To be clear, the reason why we lost at home to Workington was 100% nothing to do with the referee whatsoever. We played poorly, the team selection was wrong and Workington did the basics right and took their chances.

Yes they were a bit fortunate with the kick hitting the ref but that was a freak occurrence and unlikely to happen again.

Anyone freaking out because of a ref appointment sounds to me like Worky already have them beat mentally. Some of the replies on twitter to the ref announcement are an embarrassment.

Spot on Nothus.

Yep, everyone on here knew what was in store this year. Been my only bugbear with JK this year when he's been referencing how slow the play the ball is at this level. It's never going to change, we know what's coming and need to be ready for it and (should) have more than enough talent to be dealing with it so just get on with it, play to their ability and it'll sort itself out.

p.s. I'd take Mr Griffiths in charge than a certain Mr Ganson any day

Well said Nothus.
I heard that many people after the home defeat to them, saying how rubbish the ref was and he was the reason why we lost.
I told everybody that said to me that yes, the red was poor but he wasn’t as poor as we were that day.

Play somewhere like we can, like Sunday, and we should be fine. That’s not over confident at all, just stating a fact

Well said that man.

Nothus also

I reckon Nobby called it right years ago when Bulls Fans perceived wrong calls and bias with Refs during a run of games which looked to us as costing the Team games.
He just said "the Team have to be better than they were". He was right with that pragmatic statement.

At the end of the day the day the Team has to be better than the opposition and the Officials!

It's the close loss games that usually emphasise the Officials errors be it a perceived wrong call, missed infraction or misinterpretation.
The losing Team usually had the chances to win but mistakes cost them without any of the Officials being involved!

But as a Fan its easier to criticise any other but your own Team and that won't change either!

Those of you who have or had the chance to see any of the old Big League videos will realise that Refs are far better than they were!

My annoyance is based on the fact this is supposed to be a final. Sending an inexperienced ref may be a pat on the head for him but for me it's the RFL telling Worky and us that, though it's an important game for us, they couldn't really give a toss about it.

You won't see him in the GF will you?

He is a super league ref. He literally reffed a super league game last week.

..but he's no Hicks is he? There are top drawer refs sat on their hands this weekend which could, though admittedly not much I suppose, have added to the pomp of the occasion.

How can anyone say the RFL are not taking it serious. We've got in goal judges this week !!!

By all accounts he was way out of his depth. We've been in the championship/L1 now for 4 years and i don't remember too many games he has refereed us in them four years, if any. So i'm not sure if he's being fast-tracked.

I agree with you that it's down to us, the ref certainly isn't biased, or like some idiot said on social media, because he's refereed Worky already this season, then they have some sort of advantage



My grievance is i want to watch a good fair game, like we saw Sunday, a referee in control and any BS like throwing the ball away, he sends them to the sin-bin. I don't want to watch a repeat of the Mcmullern farce, high shot after high shot not being punished. I don't expect Ben Thaler, but one of the less experienced SL refs would have been fine or even a more experienced championship ref.

Anyway, i was glad to see the clever so-and-so who runs Worky's social media account get called out. Yet again he was trying to paint the Bulls in a bad light by looking for idiot fans comments and retweeting them on the official club account. Got called out on it by some media and has since taken them down. If my clubs official account ever starts retweeting angry opposition fans silly tweets, we've officially become small time.

Yeaaaah!! We're in the big time now. Jesus, we'll get a mention on Look North next... well, assuming there's no big netball match in Sheffiield, that is.

If there is a big netball match in Sheffield let’s hope it’s on Saturday, shouldn’t they be doing the dinner on Sunday

This isn't a pop at the ref for the weekend, but there are going to be referees fast tracked a lot quicker now than ever before. With the RFL following the NRL and wanting too onfield referees it will force them to fast track more referees. There are barely enough to go around now. I see refs from the conference getting games at Champ/League 1 level that weren't ready for our level let alone pro game.

Also it is what the RFL will expect from them too. I saw a tweet from a regular conference referee who has officiated in th epro game too this year called Michael Mannifield. Saying he is supposed to be a part time official yet was taking control of his 80th game of the year. That for me shows the lack of officials there are available so it is to be hoped the RFL have a plan. Surely they will??? .......

There is a huge shortage of referees and as a result some are being fast tracked too soon. But if they didn't the game wouldn't run. Whilst I get as frustrated as anyone with a ref who loses control of games, I do have sympathy with them as its not their fault they are being put in an impossible situation.

Its a wider game issue though. I've just done the TLM course and part of that role is to protect the younger referees for those who have them.

My sons junior side played over at Cas Lock Lane a few weeks back and they were obviously trying to introduce/help a young ref (can't have been much older than 14yrs) get more game experience. Only issue is that he reffed the under 9's like a SL game (no leeway was given, he called everything... knock ons, forward passes, offside). As a result the young un's got completely disheartened and the parents got frustrated and vocal at the young ref. He now has everyone against him and unless he has very thick skin he'll end up being another lost to the game.

I have no sympathy for those referees who get stick for trotting off the field grinning like a Cheshire cat, loving the attention (Mr "I want to be as orange as David Dickinson" for example), but we have unrealistic expectations on the others who are simply trying to give something to a game which they obviously love too.

How many unforced mistakes have our first team made each game? Probably more than the ref has made I'd suggest.

Perhaps if the RFl are fast tracking more and more referees there is a shortfall in the budget and that is why WE are having to pay them.

Bang on the money mate, and totally agree they need to move on. We had a young referee called Liam Rush I think his name was at Dudley Hill a couple of months back. He had to have been only 16/17 and he handled the game fantastically. Got the respect of the players early doors and was extremely confident in what he did. Can see him being pushed on shortly.

I always thought theyre were some referees at conference level who should have been doing pro/semi pro games more than they did. Maybe by choice they didn't

I think the refs are getting revenge on us for all the hammer their predecessors got when they had the dreaded walk up the hill to the changing rooms. Especially for Ronnie Moore (I think) who got a full lot of poo on him from the police horse escorting him!!!
They never forget!

That's a blast from the past. I was telling my grandson what used to happen and he couldn't believe it.

Pretty sure it's been mens' netball when they've featured it so (donning my tin hat) should be no bother about dinner being ready. I'm not bothered about other sports getting amention, by the way, it just that RL is probably the second biggest sport in Yorkshire and seems to get a raw deal from the Beeb. I think the last time we got a mention was when we last went bust.

The NRL commentators are critical of the pocket referee system - it was noticable in the World Cup when they kept banging on about how you don't need two refs on the field. Actually, there's another point there. The RFL just seem to copy whatever the NRL do these days - 7 tackle sets and pocket referees are two recent examples of that.

Absolutely true not only do they follow but often its a few years after too. SHould international rules stay at one referee it makes the whole thing a joke.

Got to admit though I do like the 7 tackle set rule

Will somebody offer me an explanation of what a pocket referee is, and how a 7 tackle set work's?

Is it not just a free tackle like we have ?

The pocket ref tends to ref the ruck, whilst the lead ref controls the game.

A seven tackle set happens when the ball is kicked dead or caught in goal. The tap on the 20 is 'Free' and the tackle count starts after that.