Why do people give a shiit what Phil Clarke thinks?

Because sadly we cant turn him or the rest of the Muppet show off like you can with the football

Just mute the twaat or laugh and pity him.

Nowt wrong with Phil Clarke.

yes hes a fully impartial commentator



I dont mind him, his bias is quite funny, and at least he's guenuinely passionate about the game

No problems with Phil Clarke. However, I'd rather we ditch Stevo, 'Tez and Baz', as all those three do is prolong a stereotype RL should have squashed years ago.

How are people measuring Clarke's bias because it all seems like you're projecting your own personal prejudices onto him.

ok, a few years ago in a game, i think it was wakey v cas, he came out with the classic

"Wigan can still win this!"

Mainly because he talks from the opposition's (whoever plays Saints) perspective as if he is part of their set up or working for their TV station. It's like when an English commentator is watching England play a team overseas, they talk about the game from an English point of view for the full 80 minutes and what they can do to beat say the Aussies or Kiwis.

Clarke became a fan of our brand of Rugby during our golden years and Wigan's lowly years, I always respected him for that. But he actually turned against us just before Wigan's resurgence in truth - must have been bored of us and wanted a change in guard. In recent years our games against Warrington (in which he became a huge fan of Warrington's brand of rugby and talked completely from a Wire point of view) and in the Grand Finals versus Leeds, (where he did not disguise which side he was pinning his hopes on, and again willed them on) he seemed to develop a disdain for us. In the last season or two, he is not even trying to sound impartial, imo that is unprofessional.

Against Hull it was as if Saints were the team to be knocked down and he was talking on behalf of the nation's hopes that Hull would win. The posters here have been thrown off by the penalty decision saying he was right to disagree with the refs call - which he was, but if you listen to the full 80 he was speaking as a Hull fan for the day.

That's as maybe, but in the first round of SL, Clarke was the only one to back us to win the Grand Final this season. So I think he still has a sneaky little love for us. He's just bashful about showing it.

To be fair. I have heard Phil Clarke wax lyrical about us many a times, even when playing Wigan

And last night the correct decision was given, when Sam Tomkins caught the ball with his foot on the line. Head and feed to England.

Q.E.D.

Except he didn't catch the ball.

What's that got to do with anything?
Sam was out of play just like Whiting was when he touched the Ball.
Head and Feed to defending team.

and another biased bit of summarising from Clarky - not in the Saints game but in the highlights of the goons v cas game. He basically waxed lyrical about wigan and there players then as they were showing the cas tries he just started blathering excuses for wigan about players missing ....

He also encouraged the players to trap the opponents arm in order to gain a penalty (wonder who he's been watching), this was of course, when Bradford had possession.

you can take the boy out of Wigan.......

Did you hear when he said 'it's all been down this end of the field' (when it showed Wigan scoring)? Don't think he realised it was showing the trys and to score, it had to be down that end of the field.

lol Yep, I was just astounded at his blatant bias. Cas's tried looked every bit as well worked as Wigans but he seemed intent on giving them no credit, funny he made excuses for the Goons but was going out of his way in the Saints game to dispel Eddie's (admittedly annoying constant ramble) view Saints players backing up would struggle a bit.

Between the 2005 to 2007 seasons he was a big saints fan, then he suddenly realised Saints were dominating the superleague on a par with the Wigoons in the late 80's early 90's. Is only the last 3 seasons he has shown bias against us.

I think the Cas highlights proved its not just against us. The guy is just cherry and white through and through and it shows

Whilst he said during commentry of the Saints game

With 2 forwards on the bench who have played soo,i have no sympathy with saints about players backing up after the exiles game

Thanks Phil

Yeah, I heard that too. Ha! Damn cheek.

Amazing , Clarky manages to bring Wigan into the 'stats' breakdown for a Saints v Dire game .. lol

I'd love to know why it matters that Wigan dont offload the ball much

It could be something about making a comparison between the top of the league and the champions and the Saints.