Naturally we are biased in favour of our players rather than the referee and his assistants - however - there are times where it is difficult to understand why a series of decisions are made.

As I recollect, in the middle of a match part-way through last season Kevin Sinfield had to ask the referee why Leeds were being penalised and then asked what was different that we did compared to the opposition - who were not being penalised. The same point was made by Brian McClennan in a couple of post-match interviews.

Incidentally, I thought that it was JJB who "knocked on" the ball in mid-air. A ball that came from a player in front of him and was caught by a player behind him - how can this be??

In the same match Brent Web "scored" and then had it disallowed for a very dubious offside call - the same situation being seen in many matches and never penalised - except for that one.

great article by jamie peacock in RL world where he seems to suggest there is nothing wrong with the refs, just the man in charge of them

Looking through the stats section of RLFans, I came across statistics for referees. Alibert took charge of 7 Leeds games (and the same for Quins) over the past season and a bit, whereas Wigan only had him twice. The same goes for other referees but as the stats are given for a referee's entire SL career, it would take a bit more working out to see which sides they referee the most per season.

Do any of the resident boffins know what is taken into account when deciding upon the referee for a particular game as it is evidently not done at random?

That doesn't actually mention a teammate though.

Andy, I think the rules can be a little unclear because of the situation of a player being 'out-of-play' at the ptb (as Webb was), can come back into play if the opinion of the ref the advantage of them being out of play was lost - "A player who is out of play may again take part in the game when the advantage gained by not retiring has been lost." If you take this statement out of the rules, it would be clear cut, but with it, it is the ref's or video ref's judgement that counts.

Now, in the case of Webb he did gain an advantage (in my eyes and the video refs) at being in an offside position at the ptb and the rules clearly state that Players who are out of play at a play-the-ball do not get automatically put onside - "Players who are out of play at a play-the-ball (Section 11)... are not
put “on side” in the manner described in para 3 above" with of course the para 3 reading as follows -

Placed onside
3. An off side player is placed onside if:
(a) an opponent moves ten metres or more with the
ball.
(b) an opponent touches the ball without retaining it.
(c) one of his own team in possession of the ball
runs in front of him.
(d) one of his own team kicks or knocks the ball
forward and takes up a position in front of him in
the field of play.
(e) he retires behind the point where the ball was last
touched by one of his own team.

So the video ref did get this correct in my opinion, but you have to acknowledge that this particular incident was maybe not as clear cut in the rules as you are arguing.

If I didnt criticise the players when they made mstakes then I could see the argument about not criticising the referees

If a leeds player bombs a try then I would shout in the heat of the moment about what an idiot he was
I do the same with the referees when they make mistakes

both have chosen a career that is in the public eye and are supposedly the best at what they do and both are paid wages from the income the spectators generate, therefore criticism must be expected along the same lines

given that rugby league has progressed so far becasue its aim is to please the crowds then why shouldnt the RFL know if fans feel a part of the game is not up to what it should be