brian mac has been fined for his comments made after the catalans game regarding the penalty counts etc www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/n ... l-comments freedom of speech eh? the truth clearly must have hit a raw nerve i guess

brian mac has been fined for his comments made after the catalans game regarding the penalty counts etc www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/n ... l-comments freedom of speech eh? the truth clearly must have hit a raw nerve i guess

Hardly surprising.

in more detail here www.therhinos.co.uk/news/20218.php#.UW0tp6LwlfY

in more detail here www.therhinos.co.uk/news/20218.php#.UW0tp6LwlfY

I didn't hear where he critisized the ref in that interview. In fact he was quite specific, as he was in the media before the game, that his complaint was about how consistently Catalans are awarded the penalty count. There was no mention of Thaler in his interview.

I would challenge it if I was him.

couldn't agree more gotcha and like i said the truth obviously hurt,although they have now again brought the matter back out into the open and whereby future catalans home games will be under close scrutiny,i wonder if this pattern of the dragons winning penalty counts will suddenly stop?

I think those rules are reasonably clear, and I think he breached them.

I like Brian Mac, but I dodn't think that was one of his better moments. There are channels for discussing refereeing, and I don't like coaches doing it in the media. Not very professional, and not very dignified. I generally find Brian Mac's media appearances contain plenty of both professionalism and dignity (no idea what he does with the rest of his life, I don't see it) and I was a bit disappointed when I read that.

No objection to the fine.

Citing "freedom of speech" is utter bilge and over-sensationalism. We have free speech in this country. He will face no criminal action for this. Professional bodies and other organisations in all sectors have operational rules regarding conduct with the press and so forth.

Agred. I though Brian was just about guarded enough. Didn't he pose questions rather than make statements?

It's not like he out and out called the ref an offensive name like Nathan Brown did at the weekend.

This explains the ridiculously heavy-handed punishment that Bailey received after the Cats game.

The RFL were obviously PO'd with Mac's post match comments.

More to do with flexing their muscles over the newly-outlawed shoulder charge I suspect. First really obvious example of it in a televised game. Excessive, but not, perhaps, surprising.

He could be duplicating the sir Alex ferguson theme of all the world and officialdom is unjustly against us. Thus creating a siege mentality .

The fact remains that being a super league referee is one of the most protected jobs in modern society.

If i had a job where i was completely unaccountable for my actions and, more over, people were fined for daring to raise a question over my performance, I'd be laughing.

Not surprised once again the RFL have responded to FACTS getting mentioned in the public domain by fining Mc because their officials are shown to be inconsistent AGAIN.
I think it's time the CEO's ,Coaches and the RFL with their Officials got round the table and had this out it's ridiculous it changes every week and still inept performance holds no repurcussions whatsoever.
Form the Officials side of things i honestly hope Ganson can have a positive impact but from the Disciplinary side fo things it needs sorting asap it's a real black spot within our game imo.

That getting round a table, behind closed doors, would be an appropriate response.

Digs in news conferences, however veiled (just using 'facts' is all very well, but if you infer the meaning strongly enough I don't think it gets you off the hook) are not (in my opinion) appropriate.

If McDermott is right and Catalans always win the penalty count, surely the officials are being anything BUT inconsistent.....

Which truth hurt?

I wasn't aware McDermott had backed up his statement/opinion about Catalan's home penalty counts with actual substantiated data. He'd also need to provide data on other SL teams home penalty counts just for comparative purposes.

So where is this data?

Read the link. He doesn't have to criticise the ref, he can also be charged for criticising the manner in which the game was reffed. Which he did IMO.

Although the description on some media outlets (is it in the offical RFL release?) as "abuse of an official" is a bit strong...

Does the fact that a team is particularly good at playing within the rules and not giving up penalties really indicate some kind of refereeing problem?

Poor form from McDermott imo, I'm sure he's more than welcome to discuss any concerns he has with the rfl behind closed doors.

Thats quite right, even the amateur leagues have the opportunity to submit a referees performance rating, in confidence, its not for public airing.

That's clearly not the point though in our game alone it was blatant the 2 teams were reffed differently in terms of clearing the ptb and offsides etc.
I've no problem whatsoever with how we get penalised but i do expect to receive the same calls to go our way it's not asking for preferential treatment or blaming the ref for our own indiscipline just a request for both teams to be reffed the same way.
Also the Disciplinary panels review system was even more at fault following the game and those who made those calls or not in the Catalans case deserve sacking.

all lost on the clubs laptop that was stolen

apart from 2 or 3 i felt thaler was pretty good. leeds discipline was appalling. no complaints from me

i personally interpreted the comments that mac made was more to do with the fact that he had concerns as to why catalans consistently won the penalty count in their home games and for the past 2 seasons,i didn't believe he was solely responding to that particular game in isolation

if his facts back his statement up then that would be an alarming coincidence that they were more squeaky clean on each home game than their opponents and over a 2 year period too

maybe so but the fact is leeds discipline after that game improved massively. maybe he learnt a thing or two..........

But in the amateur leagues the coaches do not have a journalist stick a mic under the coaches nose and demand an interview immediately post match.

McDermotts interview was actually good viewing as these things go, whether we agree or not. If I were a coach I would answer every question Bill Arthur posed with "I cannot give an opinion for fear of sanction". How long would Sky put up with that? If there is going to be a post match interview I want to know what the coaches really think, not the usual sound bites and cliches, McDermott's post match interview was the only time in years I've seen that.

And I repeat IMO he was guarded enough that he didn't criticise the referee in the crass way Nathan Brown did at the weekend.