: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:13 pm  

xJAMIEx wrote:

I loved Klein. What a bloke.

Is that the swear filter cutting in?

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:02 pm  

There was a new one at Wakey on Sunday, name of Child. As we won, I don't want to bag him too much on his first game - but if we'd lost I would have pointed out the missed forward passes, the head high tackles, the laying on and the garlicky smell he let Catalans get away with!!!

PS Believe it or not I'm enjoying the rugby your lot are playing - nice to see two teams doing well without the need for a m*****!!

: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:11 am  

Bonzo wrote:

In that case then, in your understanding, what is the role of a touch judge and what duties do they perform during the game?

This is the problem I have though, I haven't got a clue what there role is other than to identify where the ball leaves the field of play and stand behind the sticks and guess whether or not a kick has gone over. This is why I said it was one of the weakest area's of RL.

At the very least I would have thought they would have an input on offside, forward passes and foul play, probably the 3 things that annoy most fans more than anything else when what we perceive as a blatant offence and none of the officials see it.

I know you will try and defend the role of the officials but for me touch judges are the weakest link.

: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:18 am  

Big Man wrote:

This is the problem I have though, I haven't got a clue what there role is other than to identify where the ball leaves the field of play and stand behind the sticks and guess whether or not a kick has gone over. This is why I said it was one of the weakest area's of RL.

At the very least I would have thought they would have an input on offside, forward passes and foul play, probably the 3 things that annoy most fans more than anything else when what we perceive as a blatant offence and none of the officials see it.

I know you will try and defend the role of the officials but for me touch judges are the weakest link.

They have input to all the things you mentioned above. Their role is to assist the referee and judge touch, touch-in-goal and goal attempts.

What you have to bear in mind is that during a game you can't see and hear a lot of the communication that goes on between the officials. Also depending on where the ball is, each touch judge may be performing a different task, identifiable by their positioning.

If you feel that forward passes and offsides are a problem, have you considered checking the actual definitions of them in the rule book to ensure that your interpretation is correct?

: Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:55 am  

thought the young lad who reffed the widnes halifax games was very good, seemed to enjoy a bit of banter with the players, ie "you should be able to make the ten metres you've only been on the pitch 5 minutes" to one forward, but he was firm with his discipline when needed.

Also saw a touch judge award an offside desicion in that particular game