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News, Reviews & Opinion - Sean Fagan - RL1908.com

Andrew Stevenson
Source: [The Sydney Morning Herald - 2/10/2009]

The issuing of penalties have dramatically fallen in the lead-up to this year's grand final, writes Andrew Stevenson.

Nathan Hindmarsh should count himself lucky that modern referees are so understanding. At ANZ Stadium last Friday night, Parramatta's fill-in captain felt the sting of referee Tony Archer's tongue. ''Go and stand over there,'' Archer roared. ''I expect better of you.''

It took Hindmarsh - who was feuding with Bulldogs prop Ben Hannant in the aftermath of the chicken-wing tackle for which Matt Keating was penalised - some time to regain his normal earthy good humour.

But, in the good old days, he might have stilled his tongue a little quicker. Football historian Sean Fagan tells the story of a game at Homebush in 1896 when the referee sent two of the visiting Oriental FC players from the field as the home side won. ''It caused a riot and nine players of the away team started to assault the referee,'' Fagan said. But the referee kept control of the proceedings in what a newspaper report termed ''a commendable determination to enforce the rules'' - pulling a revolver from under his coat.

Despite having in his ranks a number of current and former policemen - including police prosecutor Tony Archer, who will share the grand final duties with Shayne Hayne - referees' boss Robert Finch swears they'll be on their best behaviour for the grand final.

''Gee, I hope that doesn't happen here,'' Finch said. ''I try and make sure they don't do that sort of thing.''

Also on their best behaviour are the players. Or so it would seem, with penalty counts shrinking. In the first half of the season, according to NRL Stats/Sportsdata, they averaged 13.4 a game, dropping to 10.5 in the second half of the competition. They've shrunk in every week of the finals series, hitting a new low of 7.5 last weekend.

Fagan argues penalties have assumed too much importance in the game. Originally, they were blown but sparingly with the referee only acting when appealed to - more in the manner of a cricket umpire. ''He used to put up a flag and call out to the players to 'Stop!' if he agreed with the appeal. The sound of a policeman's whistle in 1884 was enough to stop everyone dead in their tracks,'' Fagan said.

Even when a penalty was awarded it was of minimal benefit. There was no tap until the 1960s and if you kicked the ball into touch you faced a contested scrum. Now, with a kick to touch and a full set of six and a kick off the back, a penalty takes you from one end of the field to the other.

''And it's not only what you get, it compounds because you can get another set at the end, then perhaps another penalty and then there's the tiredness. Manifestly, it's too much,'' argues Fagan.

Perhaps that's why counts are down, with players, coaches and referees all aware of the impact. But maybe players are better coached - by the referees. When Parramatta beat the Dragons, referee Matt Cecchin could be heard telling his colleague Jared Maxwell, ''in the next set, just use Ben Smith's name on tackle two and four''.

Maxwell then ran over to Smith as the Eels headed down to kick-off and warned him: ''There's a 10-metre penalty coming against you, you've got to make more of an effort.''

Finch admits there is plenty of advice and warnings being issued but attributes the change to the second referee. ''The two refs have pretty well eradicated the grapple and the wrestle and the like from the ruck … the vocab he uses I think has helped clean the ruck out,'' he said.

''There have been a lot of penalties given in years gone by when, clearly, the bloke with the football was milking, [say] holding on to a defender and with one referee they generally penalised that. Now, with a second view of the ruck, we can identify that and no penalty is given.''

Fagan is no fan. ''They annoy me. As a fan I don't like hearing them yelling all the time and I don't like them treating players like that,'' he said. ''I look at that second ref as a blowfly: he comes in, hovers over the dead meat and disappears again. They bend their little heads over, scream in a player's ear and off they go again.''

But, concedes Fagan, they don't blow their whistle as much - a return to the old days of when referees could wander leisurely around the field, blowing the occasional penalty and leaving the onus for compliance with the players.

''Penalties were very rare and it used to be something very extreme to be pulled up. It's coming full circle,'' Fagan said.

Source: Blow That Whistle Ref - But Not Too Much [The Sydney Morning Herald - 2/10/2009]