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Equine Chronicle » Kenny Rice

Problems with the NrL

After a season of bad decisions from the referees and the touch judges not wanting to make decisions at all, it was after the Cowboys second last home game against the Broncos on Friday 28 August 2009, when this was the final straw and the game, that robbed the Cowboys of a seat in the finals. After the fury had subsided and I had my wits, somewhat, about me I thought I was well over due to do something about it.

The following letter, intended for David Gallop, was sent to, who I thought were some NRL heavyweights. I sent it to all the boys at the NRL Footy Shows, including Phil Gould, Paul Vautin, Peter Sterling, and the rest of the crew. I also sent it to about a dozen radio stations across QLD and Northern NSW, and about a half a dozen newspapers, the only one of which printed it which was the Townsville Bulletin. They did not however, print the whole letter. Below is the letter in its entirety, to those who so wish to view it. There was also a letter sent to the whole Cowboys team including the Coaching staff and Peter Parr, which I will enter at a later date.

Ashley Graham - Round 25 28/08/09

"To the ardent rugby league supporter 2009 has been a frustrating year, where we saw a crackdown on contact with the kicker, this was the flavour of the month for the refs and the NRL for the start of the season. The frustration is that decisions made in the early rounds of the competition changed the results of matches and after about six rounds, contact with the kicker did not even get a second look from the ref let alone a penalty. I have only been watching Rugby League for a few years, after lots of encouragement from my other half I have grown to enjoy the game and always look forward to the weekend when my Cowboys take to the field. Not knowing all of the rules when the whistle is blown I sometimes find myself asking “what happened there?” and it is explained to me. What is frustrating is that game after game the match officials make inconsistent decisions that change the course of the game and you can see the players become discouraged when they have made a great play only to have the match official disallow it when last week or next week it is allowed. Touch judges that will not make a call on forward passes for fear of getting the call wrong, then it is referred to the video ref to make a decision, he is not allowed to make a call on forward passes so you may as well ask one of the mascots. If the video ref is not allowed to make a call on a forward pass then if there is nothing else wrong he has to award the try, knowing that the pass was forward. The technology is available to make a call on forward passes, why not use it? We may hear of half a dozen off field incidents during the season but every week dozens of decisions are made that change the result of the game and break the resolve of many a player and the heart of the rugby league fans. Being a Cowboys fan I feel we have been on the short end of many of these decisions throughout the season and these decisions have had impacts on the results of the matches. Against the Bulldogs, Friday 14 August 2009, the Willie Tonga try was disallowed due to Carl Webb taking out a defender (Brett Kimmorley) and even though Kimmorley was never going to have an influence on the try being scored, he was flattened and the commentators said that “The officials don’t like it when a defender is taken out like that”. The next night, watching a game on pay TV an almost identical try was scored and a defender was taken out, low and behold, the try was awarded. On Friday night, 28 August 2009, against the Broncos, I was sitting adjacent to the touch judge when the Broncos scored their first try, my grandmother knew the final pass was forward and she needs a guide dog to go to the shop. The touch judge would not make a call and it was referred to the video ref, who is not allowed to make a call on forward passes, so why refer it? The technology is available to make a call on forward passes, why not use it? If the rule states that you are not allowed to make contact with the head of an opposition player, why do some high tackles result in the offender being put on report, some result in a penalty and some players apparently only have a neck above their shoulders. Penalising all contact with the head may result in some “soft” penalties but players would soon learn not to contact the head of the opposing players if they lose the game due to the resulting penalty. The Cowboys have had a good year this year and I am proud of the effort of every one of them, they have represented North Queensland well and I wear my Cowboys jersey with pride. I have heard other season ticket holders say they will not be buying them next year, and it is not because of the Cowboys performance on the field, it is the ongoing poor performance of the match officials. When next season comes around I will still be there proudly waving my Cowboys flag and shouting encouragement for my team, Go the Cowboys!!!
Games are lost and won due to poor decisions by match officials and they seem to have no accountability for the decisions they make, maybe if they got paid by the number of correct decisions they make, they may at least try to get it right but they would probably have to file for bankruptcy by the end of the season. If the rules state that you are not allowed to make contact with the head of an opposition player, why do some high tackles result in the offender being put on report, some result in a penalty and sometimes, even with four match officials on the field they act like they’ve not seen anything.
While there is gambling on NRL, or any sport, there is always going to be corruption, and sometimes it is easy to think that the ref has got a wager on the game, whilst I am not questioning the integrity of the match officials, their on field decisions often leave me scratching my head and they place themselves in a position where people doubt their veracity.

David Gallop, do something about how the game is officiated, any business that consistently makes poor decisions will go under, the NRL is no different, it is the fans that make the game, they are your customers, if you don’t look after your customers, they will shop somewhere else.

Theresa Farrell
DeeragunTownsville Qld 4818"

Georgia starts year 1

Georgia started year 1 this year. While she loves school and is mostly enjoying year 1, she has lost a lot of confidence that she had last year. Every day, she asks me if I can stay with her at school, of course that’s not allowed anyway, and am unable to due to the fact of having Sydney with me, but I really want to sometimes. To see her being so confident last year and not being overly confident this year, it breaks my heart. It seems she is not letting it stop her from learning though. She loves to read and is getting better every day. I generally spent around 30-45 mins a night having her read a book and doing word lists, and she seems to enjoy it. I think that she’ll be a big reader when she is capable and is just so keen to be able to read. I’m so proud of her.

She asks me every day if she can stay home from school. When I asked her the first time why she wanted to stay home, she told me that the other kids won’t play with her. I told her that she doesn’t need everyone to play with her and be friends with her like last year, and that as long as she has a good friend in Danielle and Mayson (who were in her class last year), she doesn’t need the others and not to worry if not everyone in her class is her friend. She seemed to take that on board, but still asks to stay home. Now when I ask her why she wants to stay home, she tells me that she misses me and wants to be at home with me. She occasionally has a bit of a cry in the morning or evening about not wanting to go to school, but she never cries at school, and is generally pretty good when I leave her at school. I guess she’ll be ok, but it still worries me a little.

1st day of year 1

Sydney

This is my new daughte - she's not brand new,
but is still only 6 months old - her name is Sydney, isn't she the cutest?

She is also a huge Cowboys fan.

It's been a while

It's been a while since my last post. I have been very busy with children and lots of other distractions. So here goes with this years first post.

The 'Boys got off to a pretty good start to the year this year, but the last couple of weeks are probably something they would like to forget. Being defeated by 168 points in the last two games, my only hope is that with the back end of Origin coming up, they can only do better. Sorry to see that Rod Jensen leave a couple of weeks ago to play over in England, pretty big loss if you ask me, and now Brenton Bowen is going to leave the Cowboys and join the Titans in their second year. I love to see the Bowen boys on the paddock together, especially when Johnathan Thurston, Matthew Bowen and Brenton Bowen are on par it's pretty hard to stop these boys, they are an outstanding combination and it's going to be a huge loss without Brenton for the Cowboys, I can only hope they have someone with big enough feet to fill his shoes. But by the by, I wish him all the best of success witht the Titans.

It was also good to see Ty Williams coming back into the side after his stint with the Young Guns after coming back from injuries.

NRL.COM > News Article > Cowboys annoyed over NRL poaching claims

NRL.COM > News Article > Cowboys annoyed over NRL poaching claims

Confident Of Cowboys To Win Premiership!!

Before you say anything against my ‘Boys, you have to agree with me that the first 6 weeks of the season were absolutely fantastic. Their ball handling skills, attack and defence were all stunning. I cannot stress enough about how I am so very proud of them all.
While the past couple of games have been a bit ordinary, they have proven to us in the earlier part of the season that they can actually be up there with the big guns. They have, I know looked as though they have returned to their old bad habits, but I’d also like to be able to give them the benefit of the doubt, in saying that, they have had a few hard games to come home winners and have been looking a bit tired. They might well be in the need for a bit of a break, or maybe they just have to train that little bit harder. I don’t know, because I don’t personally know them and don’t train with them, obviously.
I would also like to say that I am very confident that they will return to form and come home at the end of the season with the big pointy trophy that all football teams crave to have in their possession.
In finishing, I would like to take the time to tell the ‘Boys, that no matter how the season ends up, you are winners to me, you are all MY ‘Boys and I don’t really care if you bring home the trophy or not. I’d just like to see you stick it to the likes of Phil Gould, who are with you when you’re winning and criticise you just that little bit too much, when you’re not. To me I couldn’t care less, because ultimately, in the end it comes down to three things, how you play the game, that you’re all good sports and you have fun doing it.