posted Jul 28, 2008

Check out Man of the Match Adam Dyke's behaviour towards the ref on Sunday.As the referee was sorting out the disallowed 'try' in the sixtieth minute he appeared to come in contact with referee twice - once on the arm and once on the chest.
Now if that had been a Wigan player..........

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posted Jul 28, 2008

If you are looking to find where the disrespect for officials starts, then look no further than the Sky muppets Eddie and Stevo. Controversy being their number 1 topic due to their lack of rugby "nouse".

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posted Jul 28, 2008

bewaretheshadows

I don't think he should be banned for life but should get the maximum penalty of 8 games!

Ganson showed RL how it should be done in the bulls/hull match! Despite the whinging from their fans I thought he was superb & i'll bet the coaches in SL will have had a word with their players about how you approach or question a ref!

When I first started playing RL at school, my late dad said to me that respect for the ref was law & that I wasn't allowed to question the ref in any way whatsoever!

If refs & SL lead by example this will stop & it needs to! Hock has seen red & I've no axe to grind with the lad but he needs to be shown what respect means!

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posted Jul 29, 2008

its just disrespectful to Huddersfield (as people often are)

"Now I may have been too busy laughing at the score line to notice this but is it true?"

So are Wigan Poor...or were Huddersfield lucky ? or maybe....just maybe.... they actually deserved their win after a good performance over a strong Wigan side ?

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posted Jul 30, 2008

Anybody else think that Hock should have got the full 8 matches?

personally i think as soon as you touch a ref you should be banned for 6 months then no player would do it.

rugby certainly doesn't need this behaviour in our sport

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posted Jul 30, 2008

Can't argue with that snappy. Mind you, we do have a world cup coming up. Wouldn't want to jeopardise our chances in that would we.

Unlike the GB Tour that Len Casey missed .

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posted Jul 30, 2008

Over the years several things have crept into the game from time to time, usually they have been resolved by a series of lengthy bans and fines.

Perhaps the RFL should have started with Hock, a full 8 match ban, and similar bans for any other player who commits the same offence. No arguing, no mitigation, a consistent rule applied across all teams at all levels of the sport.

However, I do feel referees bring some of these problems on their own heads. Referees are too familiar with the players, you can hear the comments during games, "nice try", "good move", calling players by their first names and so on. Referees should return to the old style of refereeing, players identified by number, players call the referee Sir, and show some respect. Referees should also give players the same respect. The formality of the relationship between the referees and players should be reinstated. I couldn't imagine Fred Lindop behaving as many modern referees do at the moment.

I don't care if this is an old fashioned view, I like Rugby League because generally the players offer good role models, the game is clean, relatively drug free, with severe punishments for those who break the rules, in todays world it sets something of an example.

Hock got off lightly in my view, in the years I played I never called a referee anything other than Sir, except under my breath when well out of earshot, and wouldn't have even considered touching or striking one regardless of the provocation.

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posted Jul 30, 2008

i haven't seen the incident with hock but if he did touch the ref then he deserves what he gets.

what i think is disgusting is that a spear tackle (such as the one done by scruton on cunningham against leeds) is punished with a lesser ban than tugging the shirt of a ref. I agree respect for the ref is paramount but IMO so is player safety. it is for the grace of god that cunningham wasn't paralysed in the afore mention spear tackle and i think it is wrong that such an incident gets 3 matches and grabbing a ref gets 5. that's just my opinion and before people think i am condoning 'assaulting refs' i am not!

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posted Jul 30, 2008

" . Referees are too familiar with the players, you can hear the comments during games, "nice try", "good move", calling players by their first names and so on. . "
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It's call "man management" and certainly does not reduce the respect with which match officials are regarded by players.

As the man in the middle, the idea is to get rid of an "him against us" scenario and promote a "lets work together" ethos. You quite frequently share a laugh and a joke with players and complement them on good play, getting back ten etc. It helps to have a rapport when you need to explain why any particular decision was made. And all the time you are still refered to as "sir".

I'm sure that even Fred Lindop would have spoken to players in exactly the same way - but as he wasn't miked up we have no proof one way or the other. Unless there's someone out there who was refereed by him at some time?

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