About
Rather than continuing to moan from the couch, I decided to write a blog highlighting poor refereeing performances and dodgy calls. I guess refs are a pretty easy target so I’ll try to use some objectivity.
The issue with refereeing decisions is their ability to change the course of a game, to give it a direction that it might otherwise not have had, to provide an advantage to one team that they may not have deserved – to generally upset those of us watching with interest.
Where the decisions are wrong, the feeling of injustice is felt by all, especially the dedicated fans and paying audience.
The movie ‘Sliding Doors’ (staring John Hannah and Gweneth Paltrow) played out 2 alternate scenarios following a catalyst incident in the plot. The story switched back and forth to provide the audience with the 2 plot lines as they progressed.
With modern technology, it would be great to include a TV/Satellite remote function that split the screen at the point in play and showed how the game would have progressed had a referee’s call not been made.
Referees could be assessed on the impact that their bad calls had on the outcome of the game.
Bad calls are all too often overlooked when they occur early in matches. They are not deemed controversial unless a player is sent off.
Rather than moaning about the referee why don’t you try refereeing yourself. You are in no position to critique something you’ve never tried to do yourself.
Fair enough, and I have thought of taking at least the basic level refereeing course.
I’m not sure I agree with the premise tho – ‘You are in no position to critique something you’ve never tried to do yourself’.
Surely one doesn’t have to be an artist to critique a work of art.
Hey Maru,
Big fan of the site. I know your a NZ’er and all and your hate extends towards Dickinson. But don’t you agree that O’Brien’s criticism was out of order?
Thanks,
Chief
I think O’Brien was both out of order, out of character and somewhat out of mind!
Paddy almost never criticises referees so on that front it was a bit of ‘breath of fresh air’ but to go after Dickinson where 1-2 calls were potentially dodgy (more in a bit) after praising Bryce Lawrence for his shocker in the Lions v South Africa test where The Beast was cheating like hell all game was extreme double standards.
[I have a draft post on this and didn't realise it was still unpublished]
The All Black scrum is weak right now and referees in general seem to have little clue as to what is really going on, applying mathematical functions to work out who to penalise does not focus on the critical aspect as to who (if anyone) is to blame in a scrum.
In general, Kiwis love to hate Stu Dickinson but I reckon some of that was because we were more embarrassed about Paul Honiss who was way worse. Refs need real strength of character these days. They are getting advice from all quarters, much of which is neither objective nor correct.
New rules and new interpretations seem to come into the game on a regular basis and it seems to me that if games were ruled to the letter it would be a sad spectacle. This is what some referees do (or are trying to do). I think Matt Goddard is in this camp. He doesn’t go out there to ruin game, he’s trying to rule on everything he sees.
The good refs bring a lot of personality and strength to their games and it would be good to have some sort of insight into what they are thinking at different times (at this point, the rules say this … but I was more focused on that … hence my ruling ….).
I was in the USA when the (Baseball) World Series was on. There were 2 highly contentious (and incorrect) calls made by a base umpire. He fronted at the post-match press conference and gave his side of the story, what he saw and why he ruled the way he did.
Australian Rugby League is prepared to put refereeing under the microscope and they continually make improvements rather than just hang their refs out to dry. Rugby could learn a lot from what happens around the world but it seems much of this goes ignored. I say ‘seems’ because the public wouldn’t know.
In a world of always connected, always ‘on’, there is an opportunity to bring more personality out – to gain awareness (and maybe even respect) by being a little more human and telling us how things are worked out, which influences are most prominent, which refs are comedians, etc.
Dickinson’s time at the top is over as he missed out on a 6 nations appointment, Chris White as well has missed out on one. O’Brien’s comments were out of order, and the fact that he couldn’t actually remain consistent with the criticism of other referees clearly showed the rugby world that he is out of touch with his job.
One must question though Dickinson’s performance in the final British and Irish Lions game was probably in the top 3 international refereeing performances of the year. He has pretty much been dropped while Kaplan’s ordinary performance in Ireland and in England has still allowed him to secure 2 appointments in the 6 nations.
I like Kaplan and I think he’s a top referee. But it just stuns me that these things seem to go unpunished for him securing top appointments.
I respect Bryce Lawrence for giving it a go. But he’s not up to International standards in my opinion. I feel that he is on the panel simply because of his father, well it at least has something to do with it. The Schalk Burger eye gouge incident pretty much sums up that his mental ability is not up to the likes of Stu Dickinson and Wayne Barnes and JK who would straight up recommend a Red Card.
Steve Walsh being back provides a bit of fresh air to rugby viewers, as he could very well secure the RWC final if NZ in the odd chance don’t make it. Wayne Barnes, JK, Rolland and Steve Walsh seem to be at the top of the IRB referee panels.
I must compliment Matt Goddard’s service to the ELV’s. Team’s were using the free kick option far too many times and especially when potential tries could have been scored there was no reward for them. Matt Goddard went about ensuring quick and productive ball was ensured for both teams. Sadly both teams had been used to slowing the ball down so they didn’t adjust to Goddard’s refereeing. However I did not approve of Goddard’s comment of “Do not slow my ball down.” That was inappropriate. And I thought Lyndon Bray’s criticism of him was completely out of order, considering his game was consistent and fair. Which had not been the trend in the Super 14 for that year.
Goddard has now retired due to a injury. He will however be heard in the TMO box.
As for the World Cup it would seem that 10 referees will be chosen limited from 12 like previous years.
Chief.
I used to be a big fan of Steve Walsh (another son of a good referee father) – up until the great Canterbury v Wellington shocker of 2001.
In terms of the actions that saw him leave NZ, everyone should get a second chance and hopefully he now has a wealth of life-lessons to bring to his performances so good luck to him.
I like Kaplan and pretty much forgive him anything (rightly or wrongly, probably wrongly). I also like Rolland, I’ve watched him a lot in the past 6 months and think him fair, even and with the right character for the job.
Wayne Barnes is pretty good also.
I think the game in the Northern Hemisphere is in great shape and that is echoed in their refereeing (and law interpretations which seem to enhance continuity more than in the South).
Bryce Lawrence has certainly prospered because of his father’s position. There’s no way anyone should have gotten away with his performances in the South Africa v Lions series.
I struggle to give him much credit having known him for a decade and been on the wrong side of his school teacher approach (wanting to be liked, etc). That’s probably not fair any more but old habits …
That said, with Lyndon Bray, Kelvin Deaker and Steve Walsh all out of the picture in relatively quick succession, it left a gaping whole in refereeing talent in NZ. I’m hopeful that there are some good refs in the making among the new bunch (http://craprefs.com/2009/10/31/new-zealands-npc-refs-have-improved-over-the-season/).
I remain a fan of Walsh, at times he can struggle with a slight arrogance problem but generally I can only have positive things to say for him as his refereeing in Australia so far has been immaculate.
Lawrence is to nice, he tries to make friends on the rugby field when he is really a referee. Apologising to Phil Vickery, joking with the English players on the rugby field. It certainly can at times come across as unfair, especially in pressure zone situations. He struggles with the appointments he gets but he continues to get better ones. That’s what I must question.
I always thought Kelvin Deaker was one of the better refs. But it seems he was given the flick by the IRB. Australia lost about 4 good referees pretty much all at once (Scott Young, Cole, Marshall, Erickson). That happened about 3 years ago and now the ARU are really struggling with depth. As we now only have Dickinson and Walsh. But now have the likes of Pearce, Smith and Marks who are developing.
That’s good news about Steve Walsh.
I agree about Lawrence. I should also add that he’s an OK guy – just not that good a ref!
I am not as familiar with Australian refs, Scott Young and Cole as I am with the greats – Peter Marshall and Wayne Erickson (mustache!). Both had real personality and the players respected them.
I was always pleased to see Erickson in the middle when the All Blacks were playing.
Northern Hemisphere interpretations at that time had a tendency to come across as pedantic and not aligned to the spectacle of the game.
I saw Nathan Pierce referee the Bay of Plenty in this year’s NPC and quite liked him (http://craprefs.com/2009/09/18/npc-bop-v-tasman-bay-upset-again-by-tmo/). I just thought his interpretation of the breakdown contest was swayed a little more to the team in possession (similar to the Northern Hemisphere and not necessarily a bad thing) but he was consistent and fair-handed in often trying circumstances.
In fact the way the Northern Hemisphere adjudicates the breakdown contest could provide some hope to what in New Zealand is often a bit of a raffle.
As with Australia it is always 50/50 with the breakdown. I tend to notice Joubert when refereeing notices the 2nd infringement rather then the first which I have noticed with him a lot of times leads to the yellow card. I lost a lot of respect for him in the first Tri nations test where he was obviously guessing at scrum time. You knew this by penalising Al Baxter 4 times and not even yellow carding him which is compulsory generally if you have done that wrong at scrum time. It was a complete farce what happened, and what happened in Milan and it really highlights the inconsistencies of Paddy’s comments.
Cheers,
Chief
I couldn’t agree more about Joubert in the Tri-Nations. Baxter was not infringing.
Rod Kafer showed some genuine insights with his slow-motion analysis on the Australian Rugby TV Show (with Kearns, etc) following the match. He showed exactly what was going on on Baxter’s side of the scrum but fell short of bagging the ref. He just explained that Woodcock was getting the better of him, forcing him into some bad positions.
I think a similar thing happened in Milan – Tialata was getting outclassed by some impressive scrummaging by the Italians – and Dickinson got it right. Martin Castrogiovanni and co are world class and week in-week out deliver excellent scrummaging performances.
[The Beast is nowhere near as effective when he is forced to hit straight and stay straight]
I felt the Italians were harshly penalised at scrum time in the NZ-based match earlier in the year.
I can’t work out why – in the professional era – referees are not getting detailed analysis and advice from some of the best, most experienced props who are just out of the game.
When you’ve been in the front row for numerous years, you get a feel for what’s going on.
I struggle to see that as well. Referees in SA have a great education style, in fact they just employed a former SA prop to be one of their referee advisers. SA’s referee education is strong Jonker, Mark Lawrence and Kaplan who are 3 of the best refs in the world. Their is also Joubert but he has lost a lot of credibility due to his poor performances throughout the year. I think most of us can agree Joubert ended Al Baxter’s international career. Which is a very tough thing to say but his performance was nothing short of a joke. This sort of inconsistency is the main reason I feel Paddy should be walking away from his job.
Lawrence tends to get frustrated a lot which is his real weakness. He would have died if he was refereeing the ’07 RWC final when that Cueto no try was referred to Dickinson. You saw it in Tokyo when Peter Hynes scored in the corner. He told the TMO to have it cancelled and furthermore awarded the try, which I still am not sure if it was a try or not. Honestly not sure at all if he got it or not.
I do support the referees thoroughly I would like to point out. I referee myself, and have knowledge of the laws and all. I like most of the referees on the panel I just am bewildered by some of Paddy O’Brien’s decisions.