ENGLISH SUPERLEAGUE VERSUS NRL REFEREEING :?:

[Green Kiwi]

Having grown up in England and watching English League in the 60's I have always considered the NRL to be a far superior game to watch.
I have watched the NRL regularly since moving to NZ in the 70's and Oz in 2000. I watched the ESL Grand Final at the weekend and admit I was amazed at the lack of penalties and stoppages it seemed to be more entertaining than most of the NRL games I watched from the 2004 season.
And I started the season watching at least 4 games on Austar every weekend, by the end of the season I was only watching the Raiders.
I believe that the NRL are refeering the game to death in Oz, it is now more like touch football. Whilst I was staggered at some of the tackles that were let go in the ESL Grand Final, the game certainly had more momentum and was more entertaining. Similarly the Tri Nations Test on Saturday with an English Referee seemed to flow better and definately had less penalties, which I think evened out both ways. Given the pig headed attitude of David Gallup & Co I will not hold my breath for any changes for the better, but boy I miss the NRl of a few years ago. Bring back the BIFF !!! I am not talking about the skill levels of our NRL players, just the way the game is refereed. What do others think ?[/b]

 

[SOULS 04]

i agree... i like the fast moving game...

is there a dominant tackle rule in super league?

and the smooth running without penalties was great... like to see that in nrl more

 

[Tidus_Raider]

You raise some good points. It seems every decision made on the park is scrutinized by camera angles and the commentators. If you watch a game of union the referee's decision is final. The commentators hardly ever argue with his decision.

In league there is an obsession for getting it right, which is not a bad thing. infact it's a good thing, however it certainly deters from having a smooth, free flowing game.

 

[Raider_69]

i concur
what i like in the english game is the fact that every game i watch they seem to have a consistant 10 metres which allows good flowing attacking footy and crunching defence

Also the game seems to alot faster pace over there, plenty of metres chewed

 

[Raider Ultra]

I don't think the game over there is faster. The play the ball is alot slower over there than here. English refs are prone to missing really obvious decisions though, where as most major decisions here they get right (most of the time).

 

[greeneyed]

It seems "faster" as the defence is not as tough. The English players throw it around more as a result. However, the English teams would be absolutely crushed by teams here, by stronger defence and stronger fitness, as proven in the WCC series in the Superleague year.

 

[SOULS 04]

yeh good point greeneyed
allthough that was 1997

not saying its that much different but it is 7 years on

 

[Kris_man]

You raise some good points. It seems every decision made on the park is scrutinized by camera angles and the commentators. If you watch a game of union the referee's decision is final. The commentators hardly ever argue with his decision.

In league there is an obsession for getting it right, which is not a bad thing. infact it's a good thing, however it certainly deters from having a smooth, free flowing game.

i think this is the first time i've disagreed with you, Tidus. I actually love the way in union, the ref's decision is final. it's a massive plus for the game, and i love the way the commentators never argue with his decision, they don't even talk about it. to me, and i can't see anyone disagreeing here, that's the ideal state of the game - no mention of the ref whatsoever. i think where people disagree is what to do about it - do we just a) ignore ref's mistakes (as we, the viewers, can get a much better view than they can nowadays, with our multiple camera angles, replays and all), or b) work hard to get the refereeing perfect? i say that we do (a) until (b) comes along. commentators talking about the ref - i find it boring as hell.

an obsession for getting it right: i think that it's not necessarily a bad thing, but it has potential to be a terrible thing. i think referees should be keen and work hard not to get anything wrong, but how does it help if the fans and commentators are so scrutinous?