What is the point of assistant referees?

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Old Hob
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What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by Old Hob »

Ulster kick a long ball into touch. "Was it touch in goal, or did it cross the line before the flag?" "Duh, I don't know I wasn't looking" "But there was nothing between you and the ball" "Duh" "And 24000 other people saw where the ball had gone!" "DUH"

"Did Leicester score a try or did the player go into touch?"

"I don't know - touch who?"
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Bill W (2)
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by Bill W (2) »

Old Hob wrote:Ulster kick a long ball into touch. "Was it touch in goal, or did it cross the line before the flag?" "Duh, I don't know I wasn't looking" "But there was nothing between you and the ball" "Duh" "And 24000 other people saw where the ball had gone!" "DUH"

"Did Leicester score a try or did the player go into touch?"

"I don't know - touch who?"
In days of old we had "touch judges" who were usually ex players - and unpaid.

Now with paid "professional" officials we have to find something for them to do.

:smt003
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longlivethecrumbie
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by longlivethecrumbie »

They miss (or possibly ignore) offsides, the clothesline by an Ulster player in the first half was missed by both the touch judge and the ref, they don't seem to do much at scrum time and they don't seem to alert the ref to any squint line out throws
Tigerbeat
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by Tigerbeat »

The long kick to the corner was very tight and could not be seen by the officials. Hamilton claimed it had gone dead. The officials had to check it as it was a big call.

The clothesline tackle on Ben Youngs? It was taken at very top of the shoulders and was made to look worse by the way Youngs went backwards. Fair enough to check with the TMO.

The Checking of the Tigers try was a good call as it was not very clear in real time if he had grounded the ball and touch was also checked.
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jamiewilkinson
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by jamiewilkinson »

Some officials dont like too much intervening from their touch judge unless serious. Owens allows the game to flow and so marginal offences are normally forgiven. Also feel that it shows how much trust he has in his helpers, and felt he had very little in them last night!
But we didnt loose because of them last night
Phil B
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by Phil B »

I sometimes would ask the same question of the TMO. It seems too often that the Referee sees what the TMO sees on the big screen and then tells the TMO what his (the Referee's) decision is, adding a rather unnecessary "do you agree". I can't wait for the TMO to say that he doesn't, actually.
I could agree with you...but then we'd both be wrong.
sapajo
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by sapajo »

The assistant referees rarely do anything other than run up the line and stick their flag up with varying degrees of accuracy. Its exceptional to see them police the off side, non straight throw in at the line out, scrum issues , foul play or indeed any other rules violations.

They see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Sadly that means they are no better than just brass monkeys and frankly if we had technology that could detect if and where the ball went over the side lines and also between the posts and above the cross bar we could replace them all with a machine :smt003
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Tiger_in_Birmingham
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by Tiger_in_Birmingham »

Tigerbeat wrote:The clothesline tackle on Ben Youngs? It was taken at very top of the shoulders and was made to look worse by the way Youngs went backwards. Fair enough to check with the TMO.
the tackle was OK in terms of height, hit across chest/shoulders and then rode up after Ben started falling and the impact was gone - the Ulster player certainly wasn't 10m though!
Greenwhiteandred
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by Greenwhiteandred »

Absolutely no point to assistant refs - how frustrating is it to see offences committed on the blind side of the referee that the assistant ref can clearly see and they do nothing. Yesterday Ulster were very good at coming in at the side on the refs blindside and getting away with it due to assistant refs inaction
MrPartridge
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by MrPartridge »

Having watched the touch-in-goal incident towards the end of the game, it was entirely the correct decision to TMO it. Even in slow motion it was hard to assess.
Noddy555
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by Noddy555 »

The answer is pointless, which describes the performances of yesterdays assistant referees. I can think of at least 4 occasions in the scrums where there was blatant Ulster offences right in front of the noses of both touch
judges, er sorry assistant referees. That is just not good enough at the
professional level.
DickyP
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by DickyP »

Surely the most glaring officiating error yesterday was the kick which Scott Hamilton missed and the subsequent play eventually led to the Ulster try.

We were directly in line with Nigel Owens, the kicker was 5+ metres behind him nearer to the Ulster try line, the 3 kick chasers we all either in line with the officials or closer than them to the Tigers line and in their direct line of sight! Not hint of the possibility of offside for the most blatant/obvious example I've seen all season.
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Grimlish
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by Grimlish »

MrPartridge wrote:Having watched the touch-in-goal incident towards the end of the game, it was entirely the correct decision to TMO it. Even in slow motion it was hard to assess.
Those sorts of decisions are actually more difficult for the TMO than for the officials on the pitch. The decision suddenly depends on a 2D representation almost invariably from the wrong angle. Far better for the AR to run out a short way onto the pitch to get the better angle; (s)he doesnt have to be standing by the post point the ball crosses the line. On this occasion the delay served Ulster well, disrupting the momentum we were trying to build.
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by rocktop51 »

Sorry Mr Partridge - we could see that ball had gone in goal from where we were at the other end of the ground. Looking at Morris's try there was no need to go to the TMO as the touch judge / asst ref call him what you will could see it clearly and should have the guts to say yes it's a try.

There are many supporters who believe that the ref should have the courage of their convictions and not wimp out.
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johnthegriff
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Re: What is the point of assistant referees?

Post by johnthegriff »

Why do we need assistant referees and TMOs when there are 20,000 plus experts watching and prepared to offer advice.
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