After not even going to video I would agree with EM 100% . Refs definitely lean to certain sides , last nights ref was no different altho Saints were poor .
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I back the Chairman here he simply points out the facts. Put that alongside the Knowles issue and the other momentum changing wrong decisions and you can't disagree with him. Yes we were poor at wembley but we have had some shockers against us in big games over recent years. Anyone remember Thaler giving tries at wire when they clearly weren't and he didn't go to the screen?
Yeah, Hicks compromised himself by being on the receiving end of a death threat and wanting it dealt with. And because he was the victim he should have been punished by not being able to referee a final which he had duly earned. Don't talk wet.
I cannot understand how many on here are not dealing with the real issue of referees being targeted in heinous, nasty ways. In no way, shape or form is it acceptable to receive a death threat, and in no way, shape or form is it acceptable for a referee to be punished for it.
I also do not believe that the idiot who made the threat is representative of all Warrington fans.
Energies should be focused, right now, on winning the GF. Nothing else. It'll soon be off season when any issues can be dealt with without distracting from performances on the pitch.
Well said EM. The only thing that is a total disgrace and embarrassment was Hicks decisions last week.
The RFL have not commented because, let's face it how could they possibly explain the non referral? Difficult to defend the indefensible. Even Cummings would struggle on air with that one.
Give it a rest you crank, I'm glad he's had the balls to say publicly what we're all thinking, I say all because I don't count your idiotic opinion.
As for tonight, I sat pretty much on the halfway line so had a really good view of their defensive line, I can safely say they were offside probably 80% of the game, added to that some soft penalties, a lot of lying on and some decisions that I still can't work out.
I'd also like to give a special mention to the skateboard full of Cas fans that were for some reason gloating about last week, it carries a bit more weight when your team has actually won something in the past 30 years and you don't look like extras from Kes.
If we all remember, McManus was pretty supportive of Flower after he assaulted Hohaia. Was a calming voice when many, many of us wanted Flower hung out to dry, including me. Not like he's got form for lambasting the RFL. If I was chairman, I'd be having a dig every week at that joke of a governing body.
They are a disgrace, incompetent & dodgy as a month out of date pint of milk
Mcmanus is right and good on him for saying what he did. More chairman need to do the same. The RFL need to be looked at from top to bottom, not only for the referees where each game can have a varied interpretation of the rules (how many times have we seen obstruction given on a Thursday night only for it not to be given on a friday), but also the disciplinary panel giving questionable decisions on bans etc.
Something needs to change and consistency is needed. Two weeks on the run now we have had legitimate tries ruled out because the ref wont use the screen. We have gone from referees using the screen for virtually every try to being reluctant to use it, why? If this is the way forward then the screen should be scrapped. Childs last night went to the screen to check a castleford claim for a clear no try and the game had already moved forward, and yet he refused for saints lomax try stating he didnt need to he had made his decision. Rightly or wrongly his decision is final but dont start to change your scruples mid game.
We live in a society where if anyone speaks out and voices their opinion against something they believe is unfair or wrong then they are deemed a moaner or embarrassing, and its wrong. Mcmanus has pumped loads of money into the sport and has a right to question the product he is buying into. If you bought a new car or kitchen and there were issues with it how many would just accept it for the fear of being labelled embarrassing?
One of his main criticisms is the use of the “open sewer” that is Twitter. He needs to be careful not to branded hypocritical with this as Saints and indeed all clubs openly use this “open sewer” to promote themselves and most players regularly post on it. Very emotive words from him.
You've come out with some crap on here, but this takes the biscuit!
EM was spot on with everything he has said, and well done to him for saying it.
The game is dying on its feet, in very large part due to the appalling mismanagement of the game by the RFL.
The referees ARE appalling
The disciplinary panel IS appalling
The way in which the RFL "dealt with" the unsavoury events in Perpignan WAS appalling......etc, etc, etc
Is it any wonder spectator numbers are in decline? We have the best sport in the world being driven into the ground by a self serving, above criticism bunch of inept idiots.
Are we all thinking that death threats are pathetic spats? That referee’s are bent? That somehow in some strange universe, after receiving death threats from a Warrington fan, he was going to be more likely to back them in a big game? I think not.
I’ve no problem with saying referee’s are poor, they are. Though the timing stinks of sour grapes and simply won’t be taken at all seriously by anyone and he and us as a club is, rightly, being ridiculed for this. Why did he need to go public with this? What good did he expect from this? Does he now think we’re likely to get the rub of the green off referee’s?
This isn’t us. We (usually) act with a bit of class and decorum. That’s gone. I maintain what I said, I’m ashamed, embarrassed and disgusted.
How many times last night did we cross the line but once again the video ref wasn't used.
It was obviously some ••••ed up idiot, if the authorities thought it to be in anyway serious he'd have been arrested. In the same way if Hicks and Warrington thought it was serious they'd have informed the authorities and not agreed to meet the clown.
He had every right to go public with his criticism, after all it affected something that he's put no little time, money and effort into. I've not always agreed with McManus and some of his decisions but I'm with him on this. I do also think we're too nice as a club.
I'd like to apologise for calling you a crank and an idiot, you're allowed your opinion and it makes boards like this pointless without.
Quite. The person was so dangerous that Hicks met up with the guy. Great. Well done. Now Robert, we can't have you refereeing the Cup final now due to this. Puts the game into disrepute.
Not a bit of common sense at the circus of the "governing body."
As WS said, self-serving individuals who find themselves in senior positions & the inner sanctum. Freemasons has more transparency than them
Whilst I have no issue with the chairman having his say. I think the timing was way off. He's sucked all the attention from the league leaders presentation from last night.
Firstly Bravo EM.
I read from that statement that he is writing it as a fan, which I applaud. We are constantly critical of those involved in sport not caring etc. EM is IMO the best chairman in any sport. He is firstly a fan and always will be.
In regard to his points. Firstly I would say I applauded Hicks for how he dealt with the death threat. But I agree with EM, why is he on twitter? Why is it allowed? If he is so desperate to be on it why not make up a name etc.
The fact that he had this incident with Wire and what evolved was not his fault, but the RFL should have seen a possible conflict of interest however real or just perceived. It was just to soon.
His performance IMO was influenced by the issues. I want to believe they were subconscious. If not the sports got a real issue.
I do wonder though if it will come back to bite us. After seeing Child last night it’s hard not to think he had some sort of Refs Union agenda going. (I think I’m saying that bit with tongue in cheek). His performance albeit in a nothing game was one of the worse refereeing I’ve seen for some time.
But back to EM.. He is going to carry some flack for this now and it will be interesting what the RFL does. But I for one am 100 % behind him.
I think some of the language used by the chairman was a little over emotive, he could have made the same points without resorting to insulting the integrity of both Warrington and Hiçks, was he seriously saying Hicks shouldn't have been given the cup final because he had been subject to inane death threats on Twitter, as for Childs, perf ormance I was at the ground and thought he was awful, but went home after a few pints, watched it again and apart from the Lomax try which was an absolute howler, I realised that he was right on nearly all the major decisions
The death threat should’ve been dealt with by the appropriate authorities. It was instead turned into a publicity stunt by the RFL and Warrington. I don’t doubt Hicks integrity and I don’t think that he went out to purposely give Warrington all the 50/50 calls. What it does do is leave the RFL open to criticism when you have controversy’s like we did last Saturday.
I get your point, but if he leaves it it’s a dead story. I think he wants the debate which I think is bigger than Hicks and the Final. It’s also about the the RFL and how they deal with conflicts of interest and their professionalism or lack of, which he eluded to in his article. He’s a clever man and he has made a calculation which we will in time find out if he was right. I do think the referees are a tight group and we could see others treating us differently from now on.
I’m being a bit mischievous but I’m not bothered that the spotlight is off us and the league leaders shield.
I fully agree with 49er, and i think it had to be said last night. If we leave it until later it is a forgotten issue and comes across as digging up the past. Well done Eamon. I also think JH in his after match interview, was right to allude to Lomax's disallowed try and the failure to use the VR again.
Completely agree! it has come over as nothing but 'sour grapes' the club is much better than that! I thought the complaint to the RFL was bad enough but to stoop so low in programme notes, no not the way I would have handled it, have grace, on the day we made far too many mistakes, yes Hicks should have gone to the referee, but that does not explain the way Wire tackled so well and played the game they wanted to. I don't like the serious accusation of a Super League Referee & a Super League Club Chief Executive Officer combing in a publicity stunt, that is close to bringing the game into disrepute.
I fully accept that we all have different opinions, and I respect that but after being involved in media all my life it is simply not the way I was trained to handle situations like last weekend.
I disagree saying it now will just mean the rfl closing ranks and defending it as an attack rather than constructive critisim.
It will not garner wider support as other chairman and clubs will not back it up.
So it comes as a pointless moan.
Say it in 2 weeks time as a series of points for improvement it has more weight.
As it is it will just be ignored, so qed pointless saying it now.