Former official hits out at Paul Rowley for using referee as “scapegoat”

After some big games between Leeds Rhinos and Leigh Leopards, Hull FC and Wakefield Trinity and Salford Red Devils and St Helens there was a lot of talk about officials especially from the Salford and Saints.

The game at the AJ Bell Stadium in front of 6,500 fans was perhaps the game of the day, maybe even the game of the round as the Saints battled back from 15-2 down to claim a 18-15 triumph over the Red Devils.

It was a close game with some great play but after the game Paul Rowley stated after the game that the contest was a “good game spoiled” by the officials as he said the official Jack Smith was a “disgrace.”

This came on Salford Red Devils TV, he said: “It’s so hard. If we’d have won the game, I’d come in and say probably exactly the same thing. I thought the officials were a disgrace. I think Jack, I’ve watched him on telly, he’s been a disgrace a few times this year, one for us at Warrington at home. So three games in a row now we’ve been absolutely let down.

“So clearly Kendall and Liam Moore are the best two refs who get all the cup finals, we don’t get them too much so we must be deemed poor quality games.

“It’s kind of gloves off, I’m usually quite measured and take my time I don’t like to criticise because we’ve lost obviously, but again, I’d have said the same thing in victory.

“Games are very much decided by officials quite often and the obvious response to that will be, ‘they don’t miss a tackle’, ‘they don’t do a forward pass’, and no they don’t, but they don’t get batted 25 times a game either so a lot of it is just visual.

“Then when you’ve got a bright pink boot four foot in front of you on a touchline, then you would hope that somebody competent would make the right decision. As a result of that the sequence continues and we get a man in the bin and then there’s a try scored from a knock on.”

There was a big focus on the missed foot in touch from Tee Ritson however former official Ian Smith spoke out about this call and said it didn’t cost the Red Devils and is no need to use Jack Smith as a “scapegoat.”

He said:

“Players decide the outcome of matches, a missed foot in touch, with all the tackles, passes and passages of play that players influence the outcome of matches and you are putting the defeat at a players foot on the line then it’s using him as a scapegoat in my opinion.”

He went onto say that he wasn’t defending the decision:

“I’m not defending any decision, if his foot was in touch then its a mistake by the touch judge, I personally don’t think that deserves a comment to say match officials are weak and incompetent from a prominent Super League head coach.”