League legend Phil Gould has lashed out at officials of the game as the Bunker continues to cause controversy.
In Thursday night’s match between Brisbane Broncos and Penrith Panthers, a number of decisions came under scrutiny, namely a Scott Sorensen disallowed try when the second-rower was judged to have knocked the ball on.
Former NSW Blues captain Paul Gallen described that as a “definite try” on Nine’s 100% Footy, labelling it a “poor decision”.
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Gould was stronger in his criticism of the officiating as a whole, embarking on a strong rant about the state of the game.
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“No one is in control, they’ve given the referees too much control of the game,” he said.
“The one thing that was advised to me 30 years ago by very smart people in this game, do not give referees control of the rule book, do not give referees control of video refereeing. He said at the time it would be a disaster in the game, it’s been a disaster, it’s been an absolute disaster … they get it wrong a lot.”
The Canterbury Bulldogs general manager went on to state incorrect decisions are happening in every game.
“You can single out incidents in every single game where referees (get it wrong) … the nit-picking, you know why there’s so much wrong, it’s the nit-picking in the bunker,” he said.
“They must have a giant magnifying glass in there sometimes to pick up stuff that no one could possibly see. It goes on every week, the nit-picking by the bunker to disallow a try, they want to find something that no one else can find, they want to find it and spoil the moment.
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“It’s ridiculous and it’s ruining the game, and the problem with that is is our officials keep supporting it and saying you can’t criticise it and saying they should be allowed to continue what they’re doing, that’s ruining the game as well.”
Two players in the bin
When asked what he’d say to the referees if given the time, Gould gave a simple answer before revealing the division in the system.
“You’d have to simplify the whole lot, there’s a whole lot there to unravel … and the referees are extremely divided on this … on how they’re told to referee and the systems and processes they’ve got in place and also how half the referees stick to that when they know it’s not right,” he said.
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“Go and talk to the referees and retired referees about the process and everything that happens down there, they hate it.”
Gould went on to say technology is “killing” the game and should only be in place for grounding of the ball in the in goal.
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