Lord Eagleton
Bencher
The NRL, specifically the people who run it, are a JOKE.
We all saw the ridiculous refereeing standard in the grand final and also throughout the entire year. Can you name any other big sporting competition in the world where games turn into such a lottery? English Premier League Soccer, US Major League Baseball, NBA Basketball, even Super 15 rugby does not have such inconsistent, personal agenda-driven refereeing standards.
Certainly all of the above sports (except Super 15) have less subjective, less technical rules so one could understand why there is no major refereeing dramas in their games - the correct decisions are mostly made and the worthy winner usually always wins. But with the NRL, the winner is determined by personal viewpoints of the idiot in the middle with the whistle.
Rugby league used to snigger at how convoluted and temperamental the refereeing was in rugby union. How times have changed. Now union is fairer than it used to be, refereeing standards have levelled out a lot and you dont see games decided by the individual with the whistle as much anymore. Yes, their rucks and mauls are subjective, but generally both teams usually get penalised just as much as the other team if they are infringing there. The standard has improved a lot.
In the NRL the games are decided by how the referee is feeling on that day or his personal history with that team, as we saw in the grand final (personal agenda).
The Commission need to do something about how easily a referee can be swayed into advantaging one team, whilst disadvantaging the other. It is unacceptable that games are decided (let alone the game's pinnacle) by these emotional variables of one human being. The fans and people who gamble money on the games deserve better.
I am still staggered that a grand final was so adversely influenced by such an incompetent cheating wanker with a whistle. This is peoples livliehoods we are talking about here. Basic fairness should be mandatory. It should not be allowed to happen and the NRL are to blame.
We all saw the ridiculous refereeing standard in the grand final and also throughout the entire year. Can you name any other big sporting competition in the world where games turn into such a lottery? English Premier League Soccer, US Major League Baseball, NBA Basketball, even Super 15 rugby does not have such inconsistent, personal agenda-driven refereeing standards.
Certainly all of the above sports (except Super 15) have less subjective, less technical rules so one could understand why there is no major refereeing dramas in their games - the correct decisions are mostly made and the worthy winner usually always wins. But with the NRL, the winner is determined by personal viewpoints of the idiot in the middle with the whistle.
Rugby league used to snigger at how convoluted and temperamental the refereeing was in rugby union. How times have changed. Now union is fairer than it used to be, refereeing standards have levelled out a lot and you dont see games decided by the individual with the whistle as much anymore. Yes, their rucks and mauls are subjective, but generally both teams usually get penalised just as much as the other team if they are infringing there. The standard has improved a lot.
In the NRL the games are decided by how the referee is feeling on that day or his personal history with that team, as we saw in the grand final (personal agenda).
The Commission need to do something about how easily a referee can be swayed into advantaging one team, whilst disadvantaging the other. It is unacceptable that games are decided (let alone the game's pinnacle) by these emotional variables of one human being. The fans and people who gamble money on the games deserve better.
I am still staggered that a grand final was so adversely influenced by such an incompetent cheating wanker with a whistle. This is peoples livliehoods we are talking about here. Basic fairness should be mandatory. It should not be allowed to happen and the NRL are to blame.