The poor standard of refereeing is ruining the game and turning people away. I am not one of those people who thinks that they favour certain teams but they are so inconsistent it infuriates spectators. A pass is deemed forward and then a few minutes later an identical one is ok. A player is penalised for holding down the a few minutes later someone is held down twice as long and it goes unpunished. One minute it's a ball steal then an identical situation is a loose carry. Also some players seem to have an influence on referees. Wilkin last night was constantly in the referees ear and got away with loads of foul play because of his standing in the game. Sinfield is another prime example, only sent off once in his career but how much does he get away with due to him having captained England. Something needs to be done

This

Whatever people think of the other game, one thing is for sure, their referees' show far more consistency with their decisions' and do not tolerate gobby players or allow dissent to creep into a game, perhaps our FT referees' could take a leaf out of their book, maybe if they stopped being so familiar by calling them by their first names the contempt the players now show to the ref might disappear.

Sinfield might talk to the referee but that doesn't mean he's being disrespectful. His language, tone of voice and body language when talking to the refs doesn't indicate any form of disrespect. Unlike others like Wilkin or Brough.

The ref in the Catalan game gives a penalty to allow Salford to draw (for Escare playing on after being held in the tackle), when it should have gone back to a Catalan play the ball.
The world is going mad

Nah he got that right.

Escare knew (or should've done) that he was tackled, it was obvious. The "allowing him to go back and play the ball" thing is for when there is ambiguity and the player could be reasonably expected to not know he'd been tackled (eg if a tackler bounces off) or is waiting/hasnt heard a held call.

The only ones to get anything wrong there are Morgan Escare and Stuart Cummings.

Disagree

The cant call it back sometimes and not others, it should have gone back to the ptb.

Its happened twice this weekend where a ref has given a penalty after saying tackled and they try to play on. Tbf griffins kick for the first try was over and they didnt give it

The law has been changed for passes and also people moving forward after held called. It goes back to the ptb and the penalty was wrong.

Yes they can. And they should. There was no earthly reason why Escare should do anything except play the ball. He'd been tackled. Thoroughly and completely. He had the tackler lying on his legs whilst he was laid on the ground. He then decided to ignore the rules and carry on playing. A rush of blood but still a penalty. Just like the Salford try disallowed for a double movement or the penalty against Cuthbertson for passing off the floor in the Hull v Leeds game.

Players shouldn't get to break the rules and just get to have another go.

Not in this case it hasn't. Those are to do with when the ref is calling held and the player either doesn't hear or his pass/offload is simultaneous with the call. As evidenced by Cuthbertson being penalised for passing off the floor in the Hull v Leeds game.

Escare was tackled. Just like the Salford player who conceded a penalty for a double movement. They both needed to get up and play the ball.

I think I might have said this a few times.......these blokes who are officiating would never or have been any form of any elite athlete. They are just the blokes who were the last to be picked when it came to picking sides.
This game is played at an electrifying speed that in all honesty we can't imagine. Lots of us have of course played team sports but this level is really far beyond our comprehension.
Just watching Hicks run is funny enough - feet splayed, waddling gait and miles off the the slowest player on the pitch, but apart from that these referees need the same visual awareness, instinctive decision making and acute peripheral vision that the players have got - and thats it they aint got it.
The RFL MUST make some sort of effort to develop and encourage former professionals or young lads who haven't quite made the grade to think about taking the whistle up - blokes who have played and understand the game....and who are not intimidated by tough hard men and these refs clearly are.

Bentham made the wrong decision according to the interpretation of the rules so will he get a written warning for gross misconduct for not knowing his job as you would in any other industry none of them are any better than when they were part time when if they dropped. Changers the poor old teams in the lower divisions would get them for a few weeks till they had learnt their lesson

I don't think we have enough of them to do that , we would run out of refs for SL

i watched the game had it on silent as i was doing something but i saw the escare incident and me not knowing the ins and outs of every specific rule i can not see how anyone can say it wasnt a penalty he was tackled with a man on his legs he got up and ran off after a tackle without playing the ball its common sense he cant do that the ref got it spot on so why he should be disciplined is madness id have gave penalty 101 times out of 100

Sounds like the ref is having a mare at the Batley game too

The decision in the Catalan game was appauling. Usually they just make them play it again why was this different it was bizarre. Inconsistency by the refs is ruining our great game; the refs need to be stronger aswell in regards how they are spoken to. Thaler is about the best but he is again v inconsistent.

FFS - THEY DONT JUST MAKE THEM PLAY IT AGAIN!!! It's been explained umpteen times why he was penalised. What's the matter with you???

because he likes to be the centre of attention 101 times out 100 id have given a penalty its common sense as i said god knows what escare was thinking complete and utter brain fart he had

But that creates ambiguity doesn't it - who can accurately judge if a player has heard the 'held' call or not?

Bren, I normally think your posts are pretty sensible but on this thread......?
The ref normally only calls held if the ball carrier is just stopped or doesn't go fully on to the ground. I happen to think refs often call held far too soon ie. Whist the runner is still making progress or could, possibly, get the ball away but that's a different matter altogether. It's not up to the ref to tell a player who has clearly been tackled that he's been tackled. It's up to the player to know it, get up and play the ball. I know it can be fraught. I was reffing once when a player was tackled, his ball carrying arm touched the ground, and he flicked the ball up to a colleague in a very skillful manner. I penalised him. He called me a bent . I sent him off!

And in other referee news Tim Roby is off to the NRL. Yep you read that right!

Perhaps the issue of refs deciding games is an indication of a closer super league, as the scores have to be close for the referee to be the difference. There are some positives.

No sign of #AskTheRef this week on twitter, are they afraid to answer this week's questions?

[urlhttps://twitter.com/RFLReferees[/url

The ref's being in the spotlight is not just about the closeness of the games, it's more to do with the spectre of the middle 8, which has put pressure on all parties:, teams, coaches, players, refs etc.

I suppose this is exactly what our governing body/Sky wanted, when we moved to the new structure.
If it were just the bottom club to be relegated, then perhaps the spotlight wouldn't be quite so bright but, with the bottom 4 dropping into the "raffle", there is substantial added pressure.
Also, the top clubs cant afford too many reversals, as they will then miss out on the play offs.

4 games in and the excitement is unbearable