| Written by Neville Huxham, on 10-03-2008 16:13 |
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The good, the bad, and the ugly. Watch this space.So the Cheetahs played their hearts out and were “unlucky” to be pipped 22-20 by the Chiefs – after leading 17-0 at halftime.
Hands up anyone (Aussies and Kiwis excluded) who thinks that Paul Marks, the Australian ref (what else) made the right call with Brendon Leonard’s try?
Right! No one!
So here we go again, with the same argy-bargy BS when the Safricans play OT (Over There!)
The Aussie and Kiwi refs are not to be trusted – and it is abundantly
clear that for the Antipodeans winning is more important than life or
death. It would be funny – if only they weren’t such chokers!
Now get this. Kiwi ref Kelvin Deaker played his heart out to make sure
that Western Force defeated the Lions 18-16 at Ellis Park on Friday.
Clinton van der Berg, Sunday Times rugbywriter, is overly generous when
he says: “Deaker mistakenly thought that Jano Vermaak had kicked the
ball into a teammate and collected the rebound” from which Vermaak
cantered through to score.”
Further on in his article, Clinton rubs salt into the Lions’ wound by
adding: “Moreover, the Force’s second try was also dodgy, courtesy of a
forward pass.”
In both these games, where were the linesmen? And what were the TMOs
doing – watching the Bold and the Beautiful? They certainly were not
paying attention to the match – otherwise they would have intervened.
Surely! Or would they?
Anyway, big boys don’t cry, even if on the scoreboard, and the Super 14
log, the Lions now lie 3rd from the bottom – courtesy Kevin Deaker.
And the Cheetahs are in the bottom slot – courtesy Paul Marks!
And what about the rugby fans? Are they happy to watch their teams get
trashed by the Antipodean refs, so that they can try to win back some
dignity after their thrashing in last year’s Super 14 – and the Wold
Cup.
RugbyRedcard has really had enough of this BS!
We really believe the time has come to stop the rot. And Clinton van
der Berg is right on the money when he calls for “using technology to
make it a fairer contest.”
His article in this week’s Sunday Times – headed ‘It’s time for
law-tweakers to embrace video technology’ – goes to the heart of the
matter.
Either the administrators and powers-that-be get their acts together
and sort out the obvious fraud that is being perpetrated by some
referees, or the fans will start voting with their feet and stay away!
We at RugbyRedcard persistently bang away at trying the clean up the
game by naming and shaming the bad refs – but can we do more?
For instance, can we start a Boo Brigade, and gets groups organised to
boo bad refs throughout the game – especially when they make their
predictable bad calls.
And I don’t just mean boo. I mean do our level best to stop an unfair
and fraudulent match from taking place – by whatever means are
necessary.
I think tough action is called for. I think that flour bombs should be
thrown at the targeted bad refs, and I think that placards should be
prominently displayed – highlighting their suspect actions.
I honestly and genuinely believe that some of the refs are being paid
to influence the outcome of certain matches. I believe some refs are
taking bribes to make certain that chosen teams win, and others lose.
I believe this kind of activity must be exposed, and the guilty parties hung out to dry – for all the rugby world to see.
But only when enough incensed rugby enthusiasts get together to bring
serious pressure on the administrators, will something be done.
Something simple – like using video technology to help some of the
half-blind professional refs. It’s not difficult, and it certainly is
not rocket science.
For the sake of good rugby – stop fiddling with the ELVs – and sort out the CROOKED REFS!
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