Deliberate knock on, penalty?

[Ciaran Trainor]

Just back from local RL game and was stood watching with an RL ref friend of mine.
Deliberate knock on occurs from a pass, no attempt to catch the ball, ref gives scrum.
I say in my game (RU) that's a penalty and everyone knows that.
He says yes I know, it is in RL but it is never given!
Is that true?

 

[Andrew1974]

Nope... knock on is a scrum in RL, whether deliberate or accidental.

Also, you also have to 'play the ball' for it to be a knock on. If the ball plays you is is play on, even if it goes forward.

 

[leaguerefaus]

[LAWS]Section 10:
1. A player shall be penalised if he deliberately knocks on or passes forward.[/LAWS]

It's certainly in the rule book but we don't use it for knocking down passes. Never even heard it discussed tbh!

 

[4eyesbetter]

Deliberate knock on occurs from a pass, no attempt to catch the ball

This is one of those irregular verbs. I have made an over-optimistic attempt to intercept a pass. He has deliberately knocked on. They have just conceded a penalty try...

I do think Union, or at least some people who post on here, can be far too harsh on players who go for intercepts; I've got tiny hands and I can catch a ball one-handed. On the other hand, deliberately knocking on is far less useful a tactic for a League defender because even though he's not going to get penalised, he's still given the attackers a fresh set of six.

Penalty for deliberate knock-on is still in the laws, but anyone who actually tried to give one in Skirlaugh or Millom would get laughed off the pitch.

 

[Ciaran Trainor]

Thanks for that confirmation. Would love to see that given in a league game.
I wonder if anyone would be brave enough to give a penalty.

 

[leaguerefaus]

Thanks for that confirmation. Would love to see that given in a league game.
I wonder if anyone would be brave enough to give a penalty.

I don't think it would be a "brave" decision, I think it would be a ludicrous one, against the precedent which has been set for 100 years of the game.

I notice there seem to be a few referees on this forum who decide their reading of the law is different to the interpretation used almost universally and as such use that on the weekends. I don't think this is something which should be applauded. As referees we should strive towards consistency, not refereeing a law differently to 99% of other referees. The game is for the players, not for us.

 

[SimonSmith]

Except...

That's how things like feeding at scrums becomes insidious and accepted

 

[4eyesbetter]

It's a fair point, but not really applicable here. We lose nothing through not using that law. I've literally never seen a situation where I've gone "you know, that really should have been a penalty for a deliberate knock-on".