RFL clarify clock incident in Hull FC-Wigan Warriors match amid Andy Last “disgraceful” comments

Following Andy Last’s comments at the weekend after the clock malfunctioned in the game between Hull FC and Wigan Warriors, the RFL have clarified the situation.

FC went down 20-14 to the Warriors, and with the game hanging in the balance, there was confusion over when the game should have concluded.

Last blasted the incident, labelling it as “disgraceful” that, for the second time in a month, his side have had to play with no knowledge of when either the half-time or full-time whistle will be blown.

FC were six points down with around four minutes left on the clock. That’s when the malfunction occurred and the sides were playing without a timer.

However, the governing body have confirmed that the correspondence from on-field referee Liam Moore was correct, and the shouts of time remaining from the referee were in line with what it would have been had a clock been present.

A network error on the iPad used to track the time caused the issue of the clock disappearing, however the actual game time was never lost.

The timekeeper had a secondary timer running, and used that to confer with the officials in order to keep everything in line with what they should have been.

Following Adam Keighran’s missed penalty, FC retreived the 20 metre drop out and were awarded a penalty, giving them great field position to try and level the game. At the point of the drop out, the side were told there were 25 second left.

After the restart from the penalty, there were seven seconds remaining. Jed Cartwright then took the ball in, and the hooter blew, ending the game and leaving FC going home empty handed.