Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 1:13 am  

Over the years who have been your worst referees and who have been your best? I'll start off with who I think were the best 3 and worst 3, since I have only been watching Saints since 1993 mine will be quite recent ones that I can remember.

Worst
1 - Ian Smith - Absolute inept tool
2 - Cummings - 2002 CCF I needn't say more!
3 - Karl kirkpatrick - although he got better, some of his decisions were dubious, confusing and if a crowd shouted forward he obliged 9 times out of 10.

Best
1 - Ashley Klein - by far the best ref RL/SL has seen for a long time.
2 - Bob Connerly - used to love him reffing, falling over, taking 5 minutes to award a try because he can't keep up he has got to be the funniest. Used to see him walking round Leigh with his RFL referee association tracksuit on....my god he used to get ripped to shreads what an absolute LEG!!!
3 - Our very own Stevie G !

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:24 am  

Klown was rubbish! and Kirkpatrick was the best of the lot when he quit

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:51 am  

1 Eric Clay (Rothwell)
2 Ron Gelder (Wilmslow)
3 Stan Wall (Leigh)

No Specsavers then

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:30 am  

Saint Simon wrote:

Klown was rubbish! and Kirkpatrick was the best of the lot when he quit

Kirkpatrick and Russel Smith where both top referees. Kirkpatrick left due to the full time contracts and Smith because he did not get the top job. Good work by Cummins! The last year of Klown was his best.

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:49 am  

I actually don't pay too much attention to who is the ref ............... until they make a clanger in a "big" game.

Steve Ganson has to be one of the worst .......... I remember discussing his performance in the 2009 Grand Final with him ........... he was shopping in Asda St.Helens, and I asked him about a couple of decisions, especially a knock on/forward pass (I forget now) that changed the game and led directly to Leeds' winning points ........... even after having had the chance to watch then again on video, he still believed he'd got them right.

It's one thing to make a mistake in the heat of the moment, when you've only got one look at it .......... quite another to be unable to see your error after having had the chance to study the video.

He also admitted that he disagreed with one of the major Video Ref decisions on the night ........ if 2 allegedly top refs can watch the same footage and come up with different decisions, then the system needs an overhaul.

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:46 pm  

Thank you so much for mentioning Ron Gelder as one of the best refs you remember - he was my Grandad!

He sadly passed away a few years back and it was lovely to see a few representatives from the RFL turned up to the funeral. His wife, my nan, is still very much with us and they have a picture up in their house of the famous Cup Final replay at Odsal stadium which he refereed - hard to believe that many people fit into Odsal!!!!

Anyway as far as my favourite referees and least favourite...

Least favourite - Ian Smith: Complete tool and when I did a ref's course back in 2000 he came along for a day and came across as a bighead..

Favourite - Karl Kirkpatrick was the best when he quit but I think the current crop are pretty good. We always slate them when we are at the matches but when we watch it back again on TV, they are correct 9 times out of 10!

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 2:03 pm  

more often than not I think the touch judges have a lot to answer for.
some of the forward passes they miss at times is an absolute joke.

I dont think any of the current refs are overly bad.
I think the main problem with refs is their slightly different interpretation to the rules and consistency which really pi££es most people off.

Maybe thats more of a problem with Cummins???

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:18 pm  

saintcj wrote:

more often than not I think the touch judges have a lot to answer for.
some of the forward passes they miss at times is an absolute joke.

I dont think any of the current refs are overly bad.
I think the main problem with refs is their slightly different interpretation to the rules and consistency which really pi££es most people off.

Maybe thats more of a problem with Cummins???

I think there's some truth in that. I have thought to myself in the past that it would be quite possible to clean up the play-the-ball by having the referee at the ruck and allowing the touch judges to monitor offside (especially as they have a perfect view along the defensive line).

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:53 pm  

Benidorm John wrote:

1 Eric Clay (Rothwell)
2 Ron Gelder (Wilmslow)
3 Stan Wall (Leigh)

No Specsavers then

Eric Clay?????? he could not keep up with flowing treacle.
Gelder???????? He was a union ref and got the rules mixed up.
Stan Wall????? enough said about him he sent me off.

Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:46 pm  

best none if i at say one russell smith for when joynt fell over


worse ian smith john holdsworth and james childs