From what I've seen he's a terrible ref and seems in constant doubt/hesitance about decisions e.g. even apparantly changing his mind on occassion.

There's been a lot of criticism of Thierry Alibert from the weekend for "missing" a man being tackled when he was off the ground. As usual the bleating Sky commentators went on about this for much longer than it deserved.
For me Alibert ruins every game he refs but this incident didn't contribute to that feeling.
In fact I think his decision was right! As far as I am aware the rule on this only applies to a DEFENDING player. As this tackle was on an attacking player trying to catch the ball it was legal.

Why would you think it legal to tackle someone who doesn't have the ball?


The rulebook is freely available as an on-line PDF.

From the notes in the rules...

1. (b) It is illegal to tackle an opposing player attempting to field a kick whilst the player is in mid-air. The catcher must have returned to the ground before being tackled. (See Section 15.).

Good call, agree with that.

Looks too much like Jasper Carott to be taken seriously

He's exactly the problem with Refs in Super league and I'm sure RL in general. He gets credit for spotting minor things we as spectators don't and then misses the most obvious call in the world. The Fox tackle in the air was exactly the kind of thing referees should NEVER miss. You can cloud the issue with touch judges if you like but surely everyone realises they are deformed zombies who wander up and down the touch line incapable of any other movement. Once or twice a season they wander onto the pitch to disallow a Quins try but apart from that they don't do anything.

In any case if the ref is watching the play he sees the player being tackled in the air from anywhere in the stadium. You don't need a touch judges call just because they're within a few feet. A tackle in the air is a tackle in the air and, unlike any indiscretion at the ruck or such like, should be bloody obvious!

I think it would be fair to say that he should get the final, I know he wont because hes dire. But really in fairness to both teams, hes neutral as he is french, his team are not in the final, so why not give it to a neutral ref for no biased view.

I hear the finals going to Ganson though.

Good selective choice there. This note goes on to say "Applies only when a player on the non-kicking team catches the ball on the full."

Its a shame that it was decided to bury the "tackle in the air" topic in with the general whinging about Alibert.
The main point of this post is that most of us don't know the rules of our own game. Particularly in this case, Sky TV had a current Super League coach, a former World Cup Winner and a former England and Great Britain captain in the commentary box and they all called this wrong.

The debate was already on this thread. Along with quotes from rules etc.

That is something that p*sses me off, if the attacking player is still going forward, the ref shouts 'held', well he quite clearly isnt.

umm......no they didn't. It's never been legal to tackle a man without the ball. Should have been an English penalty.

I think you need to start on Page 1 of the rules and try reading them at least once. When you understand that tackling a player [ibefore[/i he has the ball is not allowed, then you may get the point. "In the air" had fsck all to do with it, for the rather blindingly obvious reason that the ball hadn't arrived yet! The guy was simply tackled without the ball, and that is the pen that should have been given.

Possibly you could link to the part of the rules where it says that a player can be tackled before he receives the ball? Since that was what actually happened, regardless of whether Fox was in the air or not.

No it doesn't. You just made that up.

The difference in the flow of the game between Saturday and yesterday's Wales-Scotland game with Shayne Hayne in charge was noticeable. Much quicker to get the tacklers moving off the tackled player.

He did indeed - the Rules as published on the RFL site contain no such wording.

Unclear, where was it faster?

Right..so...can you tackle in the air or not?

Quote ="Dico"Right..so...can you tackle in the air or not? '" The earlier quote from the rules is correct as per Section 11, page 23 of... www.therfl.co.uk/clientdocs/rugb ... 2007_%20(2).pdf It is illegal to tackle a player in the air fielding a kick before he has 'returned to the ground'.

Quote ="Dico"Right..so...can you tackle in the air or not? '" The earlier quote from the rules is correct as per Section 11, page 23 of... www.therfl.co.uk/clientdocs/rugb ... 2007_%20(2).pdf It is illegal to tackle a player in the air fielding a kick before he has 'returned to the ground'.

www.smh.com.au/news/lhqnews/brit ... 26165.html Maybe he'd have preferred Alibert to do it?

www.smh.com.au/news/lhqnews/brit ... 26165.html Maybe he'd have preferred Alibert to do it?

having met him a really nice guy.sadly he struggles in SL let alone a top international.simply not good enough

Those are greater games than the Australian test match he's already refereed?