What is the most controversial incident in league history?

[The Dawson Twins Minus 1]

No question - the booting of Newtown from the comp.

We'd borrowed from the league to do junior development and put up lights out at Campbelltown. Had an agreement with Humphries (then head of the NSWRL) to pay it back within 3 yrs after the move.

All it needed was the approval of the head of the Campbelltown junior leagues, who was agreeable on the Sunday before the NSWRL meeting it was to be ratified at.

So, what happens? 4 Corners runs "The Big League" program, Humphries gets the axe, and come the Wednesdsday meeting, the Campbelltown junior Leagues head stands up and says (despiteus most of the way to bankrupting ourselves in setting up a day/night stadium and improving the juniors in his area for him), NO!

But what can you expect - his name was John Marsden - yep! THAT John Marsden.

Then Arko and Quayle, the thieves, give us a week to pay up on the loan!

Terminal arse cancer's too good for the lot of them....

They also tried to kill the magpies at the same time, but failed.

STILL makes my blood boil....

Makes a penalty try for a fair dinkum head-high look a bit minor by comparison, if you ask me.

 

[The Dawson Twins Minus 1]

Oh, and you can add to that the non-selection of Len Smith (at the time form forward in the comp., Australian Captain/Coach) for a Kangaroo tour - supposedly because he was a Catholic the Masons in the administration wouldn't let him Captain a Kangaroo tour.

Regards,
TDT-1

 

[Cronulla_Mania]

-Super League war
-The Manly bias of Arko in the 90s
-The ARLs decision to expand the comp to an unsustainable 20 teams in 1995
-Pearces non selection in the kangaroo tour
-Souths being booted out of the NRL
By the way, that was a penalty try in 1999...no way the ref could have gone the other way, he fair dinkum knocked him silly! Nikau did look a little 'pumped up', but so did Laurie in a lot of his games with the raiders!!
MFC.

 

[Willow]

MFC, for crying out loud. The 1999 Grand Final was a rort. Not because of one tackle or one pass but because of 20 minutes of disgrace from the referee. Nikau was pumped? Sure, he was just excited the whole thing... nothing more..

TDT-1: You certainly put forward a good argument. Newtown should have never have been kicked out. At the time it was said that Newtown couldn't sustain themselves but there was always more to it that.
Len Smith was one of the more disgraceful incidents in selection history.

And that brings me Nathan Blacklock... His non selection in the 2nd State of Origin this year would have to be one of the more controversial incidents in the history of the modern game.

 

[Cronulla_Mania]

Willow....what are you suggesting?? A saints fan suggesting they were cheated.......NEVER!
The Fan.

 

[Willow]

Well, MFC, I was just keeping in with the spirit of the thread.
Sure, I think we robbed in 1999 but not because of the reasons people think.
Are you saying that no team has ever been robbed by poor refereeing and/or greedy backdoor officials?

 

[Cronulla_Mania]

Yeah, no worries Willow....Saints fans will be Saints fans
I have no doubt that backdoor officaldom affected many games in the 60s and 70s....how about that time when one year (cant remember specific dates) where before the gf, a player came in and told his team mates to lay off any bets that they made on their team to win, because the ref had backed the other side.....
And Wests whinging about when that player got up again after being tackled and went in the corner to score a match winning try. I think it was Wests, anyway lol That was also in a gf....
The eels/hartley stoushes were probably another example of 'shady backdoor officaldom'....
MFC.

 

[Willow]

MFC, bopper's thread could blow the lid on a lot of stuff.
Regarding the 60s, who can forget the 1963 Grand Final won by Saints over Wests in controversial circumstances?

There are Wests players who believed then and still believe to this day that the ref, Darcy Lawler placed a hefty bet on Saints to win that match.
They point to an incident when Johnny King was sliding in the mud and the Wests defenders heard Lawler say 'held'. King, who heard nothing, got up and ran down the side line to score. Saints won narrowly.
Some 30 years later, all writers agree that Darcy Lawler was dodgy although debate still rages over the 1963 Grand Final.

I don't believe you can magically say that corruption only existed in times gone by.
Perhaps the corrupt elements of RL have become more sophisticated but there's still corruption.

After the 1999 Grand Final, I was askedby a friend if I would swap the 1963 Grand Final for the 1999 Grand Final, that is, take away the 11 year premiership reign. I still haven't figured out an answer to that one.
I'm glad the choice isn't there.

 

[Willow]

MFC, that 2nd line of my last post should have read,
you're probably referring to....
not,
who could forget....

 

[Bebeto in Japan]

That Matt Ridge incident was the worst one in recent Grand Finals. I have not seen anything worse in the 1990s.

However, Parramatta was denied a Grand Final appearance in the 70s (I think it was 1978) due to Manly scoring on the 7th tackle. In the 1995 Grand Final, Canterbury scored off the 7th tackle against Manly in that Grand Final.

John Ribot scoring against New Zealand off a forward pass in the 2nd test in 1985 was a shocker. I can't believe the dishonesty of the Australian commentators who would not call it as such. At least they gave Olsen Filipaina (I think that is how you spell his name) the Man Of The Match award.

 

[imported_Bigbopper]

Dawson Twins Minus 1,
I agree with the fact that a team getting the boot is far more important than any grand final. And the Jets were hard done by.
Even though it makes your blood boil, thanks for giving us all a bit of background.
Cheers
Bigbopper

 

[imported_Bigbopper]

On the theme of grand finals I am going back to look up the records on 1952 when Wests beat Souths who have long claimed that the referee (Bishop? - I'll try to check it) made half a dozen outrageous decisions in favour of the Magpies. I remember there was an article in one of the Sydney papers in the 1980's about a bloke confessing on his deathbed that he had put the bet on for the referee.
I was actually at the game but don't remember much (I was five and a half years old).
It just goes to show that most clubs have a beaut "we wuz robbed story".
Cheeers
Bigbopper

 

[Willow]

Bebeto, the previously mention (by TaxiDriver) Mathew Ridge incident was just as mad because of what was said after the match.
It was 1996.
Referee David Manson was in charge of his last Grand Final and Mathew Ridge put ina short grubber of a kick off just before half time and successfully regathered the ball. Nathan Brown 'tackled' Ridge... he did! Brown released Ridge and allowed him to get up. Ridge ran on towards the tryline with the defence on turned heels.
A Manly try resulted just before haltime.
I've always maintained that Manly were the better team anyway and they werethe form team throughout the year. Saints were having a 'fairy tale' year and were magnificent regardless of the result.
But after the match, ref David Manson was subjected to a number of interviews and in one TV interview he said words to the effect, 'look,Brownonly had his hand onthe player for a moment" - a bit of a slip up I thought.
A simple apology would have been acceptable.

 

[Bebeto in Japan]

Willow.......While we are on about Grand Finals, remember one of my first ever postings which made you want to wallop me across the mouth (regarding the 1984 Grand Final between Parra v Canterbury)? Now that people know me here, I can't talk shit like that anymore.

 

[Cronulla_Mania]

Thats the one Willow! Yeah, i saw it on the history of rugby league video and for the life of me i couldn't put a year or a club to it....
Who knows how true it is....there will always be that sort of speculation around, similar to the cricket world cup a few years ago where Bangladesh (i think) beat Pakistan...very suss, although i guess only those involved will know for sure what happened......
In regards to the melbourne/stgeorge (1999) final, i think you have to ask yourself which team played better throughout the year, and then ask yourself how justified the final result was. I'll leave that to you, although i think it was quite a fair result. The 99 storm group was the best side that they have fielded so far....
MFC.

 

[imported_Bigbopper]

Fan,
If you went on who was best throughout the year, then neither the Dragons nor the Storm should have won. It was third versus sixth from memory.
I thought Saints were the better team on the day but I agree with both controversial decisions - it was not a forward pass and the penalty try was appropriate.
Cheers
Bigbopper

 

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