Mr Rolland

[Eirian]

I think what drives my opinion about Rolland mostly is the fact that most children grow up to support their father's club/country.

I'm a Welshman living in England. I've met many an English person who have said that they are a Welsh supported because that was who their dad supported

Think about it, as a child growing up watching sport, if your father is supporting a certain club/country it is bound to influence your support. I know his father played for Ireland but that doesn't mean he didn't shout for France.

If you rewatch the game, watch it and pay special attention to the flow of penalties. I did this today after he tickled my suspicions in the WC semi, and maybe I'm wrong, but I did feel as France went two tries behind the penalty count against England started cranking up.


I don't think he does it consciously, but I do feel perhaps it is there, these little margins can make the difference.

 

[Robert Prosser]

I dont think he is biased towards France should he be reffing them I dont know maybe he should maybe he shouldnt the IRB says he can so he does, he is not a poor ref just not a great one he has made a few mistakes but a lot of correct ones to, so all in all I say lets not berate the refs and when a team loses lets say we losst to the better team I am getting very tired of the ref cost us the game line now its all to common these days.

 

[lucky number 7]

For **** sake this can of worms again.... Yes..he's going out to screw everyone who play against France it's as simple as that isn't it..Take off your tinfoil hats and stop the whinging .. he's consistently a top knotch referee.

 

[nickdnz]

By that logic Hape shouldn't have been allowed to play against New Zealand, having lived and having family from here. He may want to make England lose...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

and, ironically, one of his vaguely acceptable games in an England shirt was against the All Blacks :lol:

 

[TNT88]

What do we think?

The OP is so pathetically wrong it doesn't warrant a thoughtful response because you will probably just ignore it anyway.

Thread should have been locked immediately to prevent the average IQ of this forum dropping.

 

[Feicarsinn]

For **** sake this can of worms again.... Yes..he's going out to screw everyone who play against France it's as simple as that isn't it..Take off your tinfoil hats and stop the whinging .. he's consistently a top knotch referee.

Meow!

 

[Zed]

Yeah I thought the winger getting binned was a terrible decision. Worst case - penalty. It actually looked more like he was trying to catch it.

Steve Walsh has reffed wit the ABS playing?? When??

 

[TNT88]

I think what drives my opinion about Rolland mostly is the fact that most children grow up to support their father's club/country.

I'm a Welshman living in England. I've met many an English person who have said that they are a Welsh supported because that was who their dad supported

Think about it, as a child growing up watching sport, if your father is supporting a certain club/country it is bound to influence your support. I know his father played for Ireland but that doesn't mean he didn't shout for France.

If you rewatch the game, watch it and pay special attention to the flow of penalties. I did this today after he tickled my suspicions in the WC semi, and maybe I'm wrong, but I did feel as France went two tries behind the penalty count against England started cranking up.


I don't think he does it consciously, but I do feel perhaps it is there, these little margins can make the difference.

Start refereeing rugby in your local comp and then see what it's like to be on the other end of silly claims like this.

"Your father played for club X therefore you favored them in that Under 7s game, I watched closely and saw it".

Ask yourself why anyone would want their team to win a single game due to dodgy refereeing. That would just hurt the club in the long run, because whatever they are not doing well enough to win games wont be exposed.

Do you know anyone who sits down to watch rugby games and hopes/prays the referee doesn't let the best team win? Even the most bias fans would get bored of the sport if this was the case.

Refs, especially those on live TV probably just want to get all their decisions correct and go home knowing they did their best to ensure a safe game of rugby was played.

 

[smartcooky]

After watching Mr Roland today a few things hit me, well 2 at least.

First up with the representative rules for players at the moment why are referees not subject to the same rules. Mr Roland is eligible to play for France through his French father. Before anyone says it I know he had 3 caps for Ireland but the possibility is still there. For my money he shouldnt be able to referee France just as Wayne Barnes doesnt referee England.

Secondly and I'm not suggesting anything untoward but the fact is in the last two games he has refereed France he has given them 2 massive decisions which experts seem to be of a concensus were wrong firstly the Warburton card in the world cup and Sharples card today. Both of those decisions may have a major impact on a top tier tournament not to mention job prospects and players international positions/ call ups.

So two games vs France and 2 potentially massive decisions. This isnt my opinion this is a fact, after all what cant speak, cant lie

To my mind it seems he wants to play a bigger part in a game than a referee should.

What do we think?

Who he is eligible for is irrelevant. Regulation 8 applies to players only; not coaches, not administrators and not referees.

Alain Rolland referees under the IRFU banner and therefore he cannot referee any game involving any Irish national team.

It makes sense for him to referee France because he speaks fluent French as well as English.

There is nothing sinister here... no conspiracy theories please. Leave them to the nutters who believe in the second gunman, the faked moon landings and the UFO coverup.

 

[Atco]

Can't see anything wrong in criticising a referee's decision, particularly one as potentially crucial as this one.
I think it was a poor decision. Very hard to decide whether some act is deliberate or not. We can't know for sure. I would give benefit of the doubt to the player especially during an international played at pace and where instinctive reaction is to be expected. My own view is that both Sharples and Fofana instinctively stuck there hands out in an attempt to make an intercept. After all, a successful intercept by either of them would have probably led to a try and was worth an effort to intercept the opposition's pass.
Bad decision. Sorry.

 

[Olliekooga]

The OP is so pathetically wrong it doesn't warrant a thoughtful response because you will probably just ignore it anyway.

Thread should have been locked immediately to prevent the average IQ of this forum dropping.

Interesting opinion.

I fail to see what was "pathetically wrong" though

1. Rolland qualifies to play for France through French parentage FACT
2. In the last 2 games he has refereed he has made decisions which at the time were said to be controversial FACT

I gave my opinion and then asked for others. Is that not the purpose of a forum?

It is just as well this thread "doesn't warrant a thoughtful response" as you would obviously have struggled.
With your statement regarding not giving a thoughtful response, are we to assume your reply was therefore thoughtless? As that would explain a bit.

As for for intelligence dropping I can only suggest you dont read any more threads as by the sound of things if your intelligence drops any lower you will have trouble walking and talking at the same time

I think I need to clarify something here.

I am not suggesting that Mr Rolland has cheated in anyway AT ALL. What I am raising is the point that due to his French parentage there may be the appearance of inpropriety which is easy to avoid.

I realise regulation 8 applies to players not officials as I said in the OP
I dont think Mr Rolland is a bad ref at all unfortunately he is the figure which I based this post around to emphasise the point

 

[TNT88]

1. Rolland qualifies to play for France through French parentage FACT
2. In the last 2 games he has refereed he has made decisions which at the time were said to be controversial FACT

I gave my opinion and then asked for others. Is that not the purpose of a forum?

It's the conclusions you reach which are crazy. Are you suggesting refs shouldn't referee any country they are eligible for?

Why? Just because you can't see yourself how someone can fairly referee the game involving a country they've lived in or had ancestors from doesn't mean others' can't. Also, it would just get ridiculous and actually result in poorer refereeing standards all around test rugby.

And quite frankly the suggestion that he is favoring a team based on the premises (or facts) you outlined is an insane conclusion that would require so much more proof it's not even funny.

The real hint that you haven't got a clue what you are talking about was this statement: "experts seem to be of a concensus were wrong firstly the Warburton card in the world cup"

The consensus was that the decision was right and thats why he got suspended.

I could go on for ever but there isn't going to be much point as you are prepared to lie to support your cause.

 

[Olliekooga]

It's the conclusions you reach which are crazy. Are you suggesting refs shouldn't referee any country they are eligible for?

Why? Just because you can't see yourself how someone can fairly referee the game involving a country they've lived in or had ancestors from doesn't mean others' can't. Also, it would just get ridiculous and actually result in poorer refereeing standards all around test rugby.

And quite frankly the suggestion that he is favoring a team based on the premises (or facts) you outlined is an insane conclusion that would require so much more proof it's not even funny.

The real hint that you haven't got a clue what you are talking about was this statement: "experts seem to be of a concensus were wrong firstly the Warburton card in the world cup"

The consensus was that the decision was right and thats why he got suspended.

I could go on for ever but there isn't going to be much point as you are prepared to lie to support your cause.

Wow You quote me and then ignore the quote you use to condemn me. Interesting approach

I cant believe that I have to remind you what you quoted me on but here it is
"In the last 2 games he has refereed he has made decisions which at the time were said to be controversial FACT"

Again half right (getting better) I'm not suggesting he is biased but that the appearance that he has French parentage opens the possibility which the IRB could eliminate

Concentrate

 

[TNT88]

So Mr Rolland shouldn't referee games France are involved in because some idiots watching might think he is bias when clearly he isn't?

So he isn't bias, but he should be banned from refereeing France. Is this actually your point?

You are going to lower the level of refereeing standard for something as stupid as that? I hope the IRB never endorses such a retarded policy. It will screw up test rugby.

(and by the way it's not our fault if we misunderstood your argument... the way you are setting it out and due to the fact whatever conclusion you have reached isn't supported by the substanceless "facts" you have posted)

Face it, the facts you outlined don't imply any meaningful conclusion. The only one I can think of is that 'a minority of idiots will launch crazy allegations of bias due to ignorance of the laws and refereeing in general".

 

[barthelemy]

I do not think rolland has any bias with France. I think he has not been very good yesterday...the penalty against Croft (?) for jumping on Rougerie after the little tackle on Fodden was harsch definitly. For the yellow card, it is clearly a voluntary knock on with no real try to take the ball with 2 hands..the yellow card is still discussable as generally nobody gives a yellow card for this...But in the rule, it is at least a penalty for this.

 

[welshglory]

I think Rolland had lost his cool by then. That penalty against Croft was ridiculous, the way i saw it Croft was trying to hold back Rougerie although it did look strange!

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Gents and ladies, polite reminder could you please edit your posts and not double post thank you.

 

[lucky number 7]

Gents and ladies, polite reminder could you please edit your posts and not double post thank you.

Where?

 

[Olliekooga]

So Mr Rolland shouldn't referee games France are involved in because some idiots watching might think he is bias when clearly he isn't?

So he isn't bias, but he should be banned from refereeing France. Is this actually your point?

You are going to lower the level of refereeing standard for something as stupid as that? I hope the IRB never endorses such a retarded policy. It will screw up test rugby.

(and by the way it's not our fault if we misunderstood your argument... the way you are setting it out and due to the fact whatever conclusion you have reached isn't supported by the substanceless "facts" you have posted)

Face it, the facts you outlined don't imply any meaningful conclusion. The only one I can think of is that 'a minority of idiots will launch crazy allegations of bias due to ignorance of the laws and refereeing in general".

Just so we are clear I assume you are putting the word facts in quotation marks as a way of questioning the validity of the facts themselves or the use of the word fact itself implying that the statements were not statements of fact in short untrue.

Just to remind you these statements were

"Rolland qualifies to play for France through French parentage FACT "
" In the last 2 games he has refereed he has made decisions which at the time were said to be controversial FACT"

which of these statements are eroneous?

Given Mr Rollands parentage any significant decisions given by Mr Rolland in favour of France (as in his last 2 games) may OR MAY NOT be seen as bias whether that bias exists or not.
Therefore to avoid the issue even raising its head in the future I would understand if the IRB were to say to Mr Rolland that he cannot referee games involving France just as he cant refereee games involving Ireland.


As for the way I set out my argument, I consider myself to be fairly well educated but I can't be responsible for what you understand or for that matter what you infer from that understanding