Ruby league, England v Kiwis
I watched the game on the telly this afternoon - what a hard game it was. I have never refereed a rugby match and have great admiration for people that do but there was an incident in the second half where a Kiwi in my opinion was gouged by an Englishman. Fair play to the Kiwis, they did not kick up about it. I am still not sure whether the Ref saw it but it did not look pleasant. Did anybody on the forum see the incident and what is your view?
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Yes, I noticed it. One of the Burgess boys, George I think. Couldn't decide if his hand went 'looking' for the eye socket though, he was trapped in the tackle, and he did seem to stop the 'grip' when he realised. If it was a deliberate gouge mind he should be banned for several if not many games.
It was an absolutely fabulous game mind, best game over the weekend in both codes me thinks.
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Totally agree Micky. I hope next weeks final game at Elland Road is good to watch.
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Surely there are video referees who review the footage and should have spotted the incident. What is needed for instances like that is for the player to be "cited" after a viewing rerun of the game, as occurs in Rugby Union..
It was a good game to watch with some great tries.
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The commentary team certainly noticed the incident but for reasons best known to themselves did not make much of it. I agree Nellie that there should be a citing committee in RL for foul/dangerous play. (I thought that they already had one).
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Incidents in RL which are spotted during play are put 'on report' for review later. The referee will inform the players of this 'citing' and this is usually heard through the ref. link. Don't know if this happened with or without being broadcast but the incident was clearly reported at some point, we just don't know the precise moment.
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Surely it's shouldn't just be incidents that are spotted during the game but following a review after the match. I just wonder why this foul play was not spotted by the officials as it was obviously seen by the commentators.
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Yes Nellie, that happens too. We don't, or certainly I don't know, whether this incident was picked up sometime during the game or in a later review. What we do know is that match officials do miss things in many sports. Take last night's Manchester City game when a player tripped over his own feet and was rewarded with a penalty for his clumsiness. With regard to the George Burgess incident I certainly don't think, as far as the officiating was concerned, there was anything sinister at play. In the end it was reported or noticed, acted upon and the correct conclusion drawn in my opinion. Whether it was a deliberate act I'm not convinced but the right message is being given out and players are made aware and reminded of their need to take that essential extra care in situations.
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