Originally Posted by
Private Pyle
Just watched the last 10 minutes, both sets of players were an absolute disgrace. I didn't see what went before but there can be no excuses for the way they reacted towards the referee. Sadly all respect seems to be rapidly disappearing from the game. Even one of the Sky commentators was laughing at the backchat from Tomkins when he was 'asking' about the dissent penalty against Gigot and then laughing away with a teammate behind the referees back. Bird spent most of the last 10 minutes basically just taking the mick out of Child, fishing for penalties and mouthing off, while Edwards seemed intent on starting trouble with anyone who came near him.
I'd like to see the RFL come out and publicly back their officials and set out a zero tolerance policy on backchat and abusive language with immediate effect. I'd also like to see referees go back to using shirt numbers rather than calling players by their name, frankly the players don't deserve anything more than that. The whole of SL needs to come together and stamp this out because it will only continue to deteriorate as players look the push the boundaries that little bit further each time, we're fast losing the 'family sport' image we like to present. I thought in the circumstances Child handled the end of that game incredibly well, he was the only person behaving professionally on the pitch.
A number of bans should follow but we all know how the disciplinary works in the lead up to a big game.
As for the crowd trouble, it's difficult to comment too much without really seeing what went on aside from the brief coverage during the game but regardless the end result was distasteful to say the least and both clubs should face appropriate punishment. I'd give both a hefty fine and a game played behind closed doors if it happens again inside two years.