Think it should be, 'The Coach's fear of the referees'.



The way the players speak to and treat the ref is very important, the refs don't go out there to mess up, and if this put people off watching then they're pathetic. The problem is not having 2 refs, simple. Even then it won't be perfect, as nothing ever is. Most players play to the ref and push the boundaries as much as they can. Honesty from the players is unfortunately rare.

The Leeds youngsters I believe? This has always been one of my irritants. How can James Child and Tim Roby for example referee Super League games when they are touch judges? You never see Richard Silverwood or Phil Bentham etc. running the line.

You don't think there is maybe some cross-over of skills??

No. The touch judges contribute absolutely nothing to our game. I don't think it's coincidental that Child and Roby are the worst two referees we have got.

Oh. OK then.

Oh shut up, you tart.

The coaches fear of the referees?



The coaches don't fear the referee's........they just fear the repercussions for speaking out against incompetency.



The referees are just too protected, and are never held accountable for their actions/mistakes. Coaches should be allowed to say what they want to say about a referee's performance, and if the ref's feel that they did a good job, they should have the balls to come out on live television and confirm that they feel they did a good job.



But because they don't, they won't and they are never held accountable for their actions, then nothing will be done.

Head. Nail. HIT.

No, I disagree. Refs should NOT have to earn respect, simple as that. You can't have that situation. It's dishonest cheating players that are the problem. There needs to be 2 refs, that will help, but still mistakes will be made, as they're human. Look at the DRS in crikeet ffs!

It's not a question of earning respect, it's a question of making them accountable for their errors. You can respect a referee, whilst at the same time questioning a decision. The way the RFL see it though, you question the decision of the referee, you question his integrity.



So for instance, you could come out and say "referee didn't have a good game, made a pretty poor decision and unfortunately it had a bearing on the result". Nowhere in that statement are you questioning the referees integrity, just on the decision made and the impact and outcome it had on the match in hand.



However, if you come out and say "yeah, this referee was very biased, gave everything to the other team, he was absolutely shocking" THEN you are questioning their integrity. Has any coach ever come out and said that though?



But coaches can't even question a decision without apparently bringing the game into disrepute, yet when referee's balls up like Ganson did in the magic weekend, he gets a rap on the knuckles, given a week or two off on full pay, and then come back. Did he get fined? Did he get demoted?



You should be able to come out and say "yeah, I respect the hell out of the referee, he does a tough job, but he messed up that call" without fear of the mini Hitlers at Red Hall charging through like the Light Brigade to protect the referees.



The RL referees don't need protecting. They can hold their own, moreso than their football counterparts.







So I'm assuming that in order to eradicate this "problem", you want to use 2 referees as you state below?







There is not enough quality to go around in Super League to get 14 referees in.







Completely different. The umpires in cricket make a call, and if the players don't agree, they can review using the DRS. If the referee makes a balls up in RL, the players can't go to the screen to check it out, they have to take the decision of the referee on the chin. The only correlation between the two is the amount of stupid decisions made recently by the TV umpire in cricket and the video referee in RL.

Indeed. Sandercock put it best on Friday.

'No comment. But you saw it, I saw it, Everyone saw it' and that was as far as he dare go!

Coaches can say what they like about referees.

There are rightful restrictions about where they say it.