PeterH
Referees in England
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2004
- Messages
- 709
- Post Likes
- 0
From this week's Rolling Mail email...
The top 10 laws and bylaws that no referees bother with anymore
1. Put the ball in straight into the scrum: Forgotten. The ball is now fed diagonally towards the second row.
2. Throw the ball in straight to the line-out: No-one ever bothers. You just bung it down your own line-out. May as well throw it to your scrum-half and cut out the middle man.
3. Following up in front of the kicker: No-one spots this any more, the refereeing assistants remain mute. I have seen people five yards upfield being allowed to continue and smash the catcher.
4. Stay on your feet at the breakdown: Ok, don't. Lie around like a beached whale, and for goodness sake, don't roll away.
5. Crouch, touch, pause, engage: The sequence was meant to stop the horrible and dangerous crunch of props at the hit. Now, the touch is derisory, props stand back out of reach and the horrible smash has come back into the game.
6. Obstruction: How many times do you see bulky forwards standing in front of the ball and in front of the rear feet as their scrum-half prepares to dig the ball out. They are offside, they obstruct the defence, and no-one stops them.
7. Forward pass: Don't worry, the law is in abeyance. May as well stand upfield and get your mate to throw the ball to you.
8. No talking to the referee: No, not much. Just 80 minutes of continual bawling, arguing and questioning. Hardly anyone bothers to march them back 10 metres any more.
9. Rear feet offside: Gone. The offside line is now simply a basis for negotiation. People routinely race up from offside positions, no-one seems to care, and then we wonder what happened to back play and attacking rugby.
10. Assistant referees: They were meant to help out. Spot things. Like offside, maybe. Now, they are purely for decorative purposes, it seems.
Saddest thing is - at the lower and mid levels - 13-5
We get panned for missing these - at the top - he is right
But who's to blame - I doubt if the refs getting there have ignored them for years - its the protocols...
Comments?
The top 10 laws and bylaws that no referees bother with anymore
1. Put the ball in straight into the scrum: Forgotten. The ball is now fed diagonally towards the second row.
2. Throw the ball in straight to the line-out: No-one ever bothers. You just bung it down your own line-out. May as well throw it to your scrum-half and cut out the middle man.
3. Following up in front of the kicker: No-one spots this any more, the refereeing assistants remain mute. I have seen people five yards upfield being allowed to continue and smash the catcher.
4. Stay on your feet at the breakdown: Ok, don't. Lie around like a beached whale, and for goodness sake, don't roll away.
5. Crouch, touch, pause, engage: The sequence was meant to stop the horrible and dangerous crunch of props at the hit. Now, the touch is derisory, props stand back out of reach and the horrible smash has come back into the game.
6. Obstruction: How many times do you see bulky forwards standing in front of the ball and in front of the rear feet as their scrum-half prepares to dig the ball out. They are offside, they obstruct the defence, and no-one stops them.
7. Forward pass: Don't worry, the law is in abeyance. May as well stand upfield and get your mate to throw the ball to you.
8. No talking to the referee: No, not much. Just 80 minutes of continual bawling, arguing and questioning. Hardly anyone bothers to march them back 10 metres any more.
9. Rear feet offside: Gone. The offside line is now simply a basis for negotiation. People routinely race up from offside positions, no-one seems to care, and then we wonder what happened to back play and attacking rugby.
10. Assistant referees: They were meant to help out. Spot things. Like offside, maybe. Now, they are purely for decorative purposes, it seems.
Saddest thing is - at the lower and mid levels - 13-5
We get panned for missing these - at the top - he is right
But who's to blame - I doubt if the refs getting there have ignored them for years - its the protocols...
Comments?
Last edited: