The Virtual Terrace • Re: Brian McDermott Post Match Interview
There's a similar discussion happening on the Leeds board - below is a mash up of a couple of my posts on that thread that gives my two penneth on the current state of affairs with regards the rules, officiating and teams 'bending the rules'.
I've said it before - the PTB can easily be fixed and doesn't need a rule change, just the actual rules to be applied. It could be fixed quite quickly, simply send out a memo to all teams stating;
- Once a player is tackled (elbows hit the floor) or referee calls held, all defenders must release the attacker and clear the ruck IMMEDIATELY - this does not mean manouvering back to the marker position as part of clearing the ruck, it means get out of the way via the quickest route - failure to release and clear immediately will result in a penalty EVERY TIME
- Attacking players must regain both feet, place the ball on the floor and play it with their foot. This means getting to both feet, not only 1 foot and 1 knee and then lifting your knelt leg/foot over the ball that has remained on the floor - you must regain both feet, lift the ball from the floor and place it back down to be played by the foot. Failure to do so will result in a penalty EVERY TIME
There's an arguement that making the defenders release will lead to PTB being too quick, but the requirement to regain both feet and play the ball properly would slow the PTB back down to negate that. The 'voluntary tackle' rule would also need to be correctly applied to stop attacking teams simply diving to the floor in attack to get a quicker PTB.
And whilst I'm fixing the game, on the same memo, I'd also tinker with the stripping interpretations to get rid of the other current lottery of is it a strip or a knock on. The onus is on the attacker to have full control of the ball, only if there is a clear stripping action would there be a penalty - this would require the attackers to carry the ball in 2 hands, again slowing them down to redress the balance of the defenders having to release and clear once tackled. If you're carrying the ball into contact with just 1 arm, and it comes out because the defenders attack your ball carrying arm, or put pressure on the ball, it's a knock on - the attacker needs to protect the ball. Only if there is a clear raking at the ball should it be a penalty.
This would no doubt lead to a penaltyathon for the first couple of weeks, but the players and coaches would soon fix that and IMO the product would be much better!
Problem solved...
We need to get away from referees 'coaching' teams through a game. Simply apply the rules, and if they're broken, penalise it - every time.
As an example, the offside rule - we now only penalise an offside player if he directly interferes with play - so teams take advantage of this. Defenders on the blindside of a ruck are nearly always a couple of meters offside, so when the hooker looks up, he see's there's no space down the blindside, so goes openside. They're not penalised for being offside as they've not directly impacted play, but they have influenced the attacking teams direction of play. Same with offside kick chase - they might not be offside and within the 10, so there to make a tackle, but their presence stops the kick receiver from running towards their area of the pitch. If they're offside - penalise them - every time.
Sure, there would be a period of time where the refs are blowing the pea out of the whistle and the games will be ruined - but the teams will soon fall into line, or risk being penalised out of the game.
With consistent application of simple rules, the referees will get more decisions right, everyone will know exactly what to expect (if you're offside, you'll be penalised, if you slow down the PTB, you'll be penalised, if you don't regain your feet to play the ball, you'll be penalised) and naturally the referees will get more respect from everyone. You'll drastically remove the ability for coaches/teams to exploit the rules/interpretations and the game will ultimately be a better spectacle.
Also, every game we see players protesting against decisions, shouting at the ref, even swearing at the ref or in their protests. Again a simple fix - protest a decision, penalty/walked a further 10 meters, do it again, 10 mins in the bin. Shout/swear at a ref - OFF...
We used to pride ourselves on our respect towards the referee - we need to get this level of respect back - pronto. But there's more we need to do to make the referees job easier.
Ours is a simple game, with simple rules - that's what makes it such a spectator friendly game. For some reason, over the years we've introduced 'interpretation' into our rules and that has muddied the water. Make the rules black and white, apply them consistently and you'll get more respect from the players - and when you don't get the right level of respect, come down on them like a ton of bricks.
I've said it before - the PTB can easily be fixed and doesn't need a rule change, just the actual rules to be applied. It could be fixed quite quickly, simply send out a memo to all teams stating;
- Once a player is tackled (elbows hit the floor) or referee calls held, all defenders must release the attacker and clear the ruck IMMEDIATELY - this does not mean manouvering back to the marker position as part of clearing the ruck, it means get out of the way via the quickest route - failure to release and clear immediately will result in a penalty EVERY TIME
- Attacking players must regain both feet, place the ball on the floor and play it with their foot. This means getting to both feet, not only 1 foot and 1 knee and then lifting your knelt leg/foot over the ball that has remained on the floor - you must regain both feet, lift the ball from the floor and place it back down to be played by the foot. Failure to do so will result in a penalty EVERY TIME
There's an arguement that making the defenders release will lead to PTB being too quick, but the requirement to regain both feet and play the ball properly would slow the PTB back down to negate that. The 'voluntary tackle' rule would also need to be correctly applied to stop attacking teams simply diving to the floor in attack to get a quicker PTB.
And whilst I'm fixing the game, on the same memo, I'd also tinker with the stripping interpretations to get rid of the other current lottery of is it a strip or a knock on. The onus is on the attacker to have full control of the ball, only if there is a clear stripping action would there be a penalty - this would require the attackers to carry the ball in 2 hands, again slowing them down to redress the balance of the defenders having to release and clear once tackled. If you're carrying the ball into contact with just 1 arm, and it comes out because the defenders attack your ball carrying arm, or put pressure on the ball, it's a knock on - the attacker needs to protect the ball. Only if there is a clear raking at the ball should it be a penalty.
This would no doubt lead to a penaltyathon for the first couple of weeks, but the players and coaches would soon fix that and IMO the product would be much better!
Problem solved...
We need to get away from referees 'coaching' teams through a game. Simply apply the rules, and if they're broken, penalise it - every time.
As an example, the offside rule - we now only penalise an offside player if he directly interferes with play - so teams take advantage of this. Defenders on the blindside of a ruck are nearly always a couple of meters offside, so when the hooker looks up, he see's there's no space down the blindside, so goes openside. They're not penalised for being offside as they've not directly impacted play, but they have influenced the attacking teams direction of play. Same with offside kick chase - they might not be offside and within the 10, so there to make a tackle, but their presence stops the kick receiver from running towards their area of the pitch. If they're offside - penalise them - every time.
Sure, there would be a period of time where the refs are blowing the pea out of the whistle and the games will be ruined - but the teams will soon fall into line, or risk being penalised out of the game.
With consistent application of simple rules, the referees will get more decisions right, everyone will know exactly what to expect (if you're offside, you'll be penalised, if you slow down the PTB, you'll be penalised, if you don't regain your feet to play the ball, you'll be penalised) and naturally the referees will get more respect from everyone. You'll drastically remove the ability for coaches/teams to exploit the rules/interpretations and the game will ultimately be a better spectacle.
Also, every game we see players protesting against decisions, shouting at the ref, even swearing at the ref or in their protests. Again a simple fix - protest a decision, penalty/walked a further 10 meters, do it again, 10 mins in the bin. Shout/swear at a ref - OFF...
We used to pride ourselves on our respect towards the referee - we need to get this level of respect back - pronto. But there's more we need to do to make the referees job easier.
Ours is a simple game, with simple rules - that's what makes it such a spectator friendly game. For some reason, over the years we've introduced 'interpretation' into our rules and that has muddied the water. Make the rules black and white, apply them consistently and you'll get more respect from the players - and when you don't get the right level of respect, come down on them like a ton of bricks.
Statistics: Posted by Superted — Fri Sep 01, 2017 2:01 pm