Abuse from fans : Wed Sep 13, 2017 6:35 pm  

Chris Chester has spoken out against the online abuse Scott Grix has had to face from Wakefield fans, well done to Chester for speaking out on this. Kallum Watkin's wife has recently blogged about the online abuse Kallum Watkins has faced, while battling depression. We are struggling to recruit referees, while referees we have are leaving the game, I believe due to the abuse they face. I recently witnessed a large number of Hull FC fans giving horrific abuse to a referee. What can we do to stop this? Personally I think yes the RFL need to act on this, but we also need fellow fans to stop turning a blind eye to this, sweeping it under the carpet and laughing it off. Fans need to challenge others doing this abuse, so it becomes totally unacceptable like has happened with racism on the terraces, which players used to face. http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/41258699

Chris Chester has spoken out against the online abuse Scott Grix has had to face from Wakefield fans, well done to Chester for speaking out on this. Kallum Watkin's wife has recently blogged about the online abuse Kallum Watkins has faced, while battling depression. We are struggling to recruit referees, while referees we have are leaving the game, I believe due to the abuse they face. I recently witnessed a large number of Hull FC fans giving horrific abuse to a referee. What can we do to stop this? Personally I think yes the RFL need to act on this, but we also need fellow fans to stop turning a blind eye to this, sweeping it under the carpet and laughing it off. Fans need to challenge others doing this abuse, so it becomes totally unacceptable like has happened with racism on the terraces, which players used to face. http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/41258699

Re: Abuse from fans : Wed Sep 13, 2017 6:52 pm  

There's quite a few idiots who follow the game, the type who tell people with depression to man up or berate a ref for doing one of the hardest jobs in sport.

Two of the games I've been to this season I've been genuinely embarrassed by a large number of fans with to much ale inside them. When they say the games dying it's because of people like them, not the refs or players.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: Abuse from fans : Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:29 am  

It's far easier to reach a viewpoint that a bogeyman is out to screw you over than admit to plain ineptitude on you're clubs part.

'Tis unfortunately the way it goes on social media nowadays, I'll always try and call it out when I can, but some of these keyboard warriors wouldn't know sense if it smacked them in the face, ironic when that's whats needed.

Re: Abuse from fans : Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:49 am  

Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino wrote:

It's far easier to reach a viewpoint that a bogeyman is out to screw you over than admit to plain ineptitude on you're clubs part.

'Tis unfortunately the way it goes on social media nowadays, I'll always try and call it out when I can, but some of these keyboard warriors wouldn't know sense if it smacked them in the face, ironic when that's whats needed.

Agree and thats the reason I do not do face book or twitter or any other because idiots like to hide instead of facing people they are calling its sick

Re: Abuse from fans : Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:06 am  

I think it's more a wider cultural thing that's been creeping in for a number of years now. Pretty much anyone in the public eye will have been subjected to abuse, mostly from anonymous online accounts because there aren't any repercussions from doing so.

What can we/the RFL do about it? I'm not sure. Possibly a campaign initially led by the RFL & involving clubs, players, coaches & referees, then self-policing from the fans on the terraces & online - with the RFL & the clubs providing an avenue to report incidents. It's a difficult one.

[Bullseye]

Re: Abuse from fans : Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:16 am  

DGM wrote:

I think it's more a wider cultural thing that's been creeping in for a number of years now. Pretty much anyone in the public eye will have been subjected to abuse, mostly from anonymous online accounts because there aren't any repercussions from doing so.

What can we/the RFL do about it? I'm not sure. Possibly a campaign initially led by the RFL & involving clubs, players, coaches & referees, then self-policing from the fans on the terraces & online - with the RFL & the clubs providing an avenue to report incidents. It's a difficult one.

I agree, it's a wider problem. It's linked to a lack of respect and politeness. The worst culprits probably won't respond to a campaign but it might help those on the fringes. I think a lot of people use going to RL or social media as a safety valve to vent their frustrations from other parts of their life. It's not healthy.

Re: Abuse from fans : Thu Sep 14, 2017 9:10 am  

Certainly in the case of the referees, there is an onus on the RFL to really look at how it not only protects referees at all levels of the game, but how it raises standards to make the job of the referees easier.

We've all had frustrations with referees, but this idea that they are all "useless" or "bias" is ridiculous. There was a social media post on a Leeds Rhinos group this week after Liam Moore was appointed to the Salford game, and the responses were a general mix of "where the **** are the RFL finding them?", "are they letting the work experience boy have a go now?" and "he looks about 12". We've reached a point where this attitude to referees is just so normalised that it's genuinely unhealthy (and I don't think it's helped by having ex-referees in the commentary box).

So step one is about making the job easier, and I firmly believe that the sport has become too difficult to referee with just one on-field referee. It's naive to think that 20+ years of professionalism wouldn't have brought with it an increase in professional foul play - and I think Brian McDermott's comments to Sky the other week were right in saying that players and coaches (at all clubs) carry a degree of responsibility there. So in my view, we need a two referee system. The problem is where we find them.

We can also make the job easier by clarifying and simplifying a lot of the interpretations that cause much of the frustration - particularly around the ruck.

But then you need to look at how we protect the referees we have, and encourage more of them. And not just because the sport needs referees to survive, but because above all else, the RFL has a duty of care to its employees and their wellbeing.

At the moment, we take young referees and tell them to serve their apprenticship at places like Queens. We then act suprised when our attrition rate goes up. We create an enviromnent where there is very little consequence for people in a position of influence (coaches and players) to criticise officials, and that culture feeds through the sport.

So we need to look at a clear respect policy, there needs to be a genuine development pathway for officials, there needs to be a oncerted effort to find a way to encourage and protect referees in what is often a brutal amateur environment.

And I think the RFL can be more open. Following a controversial winning try in the NRL game between Manly and Penrith, the NRL had a social media post within the hour explaining the process behind the video ref decision in question. Whether the decision is right or wrong, it is explained, it's transparent and the thinking behind the decision is clear. That, in my opinion, can really help to diffuse a controversy. The RFL has the tools to do this, and it did try it with the Ask the Refs Twitter account. Unfortunately, it was badly executed.

Re: Abuse from fans : Thu Sep 14, 2017 9:48 am  

The furore whipped up after Watts red card this week over Hicks decision has been unreal.I still don't see any other option than the red with the full ref team consulted? Justice probably done with sending off sufficient. End result is Radford and Co heaping pressure on tonight's game and lo and behold Bentham is appointed.After Child and Hicks oversee 2 fc defeats not by better teams according to fc fans but because of biased refs here comes the man of the match for them at Wembley and against Cas. Good luck Wakey you will need it

[Bullseye]

Re: Abuse from fans : Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:05 am  

IMO there is far too much scrutiny on refs decisions and it doesn't do any good. Often the TV slow down incidents and then examine them frame by frame from many angles. The critics then use that to criticise a ref that got one view of it in real time and had to make an immediate call. Fans don't see it from the ref's perspective at all and have no appreciation of how hard it is.

In the old days the ref made a call and it was accepted without the scrutiny of today. I suspect they got as many decisions wrong then as they do now. They just weren't under the spotlight then and that goes towards the perception that refs are poorer now.

Is there any purpose in minutely scrutinising a ref's decision and then criticising it?

Re: Abuse from fans : Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:27 am  

[quote="Bullseye
Is there any purpose in minutely scrutinising a ref's decision and then criticising it?[/quote]

Must make good TV unfortunately.