Dear Mr Archer…
An open letter…
Last night I joined 13,000 other Eels fans at the Stadium, to see my team play. I expected to see my team be given a fair chance to compete in the match.
There is no doubt my team played poorly, as most teams do periodically. However, my team still has the right to expect competent and unbiased refereeing. It has been documented in in the news media, as well as on Eels fan sites, that the team was not given an even handed and fair chance to compete, due to the match referee, Mr Perenara.
It is well documented that the Eels have a lower winning record under the supervision of this referee than others, and rarely win penalty counts when he is officiating. The discrepancy compared with other referees raises a few possibilities:
That this referee is incompetent,
That this referee has a bias against the Eels,
That this referee may be corrupt,
That this is just a statistical quirk and we are all delusional conspiracy theorists.
Last night’s game deserves particular scrutiny:
The decision to allow Sio to pass off the ground was disgracefully bad, compounded by the incorrect explanation given by Mr Perenara to Cory Norman. The try that followed virtually shut the door on an Eels comeback. That refereeing decision and misinterpretation of the rules must be put down to incompetence, as no biased or corrupt referee would cheat so blatantly, knowing that 13000 fans at the ground and every one else watching on TV could see that it was a howler.
The Will Smith sin binning was just as bad and perhaps even worse for the effect it had on the outcome of the game. That has been well discussed. Clearly the ball had cleared the ruck and the dummy half was just slow. Incompetence? Bias?
But it was the subtle game changing calls that are most worrying:
Newcastle’s 7 tackle set- Gagai allowed to streak away and runs 30m. Eels 7 tackle set gets pulled up to wait until everyone was ready. Momentum changer.
Several times the Eels play the ball was reset by Mr Perenara- “back to the mark”, each time giving the defence a precious few extra seconds to reset. None for Newcastle.
Only one penalty for bad play the ball- against the Eels.
Auv’a non touch episode – Newcastle allowed to keep possession called 6 again
These calls killed any momentum the Eels may have built. Games often turn on just a few plays, a few swings in fortune and momentum and these several episodes played the Eels out of contention. Moreover, knowing that the referee was going in hard against the team, may well make players tentative in anything they do.
There will always be games where the 50: 50 calls appear to favour one team. The conventional wisdom and the way fans cope with this is is to consider that these will even out over a season.
But with Mr Perenara and the Eels it never does. Blatantly wrong calls, wrong explanations, dubious resets, momentum killing trivial stoppages, unbalanced penalty counts, it cannot be just the rub of the green.
So Mr Archer, will you undertake to look into this in a detailed and fair way? It is not enough for you to say the Sio pass off the ground was incorrect and give Mr Perrenara a week off and leave it at that.
Do you accept that there is a pattern with Mr Perenara and the Eels that must be more than chance? Will you review the match in detail?
Will you comment of the incompetencies and inconsistencies of this referee and the apparent bias that was palpable to all at the ground last night and at other games?
Will you assure us that you will investigate to assure us that there is no hint of corruption or influence of betting agencies? Will you question Mr Perrenara?
At the very least will you commit to Eels fans that this referee will not officiate at an Eels match again this season, and preferably ever.
Yours sincerely
An Eels fan
Replies
A) vave got exposed early on and they got confident and built early momentum. I realise he was hooked early but it was too late by that stage.
B) we lacked composure and kept dropping the ball.
C) we weren't pushing up in numbers and we were playing one-out crap
AND D) our kicking game was off for the first time in a long time.
I agree we were poor, but this isn't about why we lost but how this referee denied us the chance to compete and his apparent documented history of bias against the Eels. As someone might say...there ought to be an enquiry.
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