Political statements has nothing to do with it Stu and I think it’s very short-sighted to suggest that.
I think the problem is that some officials don’t get chance to referee Pennine League fixtures as they have RFL fixtures of a higher standard (National Conference for example) and therefore don’t get marked by Pennine League clubs. To give you an example one of the Hudds referees has refereed National Conference rugby and Pennine League premier and division 1 fixtures all season. This year’s cup final referee has refereed less than for only 50% of the season and his last match was Pennine division 5.
The other problem is the scoring system put in place by the Pennine League. Several referees’ societies are unhappy about the current systems and I’m led to believe a change is being looked into. Clubs fill in a referees assessment form after every game. Some clubs don’t even bother. The majority of clubs don’t take it seriously and rush the job of filling the form in (thus not making it accurate) to avoid fines put in place by the Pennine League.
The Hudds referees society sent a list to the league advising of referees that were available for the finals. For some reason the league appointed an official that was not on this list and when confronted one of the reasons for this appointment was and I quote "the sponsors like him". Hardly fair to the other officials if you ask me.
Now I’m not really bothered who referees the final as any of the Hudds officials are capable and suitable for the role but it’s the manner of which the final has been appointed that has irritated a lot of people within the society.
I think the problem is that some officials don’t get chance to referee Pennine League fixtures as they have RFL fixtures of a higher standard (National Conference for example) and therefore don’t get marked by Pennine League clubs. To give you an example one of the Hudds referees has refereed National Conference rugby and Pennine League premier and division 1 fixtures all season. This year’s cup final referee has refereed less than for only 50% of the season and his last match was Pennine division 5.
The other problem is the scoring system put in place by the Pennine League. Several referees’ societies are unhappy about the current systems and I’m led to believe a change is being looked into. Clubs fill in a referees assessment form after every game. Some clubs don’t even bother. The majority of clubs don’t take it seriously and rush the job of filling the form in (thus not making it accurate) to avoid fines put in place by the Pennine League.
The Hudds referees society sent a list to the league advising of referees that were available for the finals. For some reason the league appointed an official that was not on this list and when confronted one of the reasons for this appointment was and I quote "the sponsors like him". Hardly fair to the other officials if you ask me.
Now I’m not really bothered who referees the final as any of the Hudds officials are capable and suitable for the role but it’s the manner of which the final has been appointed that has irritated a lot of people within the society.
