That's how I remember Holdsworth...I thought he was a decent ref, plus he didn't mind getting in the middle of "set too"

got right in the middle of Boyd and Hanley in Millwakee as well

[Then Billy Thompson cheated, quite why or how I have no idea but never ever have I seen something like that on a sporting field since.

The story I heard at the time was that Hull were considering starting another team, called Hull White Star ( I think) and that Thompson was lined up to be a director of the new club (allegedly)

.

Thompson became a life member of Hull FC.
I vaguely remember the Hull White Star team too.
About the same time as Kent Invicta started up? ?

Quote ="BOBBIE_IS_SUPERMAN"I think you will find.. That this..... www.wire2wolves.com/wolfbites.ph ... se_level=2 IS the day we were robbed '" It is the memory of this; the day before my 8th birthday, stood on my crate to see over the wall at the Fletcher End, that will always have Wigan as our biggest rival in my mind. It is my memory of this that made last year's Grand Final that much harder to swallow.

Quote ="BOBBIE_IS_SUPERMAN"I think you will find.. That this..... www.wire2wolves.com/wolfbites.ph ... se_level=2 IS the day we were robbed '" It is the memory of this; the day before my 8th birthday, stood on my crate to see over the wall at the Fletcher End, that will always have Wigan as our biggest rival in my mind. It is my memory of this that made last year's Grand Final that much harder to swallow.

Terrible decision by Russell Smith, I'm still not over that 20 years on!

I disbelieve that referees are biased in the modern era, but that day we were straight up robbed.

I would NEVER kick the dog.

When I saw the title of this thread I immediately thought of Billy Thompson and that cup game with Hull.
I have seen some atrocious decisions over the years, including the one by Russell Smith against Wigan. Many of them could, at a stretch, be interpreted as bad judgement, but Billy Thompson that night was patently dishonest.
I do not know any other referee whose decision making has affected the result to such an extent. He should have worn a mask. An absolute disgrace.

The Wigan one I remember being in the Fletch and at the final hooter just been stood in shock for a few moments thinking WTF happened there.

As for Ref David Campbell he was ref once for Priestley v Widnes college and lost control of it.

I remember my cousin playing for Leigh Town team once, he scored 4 tries, all chalked off. All of them completely legit, the last one the most blatant bit of cheating ever.

1st one foot in touch, the TJ didn't put his flag up but the ref saw it
2nd and 3rd one foot dead in goal which was nonsense as he was nowhere near.
4th one, 40 metres out from the try line, broke the line, side stepped the fullback went under the sticks.
Ref said he failed to ground it correctly, cousin threw the ball at him called him a cheat, sent off.

....was Billy Thompson that ref too?!!

No idea but Mickey Higham was in that team too, he might remember.

It wasnt BT then.

remember both hull and wigan games..the bob eccles no try if my memory serves me correct,wasnt he put thru by dave chisnall or a forward rounded the full back only for thopson to bring him back,and ronnie duane to miss the kick..im sure the phil ford try came from a ken kelly kick which hit a hull player so played everyone on side but not to that clown..the russell smith one was also a disgrace,just typical of the decisions wigan got and still do do only on a lesser scale..imagine if silverpud was around in those days wed be relegated

I met Billy Thompson a few times and he once told me about a Wembley final he refereed...He visited both team's dressing rooms and declared *Listen lads, nobody's ever been sent of here before but Billy Thompson's never been here before*....An hour later he sent Syd Hynes off.

semi final of cc v Oldham (if I remember correctly) - forward pass that took us to Wembley in the early 90's.
Oldham were robbed.

Talking about yourself in the third person is a trait of narcissism, people who talk about themselves in the third person are also people I have the least amount of time for.

Fez if you refer to the try Thomas scored in the corner late on it was never a forward pass.

I was there and I'm sure it wasn't Mark Thomas.
I thought Steve Malloy put a pass out that Bob Jackson took out wide right of the sticks ??

It was Mark Thomas to Mark Forster in the corner.

Thomas lived on and dined out on that pass for the next 12 months.

I lived on and dined on my clouded memories of that day for nearly 25 years!
I can still see Bob Jackson scoring in my mind....

I wonder, was that in the Lancashire cup final v Oldham then?

#confused

1st post so excuse errors!! worst refereeing display was "Bob Connell against Bradford _I think it was 1st round of the cup. We had 3 sin bins that day, when 1 player returned he sent another one there!!Radio Manchester has a discussion with Cummings and I think Connelly retired at the end of the mseason

Welcome Spacks Grandad.

Yeah, the Challenge Cup in 2003, that was. I think he binned Briers and Nat Wood (cant remember the third player), very typical of the early to mid 2000's when Bradford were refs favourites and we were often paired with big teams in early rounds, put on TV, and subsequently knocked out. Made for a good TV game but ultimately the team that the RFL wanted to progress did

What doesn't hold up with your reasoning is that the BBC choose the game that they want to televise not the RFL.

That was when they brought the rule in for chucking the ba away to slow the game down, we played 50 minutes with 12 men because of it and it barely gets thougt about anymore.

That still narks me to this day how we got hammered over that