Too many rules in rugby league?

[Aragorn]

should we just keep it simple?

every try goes upstairs to the video ref. That irritates the crap out of me.

& the refs these days are too trigger happy with their whistle giving away countless penalties & ruining this game.

lets hear your views people!

 

[gUt]

yeah but nah

 

[Gmac]

Can't believe I'm saying this but we miss harrigan.. He's a merkin of the highest order but at least he let a big game flow and kept the whistle in the pocket. You'd think the refs have a pool going on who can blow the most penalties in a game. When Shane hayne Is one of the top refs you know you have a problem..

Hmmm I feel dirty now.

 

[Aragorn]

yeah but nah

i feel you bro, i do.

you're thinking yeah, too many rules in this game, too many decisions going by way of penalty, too much power in the hands of the ref.

its need to change.

on the other hand, rules are needed because in order to grow this game, in order to make this a global sport, we need to appeal to the masses - the shoulder charges, biffs, grapple tackles, shepparding, all needs to stop for this game to grow....

hmmm... what to do?

 

[effnic]

The most annoying, useless, f**king stupid penalty of them all is that hand on the ball penalty. Are they f**king serious?? Maybe if the ball pops out cause of the hand on the ball then go ahead and blow the whistle.
On the other hand I do think they are trying to cut back on penalties. You rarely see a grapple get penalized or markers not square. They cut back on those 2 big time.

 

[POPEYE]

The best refereed game I've seen has been from a single pom in an Aust/NZ game and it's got nothing to do with enforcing the rules, more applying the rules only when necessary

 

[BuffaloRules]

Maybe the coaches can all get together and agree that they are not going to tell their players to test the referees patience through constant holding down of the tackled player, wrestling to slow down the play the ball, and creeping up off side.

They could all agree to do it for the good of the game.

 

[simostorm]

Yep.. they over ref games.. I agree.

 

[papabear]

imo the refs shouold blow more penalties to discourage slowing down the ruck the amount of crap in their everyone sees that has nothing to do with tackling the bloke is ridiculous

Also more penalties for cheats who walk off the mark.

And remove the stripping penalty, then you have the perfect game.

 

[Bulldog Force]

The new rule changes they bring in every year f**k it up. Let me give you a few recent examples:

• Golden f**king point - something which has no place in our game, not even in finals
• 2 Referees
• Shoulder charge ban
• Punching = sin bin MID-SEASON CHANGE
• And of course, the idiotic rule of removing the touch-post from the 4 corners of the field which worked well for 100 years ANOTHER MID-SEASON CHANGE

 

[snickers007]

The most annoying, useless, f**king stupid penalty of them all is that hand on the ball penalty. Are they f**king serious?? Maybe if the ball pops out cause of the hand on the ball then go ahead and blow the whistle.

But the rule isn't 'you can't have a hand on the ball' it is 'no player shall deliberately delay the play the ball'. The application of this rule comes in many forms: hand on the ball; coming up with the leg; laying on the tackler; flopping; etc. If the player with the ball is on his feet and in a position to play the ball, and the other guy is stopping him from putting the ball on the ground, of course it deserves a penalty.

There aren't too many rules. The rules (as they are written) are very generic. But there are many applications of each rule. The problem at the moment, is that some application of the rules are applied over-zealously, others aren't applied at all. Some applications have very specific KPIs that are used by NRL referees in determining penalties. For example, 'lifting over the horizontal' is not a rule. The rule is 'the tackle places the player in a dangerous position'. The NRL refs only apply this rule if the tackler is over the horizontal - which is bullshit.

Each play needs to be considered on its own merits, and the appropriate rule applied (or not applied if so be the case). This Utopian theory of consistency will never be realised (especially while they have 2 referees per game) while they are trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.

 

[Knock On]

The Rules are a joke.

 

[POPEYE]

The rules are not the problem, it's how they are enforced we have to look at. Take the hand on the ball for instance, the marker touching the ball is something a showpony ref will look for when in reality the rule should only be applied if the bloke playing the ball drops or fumbles it because it was touched

Most lost balls in a tackle should result in the player being told to pick it up and play it. The referee must be 100% certain when calling a scrum or penalty and he must have the right to veto any other voice because he's not convinced.

 

[Stagger Lee]

The rules are not the problem, it's how they are enforced we have to look at. Take the hand on the ball for instance, the marker touching the ball is something a showpony ref will look for when in reality the rule should only be applied if the bloke playing the ball drops or fumbles it because it was touched

Most lost balls in a tackle should result in the player being told to pick it up and play it. The referee must be 100% certain when calling a scrum or penalty and he must have the right to veto any other voice because he's not convinced.

Well said popeye and with a good example

To the OP - check out the array of scrum penalties that have been shelved because we no longer contest the scrum.

I would look at many offences being changed to a 'handover' of possession. This still punishes the team with the ball if they do wrong but without the delay to the game caused by kicking the ball into touch and setting for a restart.

Many defensive penalties (like illegal wrestling moves) should be marched 5 or 10 metres and / or reset the tackle count again rather than kicking the ball into touch and setting for a restart.

We need the rules to be in place - we just don't always need the game to slow down as much to enforce those rules.

 

[kbw]

Can't believe I'm saying this but we miss harrigan.. He's a merkin of the highest order but at least he let a big game flow and kept the whistle in the pocket. You'd think the refs have a pool going on who can blow the most penalties in a game. When Shane hayne Is one of the top refs you know you have a problem..

Hmmm I feel dirty now.

and you should
Harrigan is to blame for the mess we are in as far as refereeing goes.
The biggest problem is the inconsistency, most of the games played today both teams have different standards applied to them, this was a Harrigan special.
Watch a game involving teams like Manly, Roosters or Canterbury then go and watch how Souths and Melbourne are refereed. There is not standard.

 

[The Voice of Reason!]

Bring back contested play the balls. And the five metre rule.

Rugby league would then be perfect.

 

[happyG]

should we just keep it simple?

every try goes upstairs to the video ref. That irritates the crap out of me.

& the refs these days are too trigger happy with their whistle giving away countless penalties & ruining this game.

lets hear your views people!

id rather bring back in goal touch judges..
make a decision on the field...
they still get it wrong with video ref, so why bother.

 

[happyG]

Bring back contested play the balls. And the five metre rule.

Rugby league would then be perfect.

6 man interchange.
reward legs tackles (players can hold on for a while).

 

[Aragorn]

Bring back contested play the balls. And the five metre rule.

Rugby league would then be perfect.

In bold - great idea.

 

[Aragorn]

6 man interchange.
reward legs tackles (players can hold on for a while).

in bold 100% agree.

Matthew Ridge, Geoff Toovey were specialists at this. Where are these players now? all replaced by big men.