Female Refs

[Ride the Lion to Zion]

I thought Annesley hung her out to dry after the Raiders/Titans game when he said she should have blown 20 more penalties or whatever it was.

This has become a rite of passage for every NRL ref. When Annesley tells the baying media pack that he "holds his hand up", it means he's about to chuck another schmuck under the bus.

 

[Ride the Lion to Zion]

Based on NRL games I've seen with female refs, I'd say the players behaviour has been extremely respectful of the referee. The only time I saw disrespect was on Saturday against Badger. Absolute reflection of the way the game was reffed that day.

Don't you think it reflects the integrity of the players and coaches?

 

[Danish]

With all the hand wringing media coming to defend poor helpless Casey the count down is on for her to be named as SOO ref

 

[Penrith fan]

Yes, the whole world is pushing an agenda, a message, quality has gone out the window.

Its all about the message.

 

[nick87]

I saw some stats on twitter last night and i cant seem to find them now, but the stats pretty clearly showed Badger is no worse than any of the other officials as it relates to getting calls wrong (measured in terms of bunker overturns and successful captains challenges)

I think referees in general are pretty poor in our code, i think the game makes it really hard on them, some of the rules and interpretations are tough, i think our national media harp too much on referee calls and like to be very black and white about "What a howler!" when a lot of these calls we get hung up on are 50/50 calls that could go either way, and i think that feeds a machine of sooking and whinging by coaches/players/fans.

I dont think Casey Badger is any worse than half the other referees in the game but the vitriol directed at her and the nature of the comments are far worse than any other ref cops... Adam Gee gets a "f**king clueless idiot" from the angry fan, whilst Badger's criticism comes almost entirely in form of misogynistic remarks. And that is pretty f**king disgraceful.

I dont think she handled that game well yesterday, but i think that sort of game can happen to any official if they don't put a lid on it early, but i also think Tigers fans are overlooking how poorly their players acted toward her. She'd have been entitled to sit another 1-2 tigers players down, including Bateman for the way they were carrying on.

 

[Bazal]

I saw some stats on twitter last night and i cant seem to find them now, but the stats pretty clearly showed Badger is no worse than any of the other officials as it relates to getting calls wrong (measured in terms of bunker overturns and successful captains challenges)

I think referees in general are pretty poor in our code, i think the game makes it really hard on them, some of the rules and interpretations are tough, i think our national media harp too much on referee calls and like to be very black and white about "What a howler!" when a lot of these calls we get hung up on are 50/50 calls that could go either way, and i think that feeds a machine of sooking and whinging by coaches/players/fans

Absolutely, but a certain section of RL fans would rather go back to having women in the kitchen it seems.

Badger is a pretty average ref at best, and she is not alone in that by any means. The real factor is they all suck

The bigger issue here is (and this will cause ABSOLUTE HOWLING from certain posters, I guarantee it lol) we should all be ok with diversity picks here. As long as they aren't objectively worse than the rest.

-We all agree, or seem to, that the standard of refereeing is as bad as it's ever been.
-We all agree that the pool is very shallow, or at least it must be because no referee ever seems to get dropped or debut anymore and f**king Orc Kennedy keeps getting gigs and f**king Grant Atkins is viewed by the game as a leading ref.
-Even the worst female ref is middle of a poor pack.

So unless Badger or Sharpe decline to the point where they are clearly below the already low standards, in which case it becomes a performance problem, then I fail to see an issue and actually think there's a net benefit for the future. If they appeal to an entire new market of potential female referees then that can only be good in the long run surely?

More refs, more competition which always leads to better quality.

I eagerly await some of the replies to this though lol.

 

[Ride the Lion to Zion]

The Bunker is your last line of defence against an absolute game changer howler, do you really want that last line of defence to be Kasey Badger or Ashley Klein?

I'd prefer either of them to the media or most fans.

We had Ashley in England for several years. His weakness back then was benefit of the doubt calls relative to the tackle count. Too many game-changing interventions based on guesswork. Inexperienced refs often try too hard to get everything right.

He retained this flaw in his early NRL career. Still seemed frightened of missing anything. Far better in recent years. Let's the game flow more. Probably due to thicker skin.

 

[Penrith fan]

The problem is disallowing tries that should stand.

Sometimes the bunker is looking for something that isn't really there.

 

[Ride the Lion to Zion]

Yes, the whole world is pushing an agenda, a message, quality has gone out the window.

Its all about the message.

Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge

 

[nick87]

The problem is disallowing tries that should stand.

Sometimes the bunker is looking for something that isn't really there.

I think i saw 2-3 tries scored this week in which the player grounding the ball had less control of the ball than Api last week which was disallowed

We need to study how have they f**ked up grounding the ball to this degree. It's unreal.

 

[Penrith fan]

Yes, the rule seems to change every week which infuriates fans

 

[Vee]

Female refs in a man's game is insane.

Oh dear...

 

[Penrith fan]

it's not so much the female refs as the rules are impossible to understand

 

[aqua_duck]

I'd prefer either of them to the media or most fans.

We had Ashley in England for several years. His weakness back then was benefit of the doubt calls relative to the tackle count. Too many game-changing interventions based on guesswork. Inexperienced refs often try too hard to get everything right.

He retained this flaw in his early NRL career. Still seemed frightened of missing anything. Far better in recent years. Let's the game flow more. Probably due to thicker skin.

Well I’d rather a bad pilot fly my plane than someone who merely plays flight simulator but doesn’t mean I’d choose that pilot if given a choice. Klein was at one stage considered the top ref down here in an organisation that typically doesn’t change hierarchy very often and I think it’s indicative of his short comings that no one now considers him the top ref

 

[Frailty]

The two biggest problems that happened with Referees was when the media influenced the league to believe that they needed "footballers" to improve "feel for the game" and changing rules every season to appease media commentators.

Bringing in Peter Louis as the Referees Coach/Boss in 1999 was the start of the downfall of the refereeing ranks. Since then, they've had Daniel Anderson, Michael Macguire, and Robert Finch all have stints as the head of the referees. They've also attempted to use ex-players as referees, fast tracking people like Luke Phillips and Henry Perenara, and as Video Referees like Bryan Norrie and Luke Patten.

As a result, the style of refereeing has changed and it won't be able to go back. I've seen very skilled referees, including Ashley Klein, Allan Shortall, etc., come through the grade, but it in order to be promoted they've completely changed their style of refereeing to appease their bosses. Needless to say, they were awful in the NRL

Then constantly bringing in rule changes at the whim of the media narrative as resulted in a fan base that blames referees non-stop for their teams short comings, and media complaining about the rules they are responsible for. Remember when obstruction was up to Referee discretion and the media (Gould) complained that it needed to be black and white? I do. The league did that and now we're back to the "they need to use common sense" approach. The same about grounding of the ball - there are constant complaints by media that the NRL chase their tail trying to appease only for the criticism to continue if not triple.

Rugby League evolved changing rules in the past only when there was a significant need because of negative play. The 20m restart for catching in goal was because teams like Canterbury were exploiting it by bombing into the ingoal. The fixed number of tackles was brought in because St George would just hold possession and grind out every game. Hell, the defensive line has moved back gradually to allow for more attacking football. These weren't every season.

 

[Apey]

I think referees in general are pretty poor in our code, i think the game makes it really hard on them, some of the rules and interpretations are tough, i think our national media harp too much on referee calls and like to be very black and white about "What a howler!" when a lot of these calls we get hung up on are 50/50 calls that could go either way, and i think that feeds a machine of sooking and whinging by coaches/players/fans.

100%. They just do it to generate controversy. Half of the incidents are from not even knowing or understanding the rules in the first place, too.

 

[snickers007]

The two biggest problems that happened with Referees was when the media influenced the league to believe that they needed "footballers" to improve "feel for the game" and changing rules every season to appease media commentators.

Bringing in Peter Louis as the Referees Coach/Boss in 1999 was the start of the downfall of the refereeing ranks. Since then, they've had Daniel Anderson, Michael Macguire, and Robert Finch all have stints as the head of the referees. They've also attempted to use ex-players as referees, fast tracking people like Luke Phillips and Henry Perenara, and as Video Referees like Bryan Norrie and Luke Patten.

As a result, the style of refereeing has changed and it won't be able to go back. I've seen very skilled referees, including Ashley Klein, Allan Shortall, etc., come through the grade, but it in order to be promoted they've completely changed their style of refereeing to appease their bosses. Needless to say, they were awful in the NRL

Then constantly bringing in rule changes at the whim of the media narrative as resulted in a fan base that blames referees non-stop for their teams short comings, and media complaining about the rules they are responsible for. Remember when obstruction was up to Referee discretion and the media (Gould) complained that it needed to be black and white? I do. The league did that and now we're back to the "they need to use common sense" approach. The same about grounding of the ball - there are constant complaints by media that the NRL chase their tail trying to appease only for the criticism to continue if not triple.

Rugby League evolved changing rules in the past only when there was a significant need because of negative play. The 20m restart for catching in goal was because teams like Canterbury were exploiting it by bombing into the ingoal. The fixed number of tackles was brought in because St George would just hold possession and grind out every game. Hell, the defensive line has moved back gradually to allow for more attacking football. These weren't every season.

I went to a CRL Referees Conference the year that Peter Louis started as NRL Referees Coach. He was the keynote speaker. And you're spot on - he was the one who changed everything.

He wanted to prioritise 'man management' over enforcing the rules. He wanted the touch judges to assist the referee with the 10m, at the expense of monitoring forward passes and kick chase onsides. And he heavily leaned into the usage of technology - including using an 'eye in the sky' to relay messages mid-game.

The cracks that he made have since grown into a massive chasm which differentiates Rugby League and the NRL. And it's confusing for everyone.

Referees have become robots who speak a completely different language to anyone else involved in Rugby League. Anyone who listens to Graeme Annesley's weekly reviews knows the high level of mental gymnastics he produces. Fans and players are so confused and frustrated.

 

[Danish]

I saw some stats on twitter last night and i cant seem to find them now, but the stats pretty clearly showed Badger is no worse than any of the other officials as it relates to getting calls wrong (measured in terms of bunker overturns and successful captains challenges)

I think referees in general are pretty poor in our code, i think the game makes it really hard on them, some of the rules and interpretations are tough, i think our national media harp too much on referee calls and like to be very black and white about "What a howler!" when a lot of these calls we get hung up on are 50/50 calls that could go either way, and i think that feeds a machine of sooking and whinging by coaches/players/fans.

I dont think Casey Badger is any worse than half the other referees in the game but the vitriol directed at her and the nature of the comments are far worse than any other ref cops... Adam Gee gets a "f**king clueless idiot" from the angry fan, whilst Badger's criticism comes almost entirely in form of misogynistic remarks. And that is pretty f**king disgraceful.

I dont think she handled that game well yesterday, but i think that sort of game can happen to any official if they don't put a lid on it early, but i also think Tigers fans are overlooking how poorly their players acted toward her. She'd have been entitled to sit another 1-2 tigers players down, including Bateman for the way they were carrying on.

Those stats assume the bunker is infallible, so they can be tossed out.

as for the subject of abuse, no shit when people abuse a bloke they use insults normally aimed at a bloke, while when they abuse a woman they use terms aimed at belittling a woman.

Is it honestly any less insulting for someone to call badger a clueless moron instead of a clueless bitch?

granted if some idiot is out there shouting at her to get back to the kitchen or some such that’s clearly a sexist remark. I just don’t see how that is worse than someone making fun of Klein for being bald, or Sutton for being a nepotism selection f**kwit

 

[Penrith fan]

We should love each other like Jesus instructed us to.

 

[T-Boon]

Since they brought in the captains challenge the refereeing has gotten a lot better or at least in most regards the blame has shifted to the captain. I would allow 2 challenges for each captain.

I think the referees who identify as being women are doing an okay job.