The Referee Show

I don't blame the ref for the way the excitement was sucked out of the game by his decisions yesterday. He was only following the directives of the league  but the question is what is the directive meant to achieve?

I was just thinking of how much the advert for Ronseal on the officials' shirts made me want to buy Cuprinol when it came to me. 

If  chunks of the game can be turned into The Referee Show, like it is in Rugby Union, then the marketing value of the space on his shirt becomes immense.

Ultimately we could see the poor man dressed up all in yellow with 'BUY BARNEY BARTON'S BRILLIANT BAHAMAN BANANAS ' emblazoned all over him.

BTW, doesn't have to BANANAS, just something inane, and nothing to do with Rugby. 

But it wasn't the referee's fault the players failed to follow the rules (or are they Laws? - I forget).

The saddest aspect of the game was the players' ability to learn. Once the referee has penalised a team for an incorrect PTB, or not standing square half a dozen times, surely players ought to realise what's going to happen if they do it again!

And I'm glad the referee was consistent in continuing to penalise these infringements throughout the game.

We had a couple of players who need to practice their PTBs. 

1 hour ago, Wakefield Ram said:

We had a couple of players who need to practice their PTBs. 

I've been told that Batley have had a referee visit to explain what is expected this season whereas it looks as if Dewsbury haven't arranged a visit but intend doing so. I think that the referee was just doing what he had been instructed to do and no doubt penalty counts will improve as the season starts.

2 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

We had a couple of players who need to practice their PTBs. 

That has to be THE understatement of 2023 ......

I’m not blaming the referee as he was following directives from them above,overall I thought Chris Kendall had a decent game. What worried me more than anything is our inability at playing the ball,you’d have thought we’d have learnt after the referee had penalised us 3 or 4 timesApparently two referees have been to Batley training sessions going through the rule changes,