FSW wrote:I have been watching this game for quite some time now but there are things happening every game that I can't square with the rules as I thought I understood them. For example-
Penalty kick awarded. At one time the kicker had to kick through the mark. Now the penalty mark is where he starts his run up for the kick and he may kick the ball up to 10 yards from where the penalty was given.
When did the forward pass rule change from flat being forward ?
When the game is based on a 10 yard defensive line, why are teams sometimes taken back 15 yards or more without any consistency between teams or throughout the game?
The defensive line is supposed to only move forward when the ball is played by the foot. This was always an issue before using the foot was recently re-enforced. At most play the balls, the defensive line moves forward as the tackled player bends to play the ball the by the time the ball has "touched" the foot the defenders are virtually at the first receiver. This is sporadically managed by the referees with the main offenders, Wigan and Saints, being granted superhuman status re fitness and speed, always getting away with bending this rule at the expense of the overall game.
There are probably many other examples of "rule drift" or is my imagination running wild?
Most of those issues have been going on for over forty years.
Players will always try and steal a few yards, either when taking a penalty to touch or, move the ball in when taking a conversion.
The "flat passes too have always been a "feature" of the game, along with issues with the defensive line.
Some ref's are better than others and sometimes, especially if your team is behind, the calls always seem to go the wrong way.
There was some severe heckling of the ref yesterday, especially in the first half but, for many of the "incorrect" calls, the ref was right.
Sure, he missed some stuff but, they always do.
The best we can hope is that it doesn't affect the result.
