Referees at post match press conferences

[***MH***]

I read an article from the Adelaide Now website on an AFL commentator pushing for their Umpires to start appearing at post match press conferences for Q&A.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...explaining-to-do/story-e6freck3-1226413983830

My question to you is: Would you want this for the NRL?

Do you think this would put too much pressure on our match officials?
Do the Rugby League public deserve to hear the referees side of the story on some of the decisions they make on the field?

I think the idea has its merits but we might regret giving some of these full time referees an ego boost as a result of such extra press coverage.

(i know this is from an AFL idea, could we please avoid the trolling and stick to how it would apply to the NRL)

 

[bottle]

They already feature too much. The aim should be that they go unnoticed, not more noticed.

 

[Quidgybo]

Rather than ambush referees at post match conferences before they've even had a chance to review the video and work out whether they got crucial calls right or wrong, I'd rather they released an official video after each round highlighting the controversial calls made across all games. The video would have an analysis and commentary from the referees' own review session discussing why each call was made and whether it was ultimately correct or not. We know that we're never going to get 100% accuracy but this would at least bring transparency to the process and allow the wider public to understand exactly how the referees and their managers are evaluating their performances.

Leigh.

 

[Valheru]

Rather than ambush referees at post match conferences before they've even had a chance to review the video and work out whether they got crucial calls right or wrong,

I was all for the idea until I read this. You are right; it would be unfair for them not to be able to review their own work first.

What I would like to see is a mid week press conference from the referees where they are forced to answer the media?s questions. I don?t care how much pressure they are under, they should have to answer to the media just like the coaches and players do.

Additionally I would like the coaches/players to be able to criticise the officiating. If a player has a bad game or a coach has a bad season they know about it and anyone is allowed to say anything about them. It should be the same for referees, if a coach thinks they had a shocker they should be able to say it in exactly those words. As long as you don?t accuse the refs of cheating they should be fair game.

 

[Card Shark]

Leave the refs alone...it will ultimately make them worse, not better.

Otherwise drag every player before the media & ask them to explain a knock-on, forward pass, missed tackle etc etc.

Dumb idea.

 

[Danish]

If this were brought in I'd bet money that f**kwit harrigan would pull the pink jersey on again just so he could be even more of an attention seeking dickhead than he is now.

We should be actively trying to keep referees OUT of the spotlight, not pushing them into it. Refs already have ego problems without allowing them another opportunity to get their mugs on TV.

 

[madunit]

I believe the referees are finding it harder to officiate a game properly now, what with the scrutiny they already receive.

Two refs and technology was supposed to lead to better officiating and less mistakes, but it just hasn't happened as well as expected.

Refs nowadays err on the side of caution far too much. putting players on report, sending tries upstairs for review etc.

They need stricter guidelines.

If there's a high tackle, accidental or not, the offender is sent to the bin for 10 mins at least, unless it is intentional, then they get sent off. In both cases they still get put on report.

If someone takes a dive to milk a penalty, the ref should assume they are concussed. That player then leaves the field and is not allowed to return for the rest of the game and will have to sit out the following game to ensure they have had sufficient recovery time from concussion.

Only when we start giving refs a bit more authority can we start to have them doing their job better and rubbing out the bullshit that happens in games. There's no point making refs front up to post match press conferences when a lot of the time, the controversial incidents the press will want to talk about have usually been referred to someone else anyways.

 

[eozsmiles]

Leave the refs alone...it will ultimately make them worse, not better.

Otherwise drag every player before the media & ask them to explain a knock-on, forward pass, missed tackle etc etc.

Dumb idea.

This.

The coach and captain currently do the PC and they talk crap, if they say anything. Nobody seems to care about this so I can't imagine the refs being asked to perform any better. If the refs perform to the level of the players and coaches it would be a negative for the game.

Fans, coaches, and players will lose their friggin' minds if a ref starts doing Wayne Bennett style press conferences. Someone says to Tony Archer he had a bad game and he answers by saying that the rules are crap. They could give one word answers, say that they don't know or don't care about a question when they obviously do, and hijack press conferences for their own ends. It wouldn't be a cool look for the game.

Seems a bit BS that the players can try to bend and break every rule and fib their way through a match, then the ref has to face the music and explain it all.

I'm all for RL being a trailblazer and there is no reason why we should follow other sports. But I can't think of any major sport that forces the refs to do press conferences and I reckon there must be a reason for that.
Part of the problem at the moment is that not enough high quality people want to be refs. Who wants to be abused by Rothfield every monday? Putting them in front of a kangaroo court each week won't encourage anyone to join the refereeing ranks. Doing this will attract the prime donna individuals like Hartley and Harrigan. Fair refs perhaps, but people generally hated them.

 

[eozsmiles]

I didn't mention the lying. Coaches and players routinely lie to the fans/media. Toovey did it last week about T Rex to give just one example. I get the feeling that refs would be viewed far differently if they got caught telling lies to the media, but with the competitors it doesn't seem to really be a problem for people. Maybe we are used to it. We can't create a situation where the match officials are comfortable to tell porkies all the time, but we already have a situation where club officials are happy to bend the truth. And since the coaches are shady with their info, why would we expect any different from a ref.

 

[firechild]

What's the point? The ref can always just say "I'd have to have a look at the replay" when asked about a ruling just as coaches often do. I agree with Quidgy, the media are going to get a few looks at the replay before they ambush the ref, the ref gets 1 look from whatever angle he was at when he made the call and nothing more. Maybe he made a mistake but won't know it was a mistake until he sees a replay. It's just going to put more pressure on refs that are already struggling to do an acceptable job.

 

[Slackboy72]

I'd like to see it but I can also see why it's a terrible idea.

The rules and the fact that they are at ground level make the job of refereeing satisfactorily to the letter of the rulebook impossible.
Asking them to be assraped by the scumbags in the press isn't going to make it any easier. All it will do is make muppets like Gould and Rothfield feel better about their puny intellects.
Granted it may force some of the refs to finally LEARN THE F***ING RULES but its no good second guessing them for calls that they see once from one angle just because a couple of better angles and repeated viewings with slow motion showed it to be incorrect.

 

[Canard]

It wont happen in AFL nor the NRL.

All the officials would re-sign overnight and the game would be left with Skeepe and Bunniesman officiating matches.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

The only reason why people want this is so people can see the refs responsible for their mistakes. There is no point.

It's not as if they're going to have anything insightful to say.

 

[Karl]

I can see in theory how in a Utopian place where Refs had perfect rcollection of every second in a game and were all eloquent and able to properly explain the basis for their decisions and able to handle the Media and Journalists (if they were acting like they do in this World) or in this Utipian World, where Journalists would only ask fair and reasonable questions and accept fair and reasonable answers without attempting to twist words and trap speakers that this idea would function perfectly and the Utopian Fans, who were able to put parochialism aside and just impartially absorb the information, would gain great benefit from the additional transparency.

 

[The.X.Factor9]

Most of the referees in the NRL are egotistical and patronising with everything they do, I don't think its a good idea to throw them in front of a camera post match, especially that Suttor(guy is a merkin).

 

[AlwaysGreen]

There's an old saying that I may have made up: The best referee is the one you don't notice.

Refs have no place at press conferences.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Your mistaken.......it wasn't you who made that line up

it was Barry Gomersall.

Accountability doesn't need to be spoofed up into yet another media wank fest, there is way to much spotlight on the referees as it is......

Bring back the one ref system

 

[Pierced Soul]

they need to be out of the spotlight more, not in it.

talking to a work colleague who follows AFL and elague (he's from mexico) he reckons we focus too much on any incidents in league way too much. he said the game gets stopped and the tv stations replay soemthing about 10 times. he said in AFL it all happens too quick - if theres a contentious thing which has been missed the game keeps playing rather than harping on whether its a penalty or not.

not watching AFL i have no idea how correct/incorrect he is in this assessment, but I know in the past when i've watched SL they dont have 10 cameras focused on the ruck, when a balls popped out in a tackle and the ref calls a scrum we didnt see 10 replays looking for what happened, and subsequently the game and players just got on with things

i think like most fans i can take the missed forward pass or slight bobble, it's when there's a major or obvious infringment which gets missed (like a ball passed 3m forwards) that i get upset. or when there's some weird interpretive ruling which makes no sense to anyone but the ref.

the refs all need to wear gimp suits so we cant pick out each one individually