Bull Mania wrote:Makes me laugh the comments they have come out with though. They said if they took retrospective action on one tackle, they would be looking at all the tackles every Monday morning. The RFL do this on a much smaller budget than the FA? In all their "backing the referee" line they spout, they seemed to have forgotten one thing, player safety.
They don't "back the referee" though do they? On the one hand they will refuse to take retrospective action or not impose a ban when a red card has been shown in error. But then they'll stand down the official from the following week's matches. They make it fairly clear that he's being punished.
That said, I think there's a stronger case for leaving things alone if the ref takes no action than there is for imposing a ban if a red card is shown when clearly wrong. Automatic bans go against natural justice. Banning someone who shouldn't have been sent off in the first place is punishing someone wrongly, twice. And often a sending off is adequate punishment itself.