I am sure if the RFL can't find enough refs Lefty they will spread the games out through the week & make good use of what they have.

Tuesday night rugby

They will be foaming at the mouth on here

Preparing to double the amount of abuse I dish out.

This is only happening as quick as it is because the Convicts are still crying over the four nations. They want us to get two refs so they can move two refs into international games soon as. We should tell them to take their two refs and shove it right up their didgeridoo. Just like they do when we complain. Should have shown em two fingers and said bol@@ks to the tournament when that convict and his brother were allowed to take charge of our game. We put the Aussies on a plinth and go along with everything they say. We need to start jibbing them off.

To be fair it was clear for all to see in the four nations final that one ref was missing so much.

And despite the above post claiming its an Aussie conspiracy the thing bentham was missing most while trying to keep up with play was the Aussie late shots on the kiwi kicker.

I don't know whether two refs is a good thing or not as quite clearly the touch judges should have seen those late shots.

Maybe we should just improve the quality of those clowns first. .

The standard in Super League last year was not good enough and the introduction of a second ref can only improve things especially the speed at the ruck. Bentham was fortunate in that it was his turn last year as opposed to Silverwood (there are no others) in who gets the big games. The Aussies obviously watched some Wigan games he reffed and did their best to slow the game down in the final but fortunately the best team won. Would love to see the ref from the England Samoa game in Super League that game flowed.

Two refs hopefully gives each one less to do so they can therefore concentrate more on what they have to do.

It isn't an easy job and the RFL pay buttons so we can't expect the highest standards. A second ref can only help not sure how it will be funded hopefully by a cull of some of the useless administrators at Redhall and maybe a significant reduction in McNamaras salary.

Personally last year i thought Thaler was the best ref and Child the worst.

I am hopeful that the only losers in this new idea will be the sides that push the letter of the law at virtually every tackle. Those that rough up the opposition, hold down, attack unprotected legs and prevent quick play the balls will (in theory) find it a bit more difficult with the No1. referee right on top of them. He's also going to be closer to the player kicking the ball whose protection seems to be a bit neglected. The No2. ref. can count tackles, watch for off-sides etc.
The game should be better ... so let's give it a go!
pete

Last season there seemed to be a few new Refs about more so towards the end, maybe they were preparing and bulking up the numbers then.

I really don't like the Australian system and I know plenty over there who want rid. The presumption is always that anything in the NRL is automatically better than here, but I don't believe that is the case. They still have more than their fair share of absolute howlers and for me, every year international matches show that our officials are of a far greater calibre.

My understanding is that the system will be introduced next year in earnest, with some trial SL games. It will then be implemented in SL and the Championship from 2016 onwards.

The Aussies didn't complain about only the one ref last year when they won the World Cup.
All games in the comp had one neutral ref and not a word of complaint.
They are only whingeing because they lost.
The Kiwis didn't complain over one ref when they lost the WC, nor when they won the 4N.

Forget the idea, a complete waste of money!

We seems to have two issues on this thread. One is to do with some peoples hate of anything linked to Australian rugby and the other is the two ref. system. It doesn't help to merge the two. Forget the Aussies. Might it improve the quality of decision making to have one referee alongside the play the ball?

One referee was perfectly perfect (yes I did mean to say that) and acceptable during the world Cup and there were no qualms. One referee has been used for years and is not needed. Some people on here want the game speeding up to the point where it will be like watching tag rugby. Of course play is going to slow down. Of course players are going to wrestle on the floor for as long as possible. It helps set your defence. The problem is our SL refs are not consistent, in themselves or to each other. Two refs are not needed we've been fine with one for over a century.

Just because the Aussies are crying because they've realised they're an average team without their usual cronies in the team, they're forcing a two ref system on us. Tell em to shove off.

Maybe it's inevitable refs have struggled at times with the pace of the game, smiffy27 pointed out a lot of the difficulties they have to contend with, plus Coaches or assistants approaching the half time dressing room querying their decisions, all this is then channelled back to the RFL and referees committee they listen then feel the need for something to be done.

Maybe all the chants "you don't know what your doing" and "your not fit to referee" has tipped them over the edge.

There is a lot more money in the Aussie game. They can do without us but can we do without them? For some years now they have unilaterally changed the rules to which they play without any sanction from us because we have no influence over what they do. Ultimately I think they will get their way and it may be a good thing because nobody can put up refereeing standards in this country as the yardstick for imitation.
From what I saw the play the ball was much tidier when there was an Australian ref officiating and the players on all teams knew they could take liberties when Bentham was in charge. These guys and the coaches study the refs and look for any weakness they can exploit. Bentham bends over backwards to explain himself to the players which IMO encourages players disputing decisions and distracts his attention from what is going on. Give me an Eric Clay any day when all the players know who was running the game and dissent would be dealt with. After all he is refereeing a RL game not running a debating society.
Maybe with 2 refs more foul play, including late hits on the kicker, will be dealt with instead of the lottery of inconsistently just penalising the offence of the month as laid down by Mr Cummings and his "protocols"

it is nothing to do with the Aussies whingeing about losing last weekend.

This idea was trialled during the 2014 season in the Under 19s. Our game at Hull FC was the first one to try it and it worked very well. The refs that day were Phil Bentham and Matt Thomason.

One ref or two, i'm pretty sure the teams & coaches would soon get the message if the ref stamped his authority from the kick off & penalised any dissent with a further 10 yards . Maybe involving the touch judges more would help in the general flow of the game but ultimately the game can only be policed by a consensus involving referees ,players & coaches to decide what type of rugby will be served up to the paying customers who can then vote with their feet to show either their pleasure or lack of with respect to the state of the game.

Totally agree with the ref stamping his authority and penalising dissent but how can he do this and arrive at a consensus with the coaches? Is it not the players and coaches who are constantly pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with?
If they enforced the rules of the game consistently, including in finals, the coaches would soon get the message.

It's something that needs the RFL to be involved in by saying these are the rules ,stick to them or the ref will penalise you. How many times do we see rules at the start of a season that just seem to disappear or ,like the crossing rule that suddenly seemed to be implemented part way through last season then fizzled out again. The participants in the game govern what we see on the terraces ,so do they want us to see an open,flowing & entertaining spectacle or a wrestling match?What do we as an audience want to see from the terraces ,entertainment or wrestling ?

As long as the silly obstruction rule is binned I'll be fine.

I'm from Manchester and have a lot of football and boxing fan mates and there are a lot of rugby union clubs in Manchester. To my mates, when I talk about rugby, I have to remind them which code I like. I usually say "the faster, slicker version of rugby". To which I get "oh the six tackles one?" in reply.

Well, in recent years I think some of our games have been painful to watch because of all the slowing down of the ruck and my justification of our sport as the faster, slicker version was starting to get a bit of a lie.

If two refs can speed up the ruck and the game in general, I'm all for it!

As someone who plays God's own game. The idea of speeding the game up more than it already is terrifies me.

That would be quite difficult considering Stuart Cummings hasn't been employed by the RFL since April 2013.

Well since Alan Shortall is nowhere near a leading referee in the NRL, I will take this with a punch of salt. And anyway, the RFL have already said the 2 ref system does have it's merits, but they haven't decided yet and any implementation won't take place till after 2016.

At the moment, they don't have the pool of ref's to warrant a 2 ref system in Super League. You have the main SL refs like Thaler, Bentham, Hicks, Silverwood, Roby, Child......and then you have the refs on the fringes who have refereed SL games this season such as Stokes, Thomason, Leatherbarrow.

Down in the lower leagues you have referees with SL experience like Jamie Leahy and Gareth Hewer, but yet you have referees like Dave Merrick, Jamie Bloem, Joe Cobb, Peter Brooke who haven't refereed Super League. Merrick has been doing it for years. Will these guys allowed to be stepped up, or will the RFL bring over referees from Australia and fast track them over the guys that referee in the Championship and Championship 1?

How does it work in the NRL?

Is there a senior and a junior ref or are the duties shared during the course of the game?

On one hand, if it's the former, then it's a good idea as it allows good experience for young refs who can participate in a game without having to take all the pressure by themselves. But on the other hand I think the tackle will be scrutinised and the penalty count will go through the roof. Generally I find games with a low penalty count to be more open and even.