'took a dive' after 'disgraceful' attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

No one likes criticism, however it's something you get used to when you sign up to become a rugby league<\/a> referee. You become an easy target and cop the usual "get 'em onside", "are your eyes painted on" and "they've been doing it all day ref."<\/p>\n

It's arguably the toughest job in the game and we often forget they're human.<\/p>\n

Whether you accept it or not, whistle-blowers are always going to make mistakes just like the players who drop the ball or throw a forward pass when their team is attacking the opposition's goal-line.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Rugby league rocked as World Cup hosts pull out\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Carlos Alcaraz stunned by challenger at Italian Open\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Rugby in shock as former Kiwi star dead aged 33<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Referees read newspapers, listen to the radio and watch the TV programs which dissect the NRL<\/a> games they officiate in. If they cop a serve from a commentator or legend of the game, it affects them just like any player who is criticised for their performance.<\/p>\n

It's the reason why I think the standard of refereeing over the weekend took a dive.<\/p>\n

\"Referee<\/p>\n

I've spent the last week on radio defending the NRL referees over the most disgraceful and defamatory attack from the Warriors major sponsor who accused them of "cheating" and having an "unconscious bias" against the New Zealand club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is simply no excuse for calling into question the integrity of the match officials which is why I'm imploring the Professional Rugby League Match Officials Union to pursue legal action to draw a line in the sand against these reprehensible comments.<\/p>\n

PRLMO boss Matt Cecchin has described the social media posts from Jason Paris, who's the CEO of New Zealand telco One NZ, as "appalling."<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Referee<\/p>\n

"It does nothing to help and improve officials within our game, or any officials really. That's why we'll do whatever we can to ensure comments like this are stamped out of our game, and stamped out of any game for any officials," Cecchin told The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anyone who thinks the match officials deliberately set out to dud teams in football games is delusional and you're a very brave person to even suggest it publicly or on social media given the defamatory nature of the comments.<\/p>\n

Put yourself in the shoes of the NRL referees heading into round 11 of the competition.<\/p>\n

You've been accused of cheating, having an unconscious bias against the Warriors<\/a> and you're forced to make judgement calls whilst under the enormous pressure that comes with refereeing an NRL match.<\/p>\n

If it were me, I'd be rattled by the things being said; wouldn't you?<\/p>\n

Throw in the week to week evolution of the rules and interpretations of the game; I've got a headache just thinking about it.<\/p>\n

Take for example the hip drop tackle. On Thursday, Brisbane's Pat Carrigan was sent to the sin-bin for one of the NRL's most controversial tackles, however he was later cleared by the match review committee<\/a>. The right call was made by the MRC.<\/p>\n

\"Carrigan\u00a0goes\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0bin\"<\/p>\n

Fast forward to Saturday night and Parramatta's Junior Paulo is put on report for the same tackle, but the referee leaves him on the field instead of marching him for 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

I hate using the word, but where's the consistency?<\/p>\n

Was something said to the referees after the obvious mistake involving the handling of the Carrigan incident, if so, why wasn't anyone told about it?<\/p>\n

In my opinion, the referees are overusing the sin-bin and it's having a huge bearing on the results of games. It's impossible for teams to compete when they're reduced to 12 men over something that can be dealt with the next day by the MRC.<\/p>\n

I nearly fell off my seat when Canberra's Cory Horsburgh was given his marching orders over a push and shove in the game between Canberra and Parramatta<\/a>. The fiery red head was sent to the bin, yet last week Latrell Mitchell pushed a player to the head twice and stayed on the field.<\/p>\n

Do you see what I mean about the inconsistencies?<\/p>\n

I agree with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart<\/a> who said after the game "I feel sorry for the referees because they're the ones under pressure when the interpretations keep getting changed every week. I don't know who's telling them.<\/p>\n

\"Raiders<\/p>\n

"Why this week when you push someone in the head you get 10 minutes in the bin and put us under pressure as a team. Because last week we saw a situation that you're allowed to do now. You're allowed to push people in the head."<\/p>\n

We can continue complaining about it, or we can start talking about solutions.<\/p>\n

Here are my suggestions to the NRL:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If you want the referees to continue using the sin-bin for minor incidents, let's bring back the five-minute sin-bin which sends a message, but doesn't have a bearing on the result of games like we're seeing at the moment when a player is removed for 10 minutes.<\/li>\n
  2. Unless the hip-drop tackle is obvious and a player is badly injured, put the defender on report and let the match review committee sort it out the following day.<\/li>\n
  3. Can we please stop forensically analysing everything in the game. At Brookvale on Sunday, Ashley Klein continued to hold up play because the Bunker was "reviewing the tackle." It's ruining the momentum of the games. As Queensland legend Wally Lewis declared a couple of years ago "we are trying to perfect a game that'll never be perfect.<\/li>\n
  4. Finally, If the NRL referees are going to change their interpretations of the rules, just tell us. Everyone needs to be on the same page to eliminate the confusion.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let me know your thoughts by sending through an email to the WWOS Radio show on 2GB by clicking on this link;<\/strong> https:\/\/form.jotform.co\/70601482897867<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

    Wide World of Sports Radio is heard from 6pm AEDT on 2GB 873am with Mark Levy and co-hosts Shane Flanagan (Monday), Paul Gallen (Tuesday) and Brad Fittler (Wednesday), Ken Sutcliffe (Thursday) and Mark Riddell (Friday).<\/strong><\/p>\n

    For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    No one likes criticism, however it's something you get used to when you sign up to become a rugby league referee. You become an easy […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":297040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=297038"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297043,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297038\/revisions\/297043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/297040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}