One thing that struck me while watching the game was the crowd. Last night the AFL drew 37,890 passionate fans. A decent crowd when you consider that one of the teams competing last night is based in Melbourne. In comparison, an NRL double header with 3 out of 4 teams coming from Sydney only attracted 32,747. This is embarrassing and certainly not the numbers the NRL was hoping for.
There have been many reasons put forward for the declining crowds attending NRL games this year. I would suggest that one of the reasons for this is the disappointment and disenfranchisement with refereeing.
Many had predicted that this would happen at some point in the Finals series. All of us hoped that it wouldn't. But last night, a refereeing decision cost the North Queensland Cowboys the game and ultimately destroyed their chances of progressing into this years NRL finals series.
For those of you that missed the game, Beau Ryan scored a try off the seventh tackle in a set of six. As a Parramatta fan, this brought back horrible memories of stories my father told me about Greg Hartley and the refereeing blunders which hurt Parramatta in the late 1970's.
What was the NRL's response to this? Dave Smith personally apologised to Neil Henry. Neil Henry rejected this apology. Does anyone blame him? An apology has no impact on the result and does nothing for the North Queensland Cowboys or their fans. Sorry simply is not enough.
Smith was not the only one who apologised - several NRL Commissioners also went to apologise to the Cowboys at the conclusion of the game.
What is concerning is that this is not the first time this has happened to the Cowboys. At the end of season 2012, the NRL also apologised to them for another controversial decision in the game they lost to Manly, again ending their season. In that occurrence, a knock on by Manly's Kieran Foran was missed in the lead up to a try scored by Jorge Taufua.
We are a professional code that at the moment is being refereed like amateur hour. Fans will not tolerate this for much longer. It is not enough to allow refereeing blunders to occur and then to apologise. Apologies do not revive an ended season and make the work that the players put in each and every week irrelevant. When the outcome of games is decided by something completely out of the players control, we need to start asking questions.
The game currently has 6 referee's - how can such a fundamental mistake be made? Do we need to introduce an extra referee next year just to count tackles.
An inquiry is set to be made into the incident - but this won't bring back Season 2013 for the Cowboys... or their fans.
The NRL should be embarrassed this morning.
I was also disappointed with Todd Greenberg's reassurance that 'this won't happen again in any other game'. It should never have happened at all and for the Cowboys, this would leave a rotten taste in their mouth following their end to Season 2012.
In a game where referee's are unable to be questioned by players and by officials (just ask Ricky Stuart), it seems that we need to ask serious questions unless the NRL wants 20,000 to a finals double header again next year, while the AFL continues to grow at our expense.
Love,
@LadiesWhoLeague
There have been many reasons put forward for the declining crowds attending NRL games this year. I would suggest that one of the reasons for this is the disappointment and disenfranchisement with refereeing.
Many had predicted that this would happen at some point in the Finals series. All of us hoped that it wouldn't. But last night, a refereeing decision cost the North Queensland Cowboys the game and ultimately destroyed their chances of progressing into this years NRL finals series.
For those of you that missed the game, Beau Ryan scored a try off the seventh tackle in a set of six. As a Parramatta fan, this brought back horrible memories of stories my father told me about Greg Hartley and the refereeing blunders which hurt Parramatta in the late 1970's.
What was the NRL's response to this? Dave Smith personally apologised to Neil Henry. Neil Henry rejected this apology. Does anyone blame him? An apology has no impact on the result and does nothing for the North Queensland Cowboys or their fans. Sorry simply is not enough.
Smith was not the only one who apologised - several NRL Commissioners also went to apologise to the Cowboys at the conclusion of the game.
What is concerning is that this is not the first time this has happened to the Cowboys. At the end of season 2012, the NRL also apologised to them for another controversial decision in the game they lost to Manly, again ending their season. In that occurrence, a knock on by Manly's Kieran Foran was missed in the lead up to a try scored by Jorge Taufua.
We are a professional code that at the moment is being refereed like amateur hour. Fans will not tolerate this for much longer. It is not enough to allow refereeing blunders to occur and then to apologise. Apologies do not revive an ended season and make the work that the players put in each and every week irrelevant. When the outcome of games is decided by something completely out of the players control, we need to start asking questions.
The game currently has 6 referee's - how can such a fundamental mistake be made? Do we need to introduce an extra referee next year just to count tackles.
An inquiry is set to be made into the incident - but this won't bring back Season 2013 for the Cowboys... or their fans.
The NRL should be embarrassed this morning.
I was also disappointed with Todd Greenberg's reassurance that 'this won't happen again in any other game'. It should never have happened at all and for the Cowboys, this would leave a rotten taste in their mouth following their end to Season 2012.
In a game where referee's are unable to be questioned by players and by officials (just ask Ricky Stuart), it seems that we need to ask serious questions unless the NRL wants 20,000 to a finals double header again next year, while the AFL continues to grow at our expense.
Love,
@LadiesWhoLeague
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