Blaming the Ref Syndrome

[Wizardman]

I am sick and tired of rugby league fans constantly defaulting to the ref as to why their team loses games. Here is a fact.......the vast majority of times, your team's players are by far the biggest factor when your team wins or loses a game. Sure, there are the very odd games where the ref has cost a team a win.......but it doesn't happen anywhere near as often as fans carry on about.
I particularly get the shits when a team gets flogged, their fans choose to pick on a decision or two for why their team lost a game. Good teams tend to play past bad calls, shit teams tend to be buried by them.
This sort of whinging is growing by the year.

 

[T-Boon]

I am sick and tired of rugby league fans constantly defaulting to the ref as to why their team loses games. Here is a fact.......the vast majority of times, your team's players are by far the biggest factor when your team wins or loses a game. Sure, there are the very odd games where the ref has cost a team a win.......but it doesn't happen anywhere near as often as fans carry on about.
I particularly get the shits when a team gets flogged, their fans choose to pick on a decision or two for why their team lost a game. Good teams tend to play past bad calls, shit teams tend to be buried by them.
This sort of whinging is growing by the year.

I thought we had gotten on top of it with the introduction of the challenge.
We could expand the captains challenge to cover more/everything and each team has two.

 

[Det.Wojciehowicz]

I agree that if you've been flogged then bad calls play pretty much no part in the result. However there are definitely cases where a dud call at a key moment in the game costs a team the win. These examples should be held up in the hope they don't happen again. Refs should never be above scrutiny.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

I am sick and tired of rugby league fans constantly defaulting to the ref as to why their team loses games. Here is a fact.......the vast majority of times, your team's players are by far the biggest factor when your team wins or loses a game. Sure, there are the very odd games where the ref has cost a team a win.......but it doesn't happen anywhere near as often as fans carry on about.
I particularly get the shits when a team gets flogged, their fans choose to pick on a decision or two for why their team lost a game. Good teams tend to play past bad calls, shit teams tend to be buried by them.
This sort of whinging is growing by the year.

You're talking about Axe right? Don't mind him, he's a special one.

Tbh I found myself blowing up at the ref during the flogging we got from Manly earlier this season. They put 40 on us but at the time I felt we were reffed out of it (the binning of Hors being the culmination), and then let the floodgates open. We never should've let the floodgates open though, that's on us.

 

[nick87]

This is something i think is pretty unique to RL fans
And not ref blaming because of course that happens in sport everywhere, but the way in which refereeing is talked about, the extent at which its blamed by fans and scrutiny on referees and how it seeps into the day to day discourse is unlike any other sport i follow

You can go into any match day thread on this site, or any club specific forum and for every single club you find fans who genunely think they're refereed differently, and that they're getting screwed

The journo's in the papers and the talking head shows lean all the way into it too. Which of course only makes it worse
And im not even divorcing myself from this, for sure i've been one of those people too, 10 years ago i was shocking for it. I make a concerted effort these days to try and be more measured about this, and for the most part i am. And of course in a big spot and particularly bad call that changes the outcome, like any fan, i blow up

But it's made my footy watching experience better when im not losing my mind at any 50/50 call that doesnt go our way as if its the greatest injustice anyone has suffered or pretending as if the referees have gathered pre season and determined they'll stop at nothing to stop the Canberra Raiders.

But its a real ugly side of RL fandom imo.

 

[T-Boon]

This is something i think is pretty unique to RL fans
And not ref blaming because of course that happens in sport everywhere, but the way in which refereeing is talked about, the extent at which its blamed by fans and scrutiny on referees and how it seeps into the day to day discourse is unlike any other sport i follow

You can go into any match day thread on this site, or any club specific forum and for every single club you find fans who genunely think they're refereed differently, and that they're getting screwed

The journo's in the papers and the talking head shows lean all the way into it too. Which of course only makes it worse
And im not even divorcing myself from this, for sure i've been one of those people too, 10 years ago i was shocking for it. I make a concerted effort these days to try and be more measured about this, and for the most part i am. And of course in a big spot and particularly bad call that changes the outcome, like any fan, i blow up

But it's made my footy watching experience better when im not losing my mind at any 50/50 call that doesnt go our way as if its the greatest injustice anyone has suffered or pretending as if the referees have gathered pre season and determined they'll stop at nothing to stop the Canberra Raiders.

But its a real ugly side of RL fandom imo.

It is really a biproduct of the conservative play that rugby league attack is now. Broncos lost this weekend what does Madge blame it on? "we didn't build enough pressure" eg looking for the other side to make errors (that would need to be picked up on by the ref) rather than "we didn't make enough big plays".
With the game being about "getting to the kick" and "completions" the referees have become opportunity creators in the game.
People need to get on board with my rule change ideas.

 

[nick87]

It is really a biproduct of the conservative play that rugby league attack is now. Broncos lost this weekend what does Madge blame it on? "we didn't build enough pressure" eg looking for the other side to make errors (that would need to be picked up on by the ref) rather than "we didn't make enough big plays".
With the game being about "getting to the kick" and "completions" the referees have become opportunity creators in the game.
People need to get on board with my rule change ideas.

f**k off, t-boon

 

[Jetka100]

This is something i think is pretty unique to RL fans
And not ref blaming because of course that happens in sport everywhere, but the way in which refereeing is talked about, the extent at which its blamed by fans and scrutiny on referees and how it seeps into the day to day discourse is unlike any other sport i follow

You can go into any match day thread on this site, or any club specific forum and for every single club you find fans who genunely think they're refereed differently, and that they're getting screwed

The journo's in the papers and the talking head shows lean all the way into it too. Which of course only makes it worse
And im not even divorcing myself from this, for sure i've been one of those people too, 10 years ago i was shocking for it. I make a concerted effort these days to try and be more measured about this, and for the most part i am. And of course in a big spot and particularly bad call that changes the outcome, like any fan, i blow up

But it's made my footy watching experience better when im not losing my mind at any 50/50 call that doesnt go our way as if its the greatest injustice anyone has suffered or pretending as if the referees have gathered pre season and determined they'll stop at nothing to stop the Canberra Raiders.

But its a real ugly side of RL fandom imo.

You are obviously not seeing the collective meltdown from the Wallabies fans at the moment.

 

[T-Boon]

f**k off, t-boon

Nick the big baby. Hahaha.

 

[nick87]

You are obviously not seeing the collective meltdown from the Wallabies fans at the moment.

I'm not pedo, so no i havent been paying attention to anything Wallabies related.
Please make sure you note this interaction down for your AFP handler.

 

[Jetka100]

W

I'm not pedo, so no i havent been paying attention to anything Wallabies related.
Please make sure you note this interaction down for your AFP handler.

Well that is probably one of the most dumbest things I have read in awhile.

 

[gerg]

This is something i think is pretty unique to RL fans
And not ref blaming because of course that happens in sport everywhere, but the way in which refereeing is talked about, the extent at which its blamed by fans and scrutiny on referees and how it seeps into the day to day discourse is unlike any other sport i follow

You can go into any match day thread on this site, or any club specific forum and for every single club you find fans who genunely think they're refereed differently, and that they're getting screwed

The journo's in the papers and the talking head shows lean all the way into it too. Which of course only makes it worse
And im not even divorcing myself from this, for sure i've been one of those people too, 10 years ago i was shocking for it. I make a concerted effort these days to try and be more measured about this, and for the most part i am. And of course in a big spot and particularly bad call that changes the outcome, like any fan, i blow up

But it's made my footy watching experience better when im not losing my mind at any 50/50 call that doesnt go our way as if its the greatest injustice anyone has suffered or pretending as if the referees have gathered pre season and determined they'll stop at nothing to stop the Canberra Raiders.

But its a real ugly side of RL fandom imo.

I don't think it helps at all when Annesley will back a clearly wrong decision and then a week later a referee or bunker will adjudicate the same scenario in the opposite way and then Annesley will say its correct. And this creates the problem because many fans then have no idea of the proper rules. When Annesley first got the role he would admit to mistakes but maybe he got sick of apologising each week and became more defensive.

Bulldogs received a penalty last weekend after Kiraz plants the ball. It was an incorrect call by the bunker. Now anytime that happens again every fan will just recall that Kiraz decision and criticise the referee.

There needs to be better consistency with interpretation. We've engaged on this topic elsewhere and I think we both agree that the NRL should be trying to find ways to make it easier for referees instead of complicating the rules and interpretations. Changing interpretation year after year or even within a season. Look at the roll ball fiasco. There's probably 50 + bad play the balls every game, but 1 or 2 are randomly penalised... sometimes.

We've seen in the past referees have poor games and their punishment was to put them in the bunker the following week. I distinctly remember Klein getting dropped to the bunker for an awful game and then screwing things up worse in the bunker. A week later he's got his whistle back.

 

[Wizardman]

I don't think it helps at all when Annesley will back a clearly wrong decision and then a week later a referee or bunker will adjudicate the same scenario in the opposite way and then Annesley will say its correct. And this creates the problem because many fans then have no idea of the proper rules. When Annesley first got the role he would admit to mistakes but maybe he got sick of apologising each week and became more defensive.

Bulldogs received a penalty last weekend after Kiraz plants the ball. It was an incorrect call by the bunker. Now anytime that happens again every fan will just recall that Kiraz decision and criticise the referee.

There needs to be better consistency with interpretation. We've engaged on this topic elsewhere and I think we both agree that the NRL should be trying to find ways to make it easier for referees instead of complicating the rules and interpretations. Changing interpretation year after year or even within a season. Look at the roll ball fiasco. There's probably 50 + bad play the balls every game, but 1 or 2 are randomly penalised... sometimes.

We've seen in the past referees have poor games and their punishment was to put them in the bunker the following week. I distinctly remember Klein getting dropped to the bunker for an awful game and then screwing things up worse in the bunker. A week later he's got his whistle back.

While I agree with you that it was an incorrect call, I watched that one quite a few times and Im still not 100% of its accuracy. A ref should not be roasted for a call like that where even on video replay, it is not that conclusive. That call did not cost the Dragons victory.

 

[Wizardman]

This is something i think is pretty unique to RL fans
And not ref blaming because of course that happens in sport everywhere, but the way in which refereeing is talked about, the extent at which its blamed by fans and scrutiny on referees and how it seeps into the day to day discourse is unlike any other sport i follow

You can go into any match day thread on this site, or any club specific forum and for every single club you find fans who genunely think they're refereed differently, and that they're getting screwed

The journo's in the papers and the talking head shows lean all the way into it too. Which of course only makes it worse
And im not even divorcing myself from this, for sure i've been one of those people too, 10 years ago i was shocking for it. I make a concerted effort these days to try and be more measured about this, and for the most part i am. And of course in a big spot and particularly bad call that changes the outcome, like any fan, i blow up

But it's made my footy watching experience better when im not losing my mind at any 50/50 call that doesnt go our way as if its the greatest injustice anyone has suffered or pretending as if the referees have gathered pre season and determined they'll stop at nothing to stop the Canberra Raiders.

But its a real ugly side of RL fandom imo.

The commentators are probably the worst culprits. They really add fuel to the fire for some fans to blame the refs on rather than the players in their own team.

 

[gerg]

While I agree with you that it was an incorrect call, I watched that one quite a few times and Im still not 100% of its accuracy. A ref should not be roasted for a call like that where even on video replay, it is not that conclusive. That call did not cost the Dragons victory.

My point was about consistency. All year players who plant the ball before getting to their feet have been penalised. And round 20 is the first time they have called the other way. If it's a quick decision by the onfield referee it's more forgiveable but the bunker reviewed it and overturned it.

Nobody will ever know whether that decision cost them the game. But it was a call where the Dragons had overturned the ball in the Dogs half with only a few minutes to go. Instead Dogs get a penalty and go on the attack. Pretty deflating for a struggling team.

 

[Trifili13]

It's like in the Canberra vs Newcastle game today the ref pinged the Newcastle player for not facing square when he played it. Then a few seconds later he pinged the Canberra player for rolling the ball. It's like he f#$$ed up and decided to give the ball back to Newcastle. They could probably find an infringement in every play the ball but just pick one out randomly and you never see it again.

 

[Woody90]

Being shitty at horrible calls from the officials and blaming that on your team losing are two completely different things and not mutually exclusive. I’ve been equally annoyed at some calls this year against my team both when they’ve won and lost due to the inconsistency and I’m sure most are the same.

 

[BadnMean]

It's like in the Canberra vs Newcastle game today the ref pinged the Newcastle player for not facing square when he played it. Then a few seconds later he pinged the Canberra player for rolling the ball. It's like he f#$$ed up and decided to give the ball back to Newcastle. They could probably find an infringement in every play the ball but just pick one out randomly and you never see it again.

I don't know how many others he missed- but both were correct.

I know if you're a knights fan it feels like gimme a break but he played it crooked and knights are too incompetent at the moment to make that a big deal ... but if it's let slide, Melbourne will start playing everything crooked to make a) the markers look not square and b) open up one side for a clear dart where you scoot past and take both markers out of play on the back of it.

Even the Kiraz plant. We have all just said refs have been consistent in penalising an early plant all season- so much so that everyone noticed. Now we have one poor decision and everyone is howling, even that poor decision is only evident because of consistency already acknowledged as established. Credit where it's due.

If the plant ruling becomes a lottery now, we can howl. But there will be errors, whether overall consistency is maintained is more important.

Players make multiple errors every game- still treated like heroes. Fans make absurd one eyed interpretations every game. Refs WILL make some errors. SOME will be inconsistent with other rulings. One or two I can handle- it's only when a rule interpretation becomes a lottery I don't like it.

At the moment I think the ptb is fine. Because if it's not policed regularly the game becomes oztag and the ptb becomes a mess which just encourages defensive teams to spoil it. I'll tolerate some judgement calls there for the greater good.

I like the way obstruction is headed to a sensible interpretation of intent- "The Newcastle defenders chose not to defend…" is a pretty damning quote from the ref and states the simple trusim that teams should play to the whistle not for the whistle.