The 'downtown' rule

[The better Robbo]

Maybe because it has never been enforced in the last 20 years or so.

If I knew it and some of my mates knew it you'd expect Bennett and others to know it. They introduced it around 2010 I believe and was a big crack down on it at the time. Thought it was common knowledge.

 

[40 years an eagle]

If I knew it and some of my mates knew it you'd expect Bennett and others to know it. They introduced it around 2010 I believe and was a big crack down on it at the time. Thought it was common knowledge.

All the talk I have seen says it was introduced in the '90's.

Can you recall ever seeing it enforced?

 

[cc eagle]

All the talk I have seen says it was introduced in the '90's.

Can you recall ever seeing it enforced?

Well maybe it doesn't occur very often and if it does the player downtown doesn't get involved in the next play

 

[wedgetail eagle]

80’s, 90’s?
I remember Petula Clarke singing about this rule in 1965.

 

[MadMarcus]

Yeah it probably happens every game but never called. I can recall seeing It only a few times before so is a very rare ruling and would usually require a video ref or an extremely switched on touching to pick it up.

I’d agree that you’d generally be extremely switched on if you’re going downtown

 

[The better Robbo]

All the talk I have seen says it was introduced in the '90's.

Can you recall ever seeing it enforced?

I have seen it enforced but not on many occasions. Im Pretty sure Hayne and Slater helped create this added ruling to the existing downtown rule. I'm confident in saying it wasn't the 90s

 

[The better Robbo]

• Feb 25, 2010

Meanwhile, the form of NRL superstars Jarryd Hayne and Billy Slater is behind the move to devise a new ''downtown'' rule, designed to give every fullback more room from kick returns.
Referees boss Robert Finch yesterday made no secret of the fact that the success of the leading fullbacks in the competition last season - and the resultant tactics by coaches to counteract them - prompted the crackdown on opposition players being offside when chasing kicks.
Under the new rule, players who stray in front of the play-the-ball before the ball has passed over their heads from a kick will be called offside by the referees, and penalised if they continue to advance. Finch admitted the purpose of the rule change was to give the likes of Parramatta's Hayne, Melbourne's Slater and the Cowboys' Matt Bowen more time than they have had before to take kicks from general play - not attacking chips, bombs or grubbers.
''If you give them an inch, they'll take a mile,'' Finch said, referring to the players who head ''downtown''. ''If they stop and don't continue to run, we're comfortable with that, but when the kick goes, those fullbacks and wingers should get the space that they deserve.''
Finch believes some coaches have identified the impact of dynamic fullbacks running from the back, and have attempted to nullify them through the tactic.

 

[47MVEagle]

Wouldn't it just be simpler to rule that any player in front of the kicker is offside in every situation?

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Not specifically about downtown, but ...
Virtually every game I see some kick chasers who are offside yet charging at the defender who is waiting under a bomb. Unless he drops the ball and a try is scored they are never penalised! Despite adding to the pressure on the catcher.

Another thing which I've noticed is attackers chasing their team's bomb, and taking out the catcher by leaping into him while waving their arms about and looking skyward. Its a stretch to say they are making a genuine play at the ball to knock it back to their own side, and at times they are just crashing into the catcher and making it impossible for them to cleanly catch the bomb. But get away with it.
Not quite sure how to solve that one, I suppose it comes down to the ref deciding whether they are genuinely going for the ball, very subjective decision.

 

[cc eagle]

Wouldn't it just be simpler to rule that any player in front of the kicker is offside in every situation?

They are, and must keep 10mts away from the receiver, but the downtown player cant get involved in the play at all, as he's had a head start getting there so the receiver has very little room to move except for the 10mts, if you look at Nicholls who started all this talk, by the time the ball passes him from the kick he's about 7/8mts in front of the last play the ball position, Cam Murray was also called offside as he was in front of the kicker, but he was 12mts behind Nicholls the downtown player, all explained by The b Robbo post.

 

[The Who]

I don't have an issue with the rule. My issue is why the Bunker decided this was the time to invoke it.
From now on they will be expected to intervene every time a Downtowner gets involved in the play. Let's see if that happens.
You see, the Bunker is "manned" by a human; different humans for different matches. Just like on-field referees. So you will always have inconsistency, which gives a lie to the original reason for the Bunker of getting decisions 100% correct. That can never happen, so why bother with this expensive toy?

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Not quite sure why this is such a hoo-ha. Pretty sure I saw someone penalised for downtown earlier this year, no idea what game though.

 

[cc eagle]

I don't have an issue with the rule. My issue is why the Bunker decided this was the time to invoke it.
From now on they will be expected to intervene every time a Downtowner gets involved in the play. Let's see if that happens.
You see, the Bunker is "manned" by a human; different humans for different matches. Just like on-field referees. So you will always have inconsistency, which gives a lie to the original reason for the Bunker of getting decisions 100% correct. That can never happen, so why bother with this expensive toy?

I previously posted, it was the touchie who called it, he can be heard calling Nicholls downtown and Murray offside

 

[47MVEagle]

So "downtown" (Nicholls) means the player is in front of the last ruck before the ball is kicked past him & "offside" (Murray) simply means the player is in front of the kicker?

 

[cc eagle]

So "downtown" (Nicholls) means the player is in front of the last ruck before the ball is kicked past him & "offside" (Murray) simply means the player is in front of the kicker?

Yep, the player Nicholls is in front of the point of the last play the ball before the kicked ball passes him