Biased Home Town Match Officials

[rsea]

It's hard to believe they do it on purpose BUT I've lost count of the number of games I've seen where momentum has turned on a string of dubious decisions. Rarely are they blatantly wrong calls, generally they're refs being pedantic about things that you'd never normally be called on or giving 50/50s to the opposition. It's damned frustrating and I'm sure I'm not imagining it.

 

[JimboJoe1006]

For the most part the standard of referring is very high, and the Reds game was no different. Over the course of a single match these errors almost always equates to an advantage of 0, let alone over a season. The truth is refs always, let the rest of us, make little mistakes, you only notice it when you lose though!

 

[ACT Crusader]

It's been a while since I've seen a thread starter shot down like this.

Plus everyone knows hometown refs was only an issue in the Republic a few decades ago...

 

[Slash]

I'm sick to death of seeing home town refs gifting wins in Super 15.
I'm endeavouring to get enough concerned Rugby fans together to send a coherent message to SANZAR.

I predicted that the Reds had no chance against the Hurricanes with 4 Match Officials being Kiwis in Wellington. I will continiue to make that prediction everytime I see the same situation and I'll be right about 95% of the time. It's that bad and I can't believe OZ rugby fans just roll over and take it!

Anyhow, if enough OZ fans can get up the gander and stop putting up with this garbage we can make an effective plea to SANZAR.

I have a great respect for the way Ewen McKenzie has transformed the Reds, and am somewhat biased for the Reds, however there was no doubt whatsoever that the final penalty was justified. Shepherdson was only about 6 metres off side!

 

[WESTCOMBE RANGER]

If you had asked should neutral refs be used to avoid ridiculous call by fans accusing refs of cheating then yes.

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Absolutely spot on Whatty. Why oh Why does it happen in Super 15. I suspect people would soon object if the RWC hosting country were to supply all the refs, so why let in happen in Super 15

 

[PaarlBok]

It's been a while since I've seen a thread starter shot down like this.

Plus everyone knows hometown refs was only an issue in the Republic a few decades ago...

Strange coming from you, NZ and Aus actually drop us badly these days, seem they dont have the structures anymore to produce refs and we get stuck with the NH refs when playing the others.

 

[Raugeee]

ok, if you want to make something of this, do the home work.

Go back and do the analysis. Find the games that had officials all from one country and then just come up with the win ratios. Home team v away team.

That'd be a good start. Thing bring back with actual numbers before you try to start eliciting the support of what is a pretty sensible and knowledgeable rugby supporter base.

Thanks everybody for your feedback. It was about 50/50. I suppose there's plenty of people out there who would say the Emperor's clothes are on!

I'll take RugbyReg's advice and compile some stats. To all those who think the subject boring or embarassing the answer is simple. Don't click on to the thread.

 

[Raugeee]

.
Absolutely spot on Whatty. Why oh Why does it happen in Super 15. I suspect people would soon object if the RWC hosting country were to supply all the refs, so why let in happen in Super 15

Good call Ranger. How would all the smug people react with home refs in Tests?

 

[Raugeee]

You are obsessed.

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Thak you Ali's Choice. I am obsessed. Obsessed with the notion of helping rectify this farcical situation. It's not only for OZ teams in NZ but alson NZ teams in NZ.

Remember this from last year ? http://www.3news.co.nz/Crusaders-lo...versy/tabid/415/articleID/154790/Default.aspx , Included is a picture of St Richie giving it to Marius Jonker ......what a whinger and an embarassment to the rest of his country eh?

Those of you without short memories will see the value in neutral refs for Super 15.

 

[Scarfman]

I don't have any specific gripes, but I don't like non-neutral refs either. I think it puts more pressure on refs which is unhelpful for their performance.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Did anyone notice that not one Aussie ref controlled a match over the weekend?

 

[cyclopath]

My problem with this thread is the implication that non-neutral refs are, by definition, biased.
Complaining about ref decisions is all well and good, they make mistakes, and it is fair for them to be highlighted. They are human. Drawing the conclusion that they are biased is a very long bow, and I personally think you are way off the mark with this campaign, if you want to call it that.
If a ref is good, I have no problem with them reffing my team, regardless of where they originate.
In principle, neutral refs might be a good idea to eliminate this type of talk, if nothing else, but there are just not the reffing resources of sufficient quality to get that.
Now, consistently poor quality refs getting RWC gigs, that is a problem...

 

[Brumby Jack]

A bit off topic, but did anyone see Digby Ioane's tweet on Saturday night during the reds v. Hurricanes match? I think it went something like 'worst ref ever'.

I would expect a visit to a judicial commissioner is on the cards to explain himself, as it is very similar to Matt Giteau's incident with Steve Walsh last year.

 

[Toby Lerone]

Did anyone notice that not one Aussie ref controlled a match over the weekend?

Steve Walsh was due to referee the Stormers-Sharks match (before he got injured), but even so the number of Australian referee's on the merit and reserve panels are substantially lower than those from NZ and South Africa.

Being from the UK I'm not sure about the structure of Australian rugby, but we don't see any domestic action here, whereas we get the ITM and Currie Cups from the other SANZAR countries.

I see where some of you are coming from with wanting neutral referees, however there simply aren't enough high-quality Australian referee's to cover the matches they would need to.

Perhaps a sensible alternative would be to continue with merit referees, but referee's could ref matches involving teams from their own country but not at home. For example, the Sharks vs Brumbies this weekend could be refereed by an Australian or New Zealander but not a South African.

 

[Scarfman]

My problem with this thread is the implication that non-neutral refs are, by definition, biased.
Complaining about ref decisions is all well and good, they make mistakes, and it is fair for them to be highlighted. They are human. Drawing the conclusion that they are biased is a very long bow, and I personally think you are way off the mark with this campaign, if you want to call it that.

I don't see why it's a long bow. Why do you think neutral refs were introduced in the first place? There's a long history of home town decisions which had to be countered with something. You might take the position that TV scrutiny + professionalism = no more bias in refs. But that would be the proposition to be tested, not the null hypothesis, if you follow me.

 

[Slim 293]

A bit off topic, but did anyone see Digby Ioane's tweet on Saturday night during the reds v. Hurricanes match? I think it went something like 'worst ref ever'.

I would expect a visit to a judicial commissioner is on the cards to explain himself, as it is very similar to Matt Giteau's incident with Steve Walsh last year.

If he avoids a fine I'll be gobsmacked...

 

[cyclopath]

Scarfy, I think neutral refs were introduced to reduce the perception of bias, which is a completely different thing from actual bias. Home town teams tend to win more often than not in most sports. Unless they are totally shit.

 

[Groucho]

Thanks everybody for your feedback. It was about 50/50. I suppose there's plenty of people out there who would say the Emperor's clothes are on!

I'll take RugbyReg's advice and compile some stats. To all those who think the subject boring or embarassing the answer is simple. Don't click on to the thread.

It wasn't 50/50 in this thread.

 

[Scarfman]

Sorry cyclo, I disagree. I think the history of rugby is filled with actual bias. And at grassroots level I know it is. Perhaps professionalism has fixed that, but I wouldn't assume it without a fair bot of evidence.

Anyway, like I said, I think the problem lies in putting extra pressure on refs which is what lowers their performance.

 

[Slash]

Did anyone notice that not one Aussie ref controlled a match over the weekend?

Probably because the low standard of match officials we have here was evidenced by the quality of the tmo in the abctv Parra/Gordon match!!!!!!