posted Sep 6, 2007

How anyone can have a good word to say about Ray French as a commentator is beyond me!!!

He's a nice bloke, and his column in league weekly is usually a very good read.
but he simply isnt up to the task of commentating.

he cant keep up with play, doesn't tell you much about whats actually happening (which is vital on the bbc where more newcomers to league are likely to experience it)
and every other sentence is:
"young ..(enter any players name whos less than 30 years old)... the former blackbrook/wigan st pats/hull dockers/normanton/east hull/dewsbury celtic ammateur"!!!!!!

its the same every bloody time.

And Jonathan Davis... well! to quote a letter i saw in mailbag in league express a while ago:

" i noticed a high pitched whining coming from my tv that seemed to have been constant during the game, i tried adjusting my set only to realise it was Jonathan Davies, mumbling away in his signature welsh nasal whine. "

The BBC need to pension ray french off and just sack davis.

After a challenge cup weekend with horrendous commentery on the BBC, it really makes you appreciate how many light years ahead sky are, not in just terms of commentery, but the whole production. The BBc's production screams incompetence. The camera men dont know what they're doing because they're used to covering show jumping or some other crap. And at half time in the final, they played loud music over the comments of darren lockyer!
why bother asking him a question if your gonna play crap music over him?

I dont like sky, infact i hate giving money to bloody Rupert Murdoch but its 100 times better.

Eddie and Stevo might be daft, but one weekend of french and his little welsh poodle is more than enough for me to start singing their praises.

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posted Mar 13, 2008

Some of you may be too young to remember this but I can remember John Holdsworth reffing loads of Leeds games ( he comes from Leeds by the way) but his home town was always put as 'Kippax' thereby meaning he could ref anyone. Ganson should move house and put himself down as coming from a 'small village in the north west'. That will sort it. But then again you have to be a half decent ref as well.

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posted Jun 19, 2008

Speaking of BBC league coverage, whatever happened to the Superleague Show being available on BBC i-player? That seems to have just died a death. I refuse to give the hated Murdoch a cent (cutting off my nose to spite my face, I know, I know,...), and that's about all the league I can see on TV, apart from the Challenge Cup. Do I need to start setting the video for 2am or whatever ungodly hour they show it these days? Why has it stopped on i-player? Is it something to do with Euro 08?

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posted Jun 19, 2008

all referees ARE neutral....it's only the fans who are biased and THAT is a FACT!!!
The only reason why referees in the Pro game didn't officiate in their home teams games was because of the fsct that if there was ever any controversy in a match then the "home" referee might be subjected to a lot of abuse from his neighbours and NOT because the RFL thought that the referees would be biased towards their home side!
I was an amateur referee for 15 seasons and was a member of the Halifax Referees Society and I can assure you I NEVER was biased towards or against any team. I Just couldn't do that to any set of players who trained hard each week and then pulled on a shirt on a Saturday to represent their club, they deserve respect for even having the guts to play the game and I don't for one minute think the pro referees are any different despite what you might think!
No matter what stick you might get from a set of fans or even when some clubs are not as welcoming as others, you still CAN'T bring yourself to be biased one way or the other, who on earth would want to face the facts that the if you made a biased decision for whatever reason against anyone, that the biggest person you were cheating was yourself!

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posted Jul 26, 2008

Have to agree with you ... Stevo is mightily irritating at times, mainly because he speaks in cliches but his knowledge of the game is very sound. I actually turn the sound off for the BBC coverage because French doesnt always keep up with play and isnt as well informed. As for Jonathan Davies.....!!!!

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posted Jul 28, 2008

avvvvv it davies u neva liked the black n whites since we creamed you n ur team of prima donas in 91. as for ganson he hates us to would nt be fair final, we would be playing saints + a ref.

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posted Jul 29, 2008

Come on andy - its not Ganson's fault.


EVERYONE hates you !

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posted Aug 9, 2008

i agree that french needs pensioning off ,but
in my opinion davis ,is excellent.he is knowledgable, unbiased and approaches the game
from a different standpoint.if we want to spread the game in wales,having davis would help

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posted Apr 26, 2009

I agree you need to be a decent first class rugby league referee and totally unbiased to referee your own town. Ask any Leigh fan about his past performances when they played higher opposition even ask independent supporters who have been at the same games.

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posted May 1, 2009

Ben Thaler is actually a Rhinos fan so should he referee Rhinos games?
Where do you draw the line

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