Rules Of The Game

[Philistine]

I love the footy and heartily detest the NRL, I hope that doesn’t mean I’m schizophrenic. One of my pet hates (there’s a long list) is the way they change the rules every five minutes. How can the idiot commentators bang on about “the greatest game of all” when “the game” is not the one we played last week, last month, last year?

I was curious how they actually manage to keep tinkering with the rules (and don’t stir me up by calling them “laws” - they are not laws!). I did a bit of research and found – wait for it – they don’t! The custodian of the rules of the game is an outfit called the International Rugby League Federation, and they, and only they, make rule changes - which actually doesn’t happen very often! The NRL is free to make a submission regarding rule changes, as is any member of the public, but the NRL cannot change a rule.

How do they get around this? Simples! They instruct their referees to “interpret” rules a certain way, which sometimes means ignoring some rules completely. For instance: in a scrum, the half is required to feed the ball into the tunnel squarely between the legs of the two opposing front rows, and (surprise, surprise) this is just as much a rule as it was thirty years ago. When was the last time anyone on the Kennel actually saw it happen? By the same token, when was the last time a half was penalised for feeding the second row?

https://www.intrl.sport/laws-of-the-game/

 

[D0GMATIC]

The problem is " interpretation " It creates a grey area, the rules should be black and white. Passes from dummy half shit me, some of them are blatantly forward, if the ball goes forward from 1 player to their team mate who is in front of them,off the foot or the hand that's offside and should be penalised accordingly.

 

[diddly]

What is the rule regard attacking team pushing the player with the ball - seems that all teams are doing it - when it happens in an attacking position near the tryline they are penalised for impacting defenders ability to tackle but when in the backfield doesn't seem to matter.

 

[Philistine]

The problem is " interpretation " It creates a grey area, the rules should be black and white. Passes from dummy half shit me, some of them are blatantly forward, if the ball goes forward from 1 player to their team mate who is in front of them,off the foot or the hand that's offside and should be penalised accordingly.

I doubt if you could make everything black and white, but it wouldn't be hard to nudge things in the right direction. In my book, if the ball leaves your hands and moves nearer to your opponent's goal line on the full, it should always be judged a forward pass. But that's not what the rules say. By introducing the forward movement of the player throwing the pass you are turning what should be black and white into the greyest of grey, and giving the referee carte blanche to rule any way he pleases.

Similarly, if you drop the ball and it travels forward on the full it is a knock-on. If it travels backwards, you get away with it. Why? In each case you have made the same mistake. If every dropped ball is called a knock-on, a player's mistake gets punished and it takes away one grey area.

 

[BELMORE]

I doubt if you could make everything black and white, but it wouldn't be hard to nudge things in the right direction. In my book, if the ball leaves your hands and moves nearer to your opponent's goal line on the full, it should always be judged a forward pass. But that's not what the rules say. By introducing the forward movement of the player throwing the pass you are turning what should be black and white into the greyest of grey, and giving the referee carte blanche to rule any way he pleases.

Similarly, if you drop the ball and it travels forward on the full it is a knock-on. If it travels backwards, you get away with it. Why? In each case you have made the same mistake. If every dropped ball is called a knock-on, a player's mistake gets punished and it takes away one grey area.

If you don’t introduce forward movement of a player then every pass that is made when someone is running would be considered forward you dope.

 

[chisdog]

I doubt if you could make everything black and white, but it wouldn't be hard to nudge things in the right direction. In my book, if the ball leaves your hands and moves nearer to your opponent's goal line on the full, it should always be judged a forward pass. But that's not what the rules say. By introducing the forward movement of the player throwing the pass you are turning what should be black and white into the greyest of grey, and giving the referee carte blanche to rule any way he pleases.

Similarly, if you drop the ball and it travels forward on the full it is a knock-on. If it travels backwards, you get away with it. Why? In each case you have made the same mistake. If every dropped ball is called a knock-on, a player's mistake gets punished and it takes away one grey area.

This video should help you with the forward pass one.

Total Rugby - Forward Pass - YouTube

 

[Philistine]

If you don’t introduce forward movement of a player then every pass that is made when someone is running would be considered forward you dope.

I must be a dope for believing my lying eyes when I see literally hundreds of perfectly legal passes delivered in every game I watch, by players running towards their opponents goal line. Not just legal by the strict letter of the rule but by the "rule" that I should like to see introduced. Passing behind you two-handed is tricky but not impossible. Passing one-handed is easy enough, and, if you are good enough, you can pass out of the back of the hand (flick pass).

 

[BELMORE]

I must be a dope for believing my lying eyes when I see literally hundreds of perfectly legal passes delivered in every game I watch, by players running towards their opponents goal line. Not just legal by the strict letter of the rule but by the "rule" that I should like to see introduced. Passing behind you two-handed is tricky but not impossible. Passing one-handed is easy enough, and, if you are good enough, you can pass out of the back of the hand (flick pass).

Yea you are a dope

 

[TwinTurbo]

Similarly, if you drop the ball and it travels forward on the full it is a knock-on. If it travels backwards, you get away with it. Why? In each case you have made the same mistake. If every dropped ball is called a knock-on, a player's mistake gets punished and it takes away one grey area.

If the ball is knocked backwards you loose ground (disadvantage), if the ball is knocked forward then you gain ground (advantage), there is no grey area, it's that simple.

What pisses me off is when the ball goes dead vertical, neither forward nor back, it's always (for us anyway) called a knock on, but it isn't.


Always a Bulldog

 

[ILiveForDib]

The foward pass rule goes out the window agaisnt us. I count 5 minimum on a weekly basis and usually one leads up to a try

 

[Philistine]

If the ball is knocked backwards you loose ground (disadvantage), if the ball is knocked forward then you gain ground (advantage), there is no grey area, it's that simple.

What pisses me off is when the ball goes dead vertical, neither forward nor back, it's always (for us anyway) called a knock on, but it isn't.


Always a Bulldog

I think you are missing the point. If the ball had some kind of satnav device in it that could measure if it went forward or back, there would be no grey area. Unfortunately, in present circumstances. the referee is the sole arbiter of whether the ball went forwards or backwards, and, when a referee makes a judgment call in one of our games, it is highly unlikely that it will be in our favour.

 

[Motorhead]

I think you are missing the point. If the ball had some kind of satnav device in it that could measure if it went forward or back, there would be no grey area. Unfortunately, in present circumstances. the referee is the sole arbiter of whether the ball went forwards or backwards, and, when a referee makes a judgment call in one of our games, it is highly unlikely that it will be in our favour.

The ones that are line ball supporters can live with. The ones that are 3,4 or 5 metres forward are a disgrace. Plenty of them get let go. Depends what jersey you are wearing more often than not.

 

[TwinTurbo]

I think you are missing the point. If the ball had some kind of satnav device in it that could measure if it went forward or back, there would be no grey area. Unfortunately, in present circumstances. the referee is the sole arbiter of whether the ball went forwards or backwards, and, when a referee makes a judgment call in one of our games, it is highly unlikely that it will be in our favour.

The lines person is often the best judge of a forward pass, but as we all know they are blind when it comes to anyone playing us.

Always a Bulldog

 

[Philistine]

In the Leeds - Castleford game on Sunday, players had trackers, and one of them hit 36 km/hr. If this player ran the ball up at full speed then passed without slowing to a support, his momentum would have given the ball a forward movement of 10 metres per second. Assuming he passed the ball sideways relative to himself, and the pass was taken a half second later (just a guess), the ball would travel forward 5 metres (less a small amount for deceleration) and that would be perfectly acceptable under the rules.

Passes going 5 metres forward get called almost every time, even when the Dogs are the beneficiaries of the call. My guess is that the referee goes into a match with a general idea that a little bit forward in these circumstances is OK. How much is a little bit? For that he takes his cue from the linesman and / or the crowd, and the crowd tends to be more accepting of forward passes when their team is throwing them.

 

[Motorhead]

In the Leeds - Castleford game on Sunday, players had trackers, and one of them hit 36 km/hr. If this player ran the ball up at full speed then passed without slowing to a support, his momentum would have given the ball a forward movement of 10 metres per second. Assuming he passed the ball sideways relative to himself, and the pass was taken a half second later (just a guess), the ball would travel forward 5 metres (less a small amount for deceleration) and that would be perfectly acceptable under the rules.

Passes going 5 metres forward get called almost every time, even when the Dogs are the beneficiaries of the call. My guess is that the referee goes into a match with a general idea that a little bit forward in these circumstances is OK. How much is a little bit? For that he takes his cue from the linesman and / or the crowd, and the crowd tends to be more accepting of forward passes when their team is throwing them.

I've seen plenty of 5 metre forward passes let go over the last few years.

 

[chisdog]

In the Leeds - Castleford game on Sunday, players had trackers, and one of them hit 36 km/hr. If this player ran the ball up at full speed then passed without slowing to a support, his momentum would have given the ball a forward movement of 10 metres per second. Assuming he passed the ball sideways relative to himself, and the pass was taken a half second later (just a guess), the ball would travel forward 5 metres (less a small amount for deceleration) and that would be perfectly acceptable under the rules.

Passes going 5 metres forward get called almost every time, even when the Dogs are the beneficiaries of the call. My guess is that the referee goes into a match with a general idea that a little bit forward in these circumstances is OK. How much is a little bit? For that he takes his cue from the linesman and / or the crowd, and the crowd tends to be more accepting of forward passes when their team is throwing them.

The officials SHOULD be watching the way the ball moves out of the hands. Wind can be added to the situation as well. See video previously posted. The problem is, the officials just look at where the ball ends up.

 

[Philistine]

https://www.intrl.sport/laws-of-the-game/

Since this is a thread about rules, could I draw your attention to Section 15 – Player Misconduct? This lists the various types of player misconduct and subsection (i) has “behaves in any way contrary to the true spirit of the game”. It is an unfortunate omission that the rules contain no clarification on what this true spirit actually is, but I think most of us know instinctively when it is being violated.

It is becoming more and more common to hear the referee shout “milking” during a play. I take this to mean that a player is trying to convey the impression by his actions that he has been fouled, when in fact no foul play has occurred. This act of “milking” is itself foul play (or player misconduct if you want to be fussy). What is preventing the referee from penalizing it?