i dont think that any of the ref's in RL are good as such, but i think thierry alibert is not biased in any way, i just think he is bad. no disrespect to him, we speak often and he is a gentlman. I think that Ben Thaler is decent ref and he too is a very nice man who always has time to chat. If you dont understand a decision he made during the match, ask him and he will tell you what he saw and why the decision was made.
The one thing that I dont get is why Ganson is allowed to ref st's when he clearly supports them... otherwise he wouldn't have been on there committee.
I understand that being a ref must be a tough job due to the pase of the game, the angles they see some things and the fact that the touch judges cant keep up with the play not to mention 17000 people shouting at you!
Do you think we would be better doing what the aussies do and have 2 ref's on the field??

Please please please do the necessary Mc_F.

in the last incident in Sunday's match Alibert didn't have a clue what had happened and also didn't know what to do

Seconded. The TJ showed far more composure and control - he acted perfectly. Not sure about his view that Richards was taken out late.

Alibert said that he thought Donalds tackle was legal and then changed his mind after speaking to the TJ. He must have seen the challenge to have an opinion on it in the first place yet, from where the penalty was given, it's clear he changed his mind when speaking to the TJ. He should never do this unless he was unsighted for the incident. The Super League is not the place for Mr Alibert I'm afraid.

Alibert is a complete tool. Always said he doesn't know the rules clearly and Sunday proved it. He didn't have a clue what to do.

I liked the part where the 'rookie' National League ref (who was touch judging on Sunday) said to Alibert, come lets go over here. It was the touch judge who took control of the situation and was telling Alibert what to do. He reminds me of Manwell out of faulty towers

Alibert changed his mind after speaking to the video ref. He was going to give a scrum but the touch judge said 'i thought it was late but it's up to you' so he then asked Mr Bentham who called it as a late tackle.

I thought it was a comedy of errors. Penalty should have been given for Maguire taking out Carmont. I thought Donald knew what he was doing but made sure he was committed. When the ref then gave a penalty for the Donald one he should have then given it where the ball bounced. A complete balls up.

Ball bounced out of touch, but I agree comedy of errors. Its the pinnacle of the SL season with just 4 games played, if thats the 4th best referee in the country then god help rugby league.

Ah yes Mr Bentham who, IIRC, never once watched the incident at full speed! What a great way to decide whether a challenge was late or not!

One word to describe Halibut...........homer!

im not saying Alibert is a good ref btw!!

A gay Frenchman?

No wonder the Cas fans dont like him!

Ball bounced infield then into touch but not the point as you had stated.

So because we have Catalans in SL we have to endure the token French referee at the same time???

Can't remember which play-off game it was over the weekend but there were 3 refs on duty, 2 of which were running the line.
And yet the highest profile game of the weekend (in my opinion anyway) and we don't even get one upto the job!

A thread title like this , six and a half hours , and Mr Gledhill ain't posted .
Has he gone on holiday ?

That was the Hull derby (biggest Hull derby for 25 years apparently, what game around '85 were the Sky commentary team referencing?) where Robert Hicks and James Child were the 'merry flag wavers'.

Ganson's continued absence is a problem. Ian Smith is the most logical video referee we have (I'd have appointed him for all 9 play-off games from a consistency point of view if nothing else) and that leaves Alibert as one of the four most experienced referee's available. On debut I thought he did an OK job overall although that view is informed by the favourable result.

It's highly unlikely he'll get another play-off game this season.

Given Leeds' form over the last few weeks I think the RFL were probably expecting it to be less of a game than it was.

I think the problem was Alibert didn't want to risk another millenium magic, so he had to listen to the touch judge and the video ref. Had one team being winning by 50 points or if the incident had happened in the middle of the first half he would probably have stuck to his original decision.

If you're going to referee at any6 level, you need to have the courage to make a decision and stick to it.

Having made his decision, based on his interpretation of the Donald challenge at full speed, Alibert then took the cowards way out.

Alternatively his English is that bad then when Bentham told him "penalty to Wigan on the 40 metre line" he simply went to the wrong one.

You suggesting Bentham meant penalty for the McGuire incident not for the late tackle? You could have a point!

Problem with Alibert is that none off the other officials seem to respect him. He is often "told" what to do by the TJs whereas Ganson on tge other hand tells them where to go. He's not totally inept. He's just weak and has a major problem comunicating.

TVOC the 1985 game that Sky may have been referring to was possibly the HKR-Hull John Player Trophy Final at Boothferry Park - the one Hull qualified for with their semi-final defeat of Leeds at the same venue with Eric Grothe freezing his nuts off.

Yes I guess so. I just couldn't be bothered having a look for myself, so thanks.

It wound me up a bit last weekend the number of times Sky made the comment without qualifying it.

It was a cold afternoon at Boothferry Park (snow on the ground) and Neil Hunt sporting a corker of a black eye.

Thats exactly what I thought!
I actually think the standard of reffing in SL is dire and this is an area that stops the game getting stronger, we are going to find it impossible to 'go to the next level' internationally if SL can't get enough competant refs, IMO Uncle Albert is not fit to ref the NL never mind SL
NJ