Cmon Kiwis...give the refs a fair go...

Have to agree there is a bit of this going on...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/5204525/Kiwi-rugby-fans-must-stop-bleating

Lets not spoil the Sader's match with ref bleating.

If we lose Kiwi's...lets just take it ay?

I for one wont be 'bleating'...

agree

Could you not have just PM'd this to Grey Ghost

Then it wouldnt be.... Subtle

What I take issue with in that article is that he himself has a go at the NZ refs when the whole article is supposed to be about giving refs a fair go. There were some dodgy calls like the dangerous moving before the scrum against the Sharks which even had the Kiwi commentators in stitches. To be honest, I don´t have a problem with people making refs´decisions accountable.

All fans have some people who will have a go at the ref. To some it´s a natural defence mechanism to losing. It´s a thankless task to be a ref and I certainly don´t want to see refs being abused or refs being blamed for a loss.

Call me suspicious.call me stupid but I smell a rat.
Isnt this mark Reason,the guy who used to work in London with Stephen Jones at "the Times".Those guys used to take great delight in putting the boot into anything NZ rugby related.....give the readers what they want to read stuff...
This article is just another attempt to make NZ rugby followers have some sort of guilt complex.
The article loses credibility the moment it uses Paddy O'Brien as some sort of authority on how bad NZers treat referees...overlooking the fact that sometimes referees have real bad games and they at times have to be bought to task . ie Wayne Barnes 2007.
There are plenty of people in Otago who havent forgotten Paddys incompetent display about 10 years ago when they were robbed of a Ranfurly shield.
Conclusion: I apologise if I have confused the author of this article with someone else,but if he is someone else perhaps he she should clarify so as to avoid any confusion.........If im right then this article is nothing but Kiwi bashing.........

History is riddled with incompetent displays by referees....it will keep happening.

I'm over Ed Morrison in 95, Colin Hawke stitched up Otago big time in the same year and good old Steve Walsh robbed Wellington of the shield in '01....all that AND something that happened in 2007 plus every other robbery which has occured in the history of rugby tells me that there'll always be instances where heartbreak can be blamed, no, pinpointed on the ref no matter how badly the team in question played!

What worries me is that in every country there are these sorts of people and they are usually the loudest and therefore the ones who are heard the most. IF NZ bow out without winning the damn thing, then there will in all probability a chorus from these in the minority who will bleat about robbery and crass incompetence by insert name here. However, I am absolutely sure that the majority of kiwis will move on and take up supporting their next favourite teams, should one still be alive. That's what I'll do anyway but sadly that won't be picked up by the likes of Mark Reason or Stevie Boy Jones, they'll just dwell on as much negativity and embarrassment they can get their filthy mits on

All fans have a whinge when things don't go their way on the refereeing front.

We heard it through this years 6N as debate about dubious quick line outs, unusual scrum rulings and dubious groundings lit up the predecessor site.

The South African management went as far to declare their belief in a global pro-New Zealand conspiracy during last years 3N.

The Welsh still like to take issue with a certain penalty decision around a certain line out that happened way back in 1970-something.

The Aussies even started a video campaign as they eyed 10 successive losses to the ABs in attempt to get referees to penalise Ritchie McCaw for attending break downs, or so the video seemed to suggest.

Even those well known gracious losers, the English fans raised an eyebrow about a TMO decision in the 2007 final that seemingly disallowed the 11 point try that would have assured their victory.

I myself, pillar of objectivity that I am have been known to even have the odd grumble about the odd refereeing call, or lack there-of.

The author of this article even seems to be suggesting that NZ will get an easy ride with the referees out of some kind of sympathy over the CHCH earthquake, and then has the gall to bizarrely have a whinge about a referee as far back as 1959.

Grumbling about referees is just a fact of life. It's part of the game. And frankly it's good for the sport. People in NZ grumbling about Stu Dickenson? Wow, hold the front page. Frankly the guy made an utter pigs ear of a call in the dying minutes of a close match that affected the outcome, which was blatantly the wrong call. The guy is such a widely known plural-R that he's not even considered for the RWC finals. We only have so many refs, sooner or later he'll ref, mess it up, and we'll complain.

This doesn't make NZ a nation full of one-eyed whingers.

There's no shame in going down to a better team on the day. The Crusaders will do it tough if they turn over the Stormers this weekend, as will the Blues. But if the clinching moment is the kind of shambolic officiating that we saw from Dickenson a couple of weeks ago, or the kind of nonsense dished out by Mr Barnes in 2007 then long live the chorus of complaint as far as I'm concerned.

TheGreyGhost wrote:But if the clinching moment is the kind of shambolic officiating that we saw from Dickenson a couple of weeks ago, or the kind of nonsense dished out by Mr Barnes in 2007 then long live the chorus of complaint as far as I'm concerned.

It would need to be printed quite small, but GG should have that printed on a t-shirt.

TheGreyGhost wrote:All fans have a whinge when things don't go their way on the refereeing front.


The South African management went as far to declare their belief in a global pro-New Zealand conspiracy during last years 3N.

Greyghost be fair, it was PDV our off field entertainment, not SA rugby management

No comment.

We all give out about referees.