Open letter to NRL referee's

Dear NRL Referee’s ... STOP IT!!

STOP IT NOW!!

As Gus Gould says, we (NRL fans) pay good money to watch the players. We don’t want to see a refereeing exhibition.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you have the courage to do what is a thankless task. I know you work hard and are bound by strict rules and interpretations – which is a whole other issue.

But my word, you guys are pissing me off!!

The great thing about rugby league is 50-50 calls are made by a referee, with confidence based on what he sees. We can deal with the wrong calls – you have a split second and we get countless slow motion replays.

But it seems you are convinced there should be no grey areas in this game – everything is either black or white. That’s why we have two Refs, that’s why we tried a blanket 10 metre advantage rule, that’s why we have separation and video ref’s and all that other piddling crap.

While we’re here – where the hell has common sense gone in our game?

Every NRL fan knows what a try looks like, we know obstruction and we know what’s cheating and breaking the rules. Do you? We’re taking the humanisation out of the game. These players are not robots; every play is not going to be textbook.

But we know what looks right and what looks wrong. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck – IT’S A DAMN DUCK!!

Grey areas are okay, they’re part of the game. All we ask is the refereeing stays consistent throughout the course of a match.

Is that too much to ask?

And another thing, do you guys have any understanding of “feel for a game”?

Let me enlighten you – as a lifelong rugby league fan I have watched many hours of rugby league across all levels. When watching you get a feeling of when a penalty is needed and when a referee needs to take control. Most of you guys do not, or aren’t allowed to.

It seems you have a need to get through a set quota of penalties per match and ensure they even out between the two sides. I can tell you, every match is different and sometimes both teams don’t deserve to concede/earn the same number of penalties.

You must understand I’m not normally one to spray the Ref’s. They are vitally important to our great game and I know all of them are doing their best. But under this system, their best just does not cut it anymore. These guys are professionals, just like the players, and must be accountable for the mediocrity we see most weeks.

I was going to write this earlier in the year but thought I would give you all another many chances – unfortunately that ended with Bill Harrigan’s video ref call the other night.

On that note, let’s scrap the video referee. It’s turned our great game into a farce. We slow down everything to a thousand frames per second, then go looking for separation and blades of grass and other minuscule, often meaningless crap that only super slow-mo will detect.

Topping things off, video refs seem to get just as many wrong as they get right.

Good luck this weekend, I hope for your sake you stay out of the news. We have eight wonderful games ahead of us just three weeks before the Finals and I don’t want to see any more refereeing exhibitions in season 2010.

TIPPING

Tips – Penrith, Broncos, Manly, Bulldogs, Melbourne, Dragons, Tigers, Roosters
Last Week – 4/8
Total – 93/168 (55%)

If you want to do any ref bashing, or defending, you can reach me through the comment section below, on twitter (@keyto316) or directly on email (andrew.keyte@gmail.com).

Hope your team plays well,
Keyto