From tvnz.co.nz
By Dale Budge
Referee Russell Smith butchered the Warriors round five clash with Manly on Sunday and that sort of thing is becoming a far too frequent occurrence.
The standard of refereeing in the NRL has fallen away in recent seasons and it is something that the game needs to address in a hurry.
Don't get me wrong here; the Warriors lost this match fair and square after a poor first half that ended a two-game winning run. A 20-0 halftime deficit was always far too higher mountain to climb and instead of showing us that they are the real deal in 2006, they continued to drag us along much like they did last season.
In this game you make your own luck and the Warriors had little to none of that this weekend. Last week against Newcastle they got the rub of the green - Andrew Johns pulling out of the match just one example but on Sunday that all seemed to go with the Sea Eagles.
The Warriors simply didn't look desperate enough, or aware of things and certainly didn't adapt as quickly as Manly did.
But one thing that should never come down to luck is refereeing decisions but sadly that is now becoming a constant each weekend - that the referee is going to be a variable.
So this Turn It Up edition is written for all referees or prospective ones thinking about getting into the sport.
Smith's decision-making on Sunday was a lottery and he confused players from both sides with bizarre decisions and a ridiculous penalty count that saw him blow his whistle 25 times for a penalty in an 80 minute game.
That equates to a penalty every three minutes and 12 seconds.
Well knock me down and call me stupid but that sounds like a giant snorefest if ever I heard one.
Who in their right mind would be a in a hurry to rush for tickets for the next game the bloke controls?
The sad thing is that he isn't even the worst referee in the field. Shayne Hayne is barely up to school boy standards, Jason Robinson looks like a possum staring into some headlights while controlling matches and even Steve Clark has had his moments.
The sport lost a lot when Bill Harrigan hung up his whistle.
For starters it lost its pin-up boy that attracted people to the profession and it also lost its best official by a country mile.
For some reason referees across the board in sport seem to think that everything is about them. Please take note that no-one comes along to watch you blow your whistle. So don't blow your whistle at every opportunity, don't seek your 15 minutes in the spotlight, don't look for every obscure rule in the book because you feel like proving how well you have swatted to get where you are.
Consider this. If we don't talk about you after the match - you have done a good job.
Yeah, I could sound like some upstart little swine that thinks it is easy to sit on the sidelines or in front of my television and tell you how bad you are without having experienced what it is like first hand.
Well after years of being criticised for trying to 'referee' footy matches that I played in, I took the advice of officialdom and became a referee - albeit in that other oval ball code.
I sat exams and went to meetings with other refs and discussed what made a good referee.
The end result confirmed what I already thought I knew - the job was pretty easy.
Keep things simple. Be fair to be both sides and don't guess and no-one will complain.
In this day and age, referees have it sweet. They reap the benefits of our sports being professional yet they are protected from criticism by a blanket held by the authorities. I could count on one hand how many times referee boss Robert Finch has criticised one if his men for how they controlled a match over the last few seasons.
Every week you here him defend the refs but now I say it is time to be tough on them.
Let's allow them to be criticised, let's make them accountable for their performances and I am sure that the end product will improve.
By Dale Budge
Referee Russell Smith butchered the Warriors round five clash with Manly on Sunday and that sort of thing is becoming a far too frequent occurrence.
The standard of refereeing in the NRL has fallen away in recent seasons and it is something that the game needs to address in a hurry.
Don't get me wrong here; the Warriors lost this match fair and square after a poor first half that ended a two-game winning run. A 20-0 halftime deficit was always far too higher mountain to climb and instead of showing us that they are the real deal in 2006, they continued to drag us along much like they did last season.
In this game you make your own luck and the Warriors had little to none of that this weekend. Last week against Newcastle they got the rub of the green - Andrew Johns pulling out of the match just one example but on Sunday that all seemed to go with the Sea Eagles.
The Warriors simply didn't look desperate enough, or aware of things and certainly didn't adapt as quickly as Manly did.
But one thing that should never come down to luck is refereeing decisions but sadly that is now becoming a constant each weekend - that the referee is going to be a variable.
So this Turn It Up edition is written for all referees or prospective ones thinking about getting into the sport.
Smith's decision-making on Sunday was a lottery and he confused players from both sides with bizarre decisions and a ridiculous penalty count that saw him blow his whistle 25 times for a penalty in an 80 minute game.
That equates to a penalty every three minutes and 12 seconds.
Well knock me down and call me stupid but that sounds like a giant snorefest if ever I heard one.
Who in their right mind would be a in a hurry to rush for tickets for the next game the bloke controls?
The sad thing is that he isn't even the worst referee in the field. Shayne Hayne is barely up to school boy standards, Jason Robinson looks like a possum staring into some headlights while controlling matches and even Steve Clark has had his moments.
The sport lost a lot when Bill Harrigan hung up his whistle.
For starters it lost its pin-up boy that attracted people to the profession and it also lost its best official by a country mile.
For some reason referees across the board in sport seem to think that everything is about them. Please take note that no-one comes along to watch you blow your whistle. So don't blow your whistle at every opportunity, don't seek your 15 minutes in the spotlight, don't look for every obscure rule in the book because you feel like proving how well you have swatted to get where you are.
Consider this. If we don't talk about you after the match - you have done a good job.
Yeah, I could sound like some upstart little swine that thinks it is easy to sit on the sidelines or in front of my television and tell you how bad you are without having experienced what it is like first hand.
Well after years of being criticised for trying to 'referee' footy matches that I played in, I took the advice of officialdom and became a referee - albeit in that other oval ball code.
I sat exams and went to meetings with other refs and discussed what made a good referee.
The end result confirmed what I already thought I knew - the job was pretty easy.
Keep things simple. Be fair to be both sides and don't guess and no-one will complain.
In this day and age, referees have it sweet. They reap the benefits of our sports being professional yet they are protected from criticism by a blanket held by the authorities. I could count on one hand how many times referee boss Robert Finch has criticised one if his men for how they controlled a match over the last few seasons.
Every week you here him defend the refs but now I say it is time to be tough on them.
Let's allow them to be criticised, let's make them accountable for their performances and I am sure that the end product will improve.
