not surprising that the club sites didn't contain any criticism - Leeds have nowt to complain about as no contentious or even 50/50 decisions went against them and good luck to them and the Catalans like the other online reports and local rags decided not to lambast the ref - Robinson was still fuming at the decisions but didn't mention the ref in the Press Conference - had the result gone the other way then I think we would have heard the screams of Mr Child from faraway...

Robinson didn't disguise his relief at the victory which many locals were saying kept him in a job...

regarding the 'frog' comments, I suppose it depends on where you draw the line and that is purely subjective - calling a french person a 'frog' or 'froggie' would be insulting to some and humerous to others - me, I don't give a monkeys what Mr Child says on twitter , it just seems to sum up his mentality but more worryingly his pre conceived ideas about french people just before refereeing an important contest involving these people - interpret his comments how you wish but for me it speaks volumes...

Is it real? I'm not sure...

apparently, according to a very good source

Er, no, it's not! Would've been sacked ages ago!

Why? Do the RFL interfere with the free speech of the referees?

"That's how Nazi Germany started - they'll be burning books next."

don't bite !

he's just looking to stir things

just agree with him/her

Why are you picking on the anteater?

How did alibert not at least sin bin mason is beyond me 3-4 swinging arm/high tackles and throwing the ball at an oppo player, lot of decisions went against both teams don't think he favoured either one as the cas fan is suggesting on the uds board. Burgess' ball retention is abysmal in oz he will be shredded with that thought he would improve from last year but he seems to get abit worse and its usually in our own half

Free speech is not what you imply, as you well know. Free speech does not mean there are no consequences to whatever you say. The reason it is plainly not James Child is because if you follow the tweets in question then on occasions he comes out with inappropriate remarks which it is 100% certain a real SL ref would under no circumstances make. References to "frogs" when reffing in France being one of them.


Sanjunien? Give the lad a break, he couldn't pick my nose!

Free speech is not what you imply, as you well know. Free speech does not mean there are no consequences to whatever you say. The reason it is plainly not James Child is because if you follow the tweets in question then on occasions he comes out with inappropriate remarks which it is 100% certain a real SL ref would under no circumstances make. References to "frogs" when reffing in France being one of them.


Sanjunien? Give the lad a break, he couldn't pick my nose!

strange thing was - Mr Child WAS at the 'little market' next to the GB - I was at the ground to get my tickets - pure coincidence obviously ?
The fact he was with Dave, the match commissioner to boot is just another coincidence .....

i'm not worthy monsieur

Child had a twitter account a while ago but stopped posting due to the grief he got. So if it is real then not only has he created a new account (I'm still following th original one, I thnk), but also completely changed the tone of his posts.

But at least you are perceptive!

I know my place FA...


oh yes...

Sin bin for a grab at the head...what a ridiculous call!

Yep, doesn't come as surprise anymore. He's had no control all game, totally inconsistent and the one time he should have gone to the video ref he didn't bother.

1 sin-bin call that never was. 1 sin-bin call that should've been. Changed his mind on scrum feed and no use of screen re grounding.

And all in Wakey's favour.

Add that to the poor decision to use, then not use, the bin in our game and I'm feeling a little sore given the huge impact on the league table these decisions MAY have had.

I genuinely don't feel these guys are biased but I do think they are often extremely inconsistent and the price clubs pay is often far too great.

The sin bin was bizare however when wood was finally brought to ground by tackler after the tackle was complete another defender jumps on his own player who is on wood which was a proffesional foul so he should have binned that person. Reversing the scrum feed was correct our player clearly only goes to tackle the player and doesn't play at the ball the widnes player just throws it at him. Ref are allowed to reverse decisions if they are advised to by another official.

The crap passes, dropped balls, crap kicks, crap tackles, poor discipline, poor positioning are insignificant compared to one or two refereeing decisions that MAY have occurred.

I can never understand the stance that because the protagonists make mistakes it is justifiable for the conductor of the piece to also make mistakes. The players will quite rightly be admonished and by the coaching staff for their mistermeaners and faces the ultimate sanction of being dropped, whereas the referee or so it would seems can just carry on week after week making similar mistakes without any recourse.

Rubbish. Every player makes mistakes every week, most never get dropped as a result.

I think without want to be too presumptuous, we all but agree on this. I would not expect a referee to be dropped for making a few minor or even one or two major errors any more than I would a player that would be unrealistic not to say unfair. I would however expect this to be noted by the powers that be and no doubt it is and dealt with accordingly and as is the case with a player, kept in the dressing room.
If however a player keeps making similar mistakes or for that matter anyone in any business, they are “retrained” and whilst being retrained taken from the work face to concentrate on improving their performance i.e. dropped. This does not in my opinion appear to be the case with referees, which is again in my opinion very unusual.

I have no evidence but would be amazed if there wasn't weekly review of referee pperformance & regular training/retraining. There just isn't a pool of full time & good enough refs large enough to drop them regularly. The same with most squads; unless you are the Warrington of this world there is not much quality waiting for their chance on the bench.

I might be wrong, but Child strikes me as being from the SCummings school of refereeing. If he is not the centre of attention, then he will do something to make sure he is.