I've been watching RL since around 1952, though I confess I was only, sort of four years old, so probably spent more time pulling bottles out of the old rubbish tip filling that Odsal had back then, than actually concentrating on the rugby - however, I can't remember a time when the rules specified the ball HAD to go backwards, indeed my recollection is that "in any direction except forwards" has pretty much always figured in the laws of the game.



That said, I'd agree that players DID make more of an effort to actually pass it backwards in the old days but that has been overtaken by the more modern approach of the legal 'flat pass', and obviously, the nearer you go to flat makes the possibility of it going forward much more likely.



At the risk of turning this thread into Dêja vue all over again though, no matter how slowly you you play the game [unless you stop to make the pass, the ball will always finish up in front of the passer due to the momentum of the ball and, sadly, I do feel than many[i still [/ihaven't grasped this simple matter of physics.

I thought we were known for not cutting our cloth, or being the RFLs favourites or playing at an iconic ground.

This post started the thread so it's a good way to finish

Its was great on Friday ,the cost of a transfer into the seated stand was well worth the money.Thanks for a great evening.

Am I the only one to find this hard to believe?

I disagree completely. Players will always play to the very limit of whatever laws are in place. All teams know what the rules of the game are & what the current interpretations are. There are very few naïve or deliberate transgressions that go unpunished, nowhere near enough to remotely spoil the game.



Incidentally I have seen 3 people die at RL games in my 30+ years of watching, at least 2 of those were directly from incidents where sections of the crowd were worked up into a frenzy. People need to get some perspective.

:2m06ewl0

To be honest, I disagree completely.



Players are professionals. They break, or go to the limits of, whatever the rules [or interpretations are, simply because they perceive there is an advantage to be gained from doing so. I have to say you have a different opinion of what constitutes 'very few' than I do as, in general, I see several [I've probably got a different interpretation of the word 'several' than you

The thing that I really don't understand about the PTB is why we play to a different procedure than is specified in the laws. Which state that the ball shall be placed on the ground*



The problem only exists because officials ignore the flagrant breach ogf this simple and basic rule, and instead, allow the ball to be rolled backwards. The rules do not permit this, plain and simple. Propelling the ball behind you is not "placing" it.



We then are told that the refs have been told to interpret the PTB rule in a way that as long as the player has made "a genuine effort" to play the ball with the foot, let it go. And it is this that leads to the ridiculous spectacle of a player lifting a boot as he whangs the ball back to his teammate, making a laughable cursory waft at the ball or even no effort at al, yet play goes on, and his team gets the major advantage.



What should happen is, ball placed on ground as per rule. If the player then made his "genuine attempt", the ball wouldn't move.



The immediate and miraculous effect would be that suddenly all players would manage to play the ball with their foot.







* the rule actually says "place or drop" but the refs ignore the second part and if you drop the ball to the ground they automatically call it a knock-on

I have made my point previously but agree that as the RFL continue to change the rules each season in an effort to speed up the game (especially for Sky viewers), referees allowing the ridiculous throwing the ball to the receiver in the play the ball! Forward passes which result in tries when our friends on SKY often comment "that pass looked a little forward", the game is moving closer towards American Football.

You are missing my point. The PTB & flat passes are not infringements of the current interpretations of the rules. There are virtually no forward passes that players get away with, irrespective of the screams from the Sky commentary box. 1 or 2 in a game generally. I see no real need to change the PTB, it wasn’t a great effort just needed a bit of technique. But they did &, personally I couldn’t give a monkeys as someone at least makes the effort to lift his leg. For the enjoyment of the game & giving an advantage it is almost irrelevant.

If the pass rule was reverted to having to go back we would end up exactly where we are now. With cries that it was 2 yards flat not backwards. Players will be coached to pass as near to flat as possible. Again it is hardly an issue that spoils a game IMO. There are far more errors from players that contribute to defeat in every game than any marginal decisions from officials.

Not sure if anyone’s watched much NRL this season but they have cleaned up their PTB and speeded up the game without it turning into a succession of dummy half scoots. It’s do-able.



The time taken wrestling and messing about is much lower and the game is better as a result. The PTB over here has become too important in my opinion and the tricks employed by players to gain an advantage there are detracting from the more aesthetically pleasing parts of the game.



They have some rules that we’ll definitely see over hear soon like penalising the third man in the tackle if he tackles at the knees or below, compulsory substituting concussed players and 7 tackles from 20m taps when the opposition kicked the ball dead.

Exactly. And any one of our teams playing the way they do would be penalised to death under Aus rules.







Exactly. In fact you can easily see, - if you look for it - the tactics that have spread like wildfire, and because everyone is doing it, some much better than others but everyone, we and the refs just let it go.



I am sick of seeing the tackled player make an extra 2 or 3 meters as he regains his feet. What happened to playing the ball on the mark? I am sick of seeing the player levering himself up with one hand, crouched, while whanging the ball under his rising foot to the acting half back who makes many yards scooting as the defence is not set, and the marker is helpless since as the AHB scots past him, the tackled player is 'accidentally' stumbling into collision with him.





Leaving aside the odd question of wtf the RFL and the ARL can't sit down each close season and decide a joint policy, which must be simultaneously the biggest embarrassment of governance in any international sport, and an enormous finger raised to northern hemisphere rugby league, I watch the NRL and the PTB there seems easy enough for the refs to police extremely consistently without all this performance. You don't really notice their PTB; you kind of know what to expect and you find yourself being able to instinctively tell when a penalty is going to be called.



It just looks so clean, all the more so if you then watch one of our games back to back.