Number one problem with the game. Nit picking penalties ruin the spectacle and momentem in a game. A penalty is way too harsh. Solution- make the player play the ball again and take a tackle off them. Simple
The same thing happens every year. The ref bosses announce they're going to crack down on this or that aspect of the game and then, after an uproar over the number of penalties ruining the game, the crackdown is quietly rolled back. The problem isn't so much the crack down in itself but the impact of the penalties on the game.
Fans don't watch a game to see play the ball penalties constantly impacting the course and flow of matches any more than they watch it to see scrum penalties deciding matches. In the 1980s the leaders of the game recognised that a constant stream of scrum penalties deciding games was not what the fans wanted to see and they changed the rules to deal with it. They introduced the differential penalty to prevent shots at goal from scrum penalties and they moved to uncontested scrums which eliminated most scrum penalties altogether.
It's about time that we recognized that cracking down on the play the ball within the present penalty rules simply isn't enough. You can say well they should just "play the ball properly", "it's not that bloody hard". But the fact is that crackdown after crackdown has proved it just doesn't work, it really is that hard. To run with this line is just turning a blind eye and condeming us to retread the same old path of weeks of stop-start games, controversial penalties deciding matches, and a ruined spectacle that turns away fans followed by the inevitable rollback to the status quo.
Bill Harrigan says he won't back down, he wants to persist with the crackdown consistently for the entire season. That's fine but for the sake of the game, please, please, please fix the real problem first - the impact of the play the ball penalty. Like scrum penalties before it, we need to recognise that no matter how much you crackdown, players won't get it perfect every time and the penalties will flow. If we're not prepared to accept the status quo and let the play the ball issues pass without penalty then we need to neutralise the impact of the penalty.
The current penalty is disproportionate to the crime. It blows a set of minor issues which crackdown after crackdown prove can't be eliminated into a major controversy. Instead of a loss of possession, and loss of 30 or 40 metres of territory or a shot at penalty goal, just take a tackle off the offending team and march them backwards ten metres. The loss of momentum from having to march backwards and replay the ball is penalty enough.
Minor issues like walking a step off the mark, or fumbling the ball, or not using the foot don't need to turn or decide matches on one incident. Play the ball penalties are not what the fans pay to see any more than scrum penalties were. Penalize it in proportion to the minor issue it is and get on with the game.
Leigh
