Checchin admits try against Eels(2016) shouldn't have gone to video

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BDPScarface

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From this article:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...s-up-about-mental-health-20170406-gvezcm.html

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Dark places: NRL referee Matt Cecchin knew he needed help. Photo: NRL Photos
It was round four last season and Cronulla were about to host Melbourne. For Cecchin, who has officiated more than 350 first grade matches since 2001 and is the game's most experienced referee, it was just another day at the office.

But then it hit him. He panicked. He phoned his partner. "I'm thinking about faking an injury," he said. "I can't do this."

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First sign: Cecchin speaks to Michael Ennis during round four last year. Photo: Mark Kolbe
When Cecchin arrived at the ground, he pulled aside his pocket referee, Dave Munro. "Mate, I have to tell you something – I'm not in a good way," he said. "I don't want to tell you this because I know you might be shocked but there might be times in this game when you have to step in."

Recalls Cecchin now: "That was the first sign to me was that I had the courage to tell someone, which I'd never done before. And that I needed help."


In this instance, the old saying that the best referee is the one you don't notice, should not apply.

Cecchin, 43, as well as fellow referee Ben Cummins, will on Friday be named as one of the NRL's new State of Mind ambassadors, who support the game's extensive mental health program.

There are 30 ambassadors in total across the game and the leading whistleblowers join the likes of Anthony Milford, Trent Merrin and Josh Dugan as those speaking up about mental health.

The announcement coincides on Friday with World Health Day, which this year focuses on talking about depression.

In many respects, referees are the game's punching bag.

Physically, they cover more than nine kilometres a match, making 250 changes in direction and using about 85 per cent of their maximum heart rate. They make on average between 388 and 430 critical decisions per match.

Cecchin says he has never had lingering issues with a player or coach during his long career. He never cops abuse from a fan outside of the stadium.

But his candour when we meet high in the stands at ANZ Stadium this week highlights the pressure on the man in the middle that we all too often take for granted.

Cecchin reveals he had been hiding his mental illness for many years.

When he was 14, his parents separated and he attempted to take his own life. When he was 19, he fathered a child unexpectedly and tried to take the same grim path.

In 2013, in a finals match between Cronulla and the Cowboys, he infamously awarded a try to the Sharks on the seventh tackle. He was subsequently dropped for the rest of the finals and missed out on officiating at the Four Nations. He sought help on that occasion, but kept it hidden from others.

A mistake involving the Bunker in round three last year during a match between Parramatta and the Bulldogs triggered his issues leading into the match at Shark Park.

"Last year was really potent for me," Cecchin says. "I had a big call to make leading into a try. I used some inappropriate comms and put the Bunker under pressure for the first time."

Bulldogs fans will probably recall the moment. Winger Sam Perrett had scored in the corner, and while Cecchin considered it a try he deferred to the Bunker and asked if the ball had been passed forward or touched in flight.

The video referee can't rule on forward passes, but this time it did. The try was disallowed. James Graham howled at the moon in disgust.

"I said to check for a forward pass, which I know I shouldn't have done," Cecchin recalls. "Replays showed it was a clear forward pass. The Bunker was the shiny new toy of the NRL and it had been doing really well until then.

"This was the first time the Bunker had got it wrong. There was a massive level of expectation that the Bunker would be perfect and now I felt responsible because I saw how much pressure it put on my colleagues and my boss.

"I make mistakes in every game I referee. For some reason, that mistake affected me. That's what we learn with mental health. It doesn't pick and choose. It doesn't discriminate.
You can call me heartless, because I'm ignoring the compassion that is the intent behind the article, but I am super pissed off about this.

Two reasons. First, the media and the NRL establishment have never backed down on that the pass was forward.


"Replays showed it was a clear forward pass
sorry but I'm right and the rest are wrong about this. Yes, it would have been an injustice if the try stood because the pass did travel forward. But the problem is, and no fucking one in the establishment has ever groked this, is the stupid rule about propelling backward and the ball travelling forward. As far as I'm concerned, the rule should simply be the ball travelling ending up ahead of where the passer passed it, regardless of any other factor.

I don't care that a gust of wind can propel it forward... too fucking bad. If it is windy and gusty, the game has changed. The players are professionals. They should judge the conditions, perform more short sharp passes back that don't risk going forward.

And yes, I think Kas propelled the pass backward. At worst it was line ball. The rotation on the ball looks to account for the it heading slightly forward, and then bouncing well forward when it hits the ground. And how the bunker was so sure Radrada didn't touch it, I don't know. Because given how it was spinning, the slightest touch was only going to deflect it further forward.

Don't believe me, here it is:


The point is, the pass was absolutely not clear cut forward. Yet the revisionist media, in this article, and past articles paint it like it was massively forward or something.

End rant on point number 1.

Point number 2... it's the Bulldogs wearing it again! And it may be heartless and mean, but Checcin's plight... for me it's just affirmation. Clearly, a lot of the referee ranks have an unconcious, for some probably a concious bias against the Bulldogs. For me, it's a really really huge issue that is affecting how I view the game. Of course all clubs cop bad decisions, but I can't shake that the types of bad decisions that go against us do not happen to other clubs. The unusual and nit picky type decisions... whilst others are just errors out of poor officiating (forward pass for Broncos leveller against Cowboys for example).

My read... internally in Checchin's breakdown was a guilt, acknowledged or otherwise, that he did what I accuse most of the referees of doing, looking for ways to hinder and penalise the Bulldogs team. Of course what he says about other things, like the integrity of the Bunker etc, are not invalidated...

This article is meant to shine a light on mental illness, etc... all I get is rage that a year on, there is proof positive the Bulldogs get shafted... and it's washed over because it's not the point of the article. Just a simple cast away anecdote of no consequence for improved standards of refereeing.
 
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Papa Emeritus

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Move on dude wtf. Every team cops questionable ref calls.
 

DoggiesBoy

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Move on dude wtf. Every team cops questionable ref calls.
Exactly this, who gives a shit, it was last season. Every team could pour over every referee's decision against them and find a dud call, it happens, move on.
 

Lov_Dog

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The forward pass call last night against a certain Bronco's try. It was lucky for the ref it didn't decide the game...how was a touch judge 20+ meters from the pass able to over-rule the on field referee almost on top of the action?
WOW!

~c.
 

CrittaMagic69

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Bro..move on lol.
 

Dawgfather

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How many minutes/seconds into that video does the incident occur?
 

Boxer

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Move on dude wtf. Every team cops questionable ref calls.
That's the problem every team every week cops questionable calls why is this happening?
Teams have lost or won games cause of shit refs and they are never held accountable.
 

Round Of A-Paws

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What's funny is that we can rule on a forward pass after the match but not during it. Aren't we using the same footage? Hm...
 

Dognacious

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Aaahh, so thats why we didnt win the comp..
 

_G-Dog_

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We were dudded in the SF afainst the Rorter$ in 2015.. a non try ruled try that changed the game..

Another big effup was the Idris try ruled no try in the final minute against the Dragoons in 2009, cost us a minor premiership
 
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Bluebody

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The forward pass call last night against a certain Bronco's try. It was lucky for the ref it didn't decide the game...how was a touch judge 20+ meters from the pass able to over-rule the on field referee almost on top of the action?
WOW!

~c.
This would be as close as you get to match fixing behaviour.
 

habs

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Wtf is this shit
 
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