George Clancy

First topic message reminder :

The IRB, the IRFU, anyone with the authority,

can we please, please remove George Clancy from the game of Rugby?

I have no bias, I am a South African, Sharks and Natal supporter, who currently lives in Wales.

If George Clancy was in any other industry then he would have been sacked. His performances are not only bad, they are baffling. He's come to my attention on a few occasions. Wales v Italy (2012) and Blues v Ospreys (14.04.2012) are the two most recent examples. In these games he handed out yellow cards like they were advertising flyers, he gave penalties on a whim, his handling of the scrum was farcical, and the games had no flow due to his terrible 'style.'

Everyone knows Rolland, Owens, Barnes, Pearson and Joubert makes mistakes but generally I think they are good refs and far more akin to great refs such as Stuart Dickinson, Jonathan Kaplan and Chris Pollock, who I regard as the best 3.

I think George Clancy is dangerous. I don't trust him to control a match and I think that non rugby supporters who are trying the game out initally, will be forever discouraged with Clancy in charge. I know I would be. He is harmful to the game that cannot afford to put off casual or new viewers. Think of the product, remove him from the elite list of referees for goodness sake. He is ruining the game I love, and causing it harm. Commercially, morally and aesthetically our game is suffering with George Clancy.

Haven't read all contributions and maybe this came up already - but isn't George Clancy one of a select nine elite referees selected by the IRB?

They obviously like what they see. I guess they go on the maxim that if every side complains about the ref then the ref must be doing an awful lot right....

There are always going to be contentious decisions - Maybe it would be useful to have the ref give some reasons in public afterwards, he may have seen something we didn't. Yesterday the ref in the FA Cup semi final made a shocking decision that had a significant impact on a major match - He came out afterwards and stated he got it wrong and apologised. I can accept that and I think its healthy for all concerned. With regard to Clancy I did not think any of the attempted interceptions warranted a yellow card and his penalty award to the Blues as the Ospreys are driving them over their own line is baffling. It would just be useful to have Clancy's reasoning for those decisions, he may have seen something we didn't. I'm also disappointed at the level of Regional captaincy as I would have wanted to know why the O's were penalised there.

And lets not forget that Rollaind fella

I guess they go on the maxim that if every side complains about the ref then the ref must be doing an awful lot right....[/quote]

As an Irishman I think Clancy is the worst referee in the Elite panel by some distance.

George Hook is spot on - he is there because he ticks boxes.

Having said that to suggest he should be not be allowed to ref at all is stupid.

I actually think there are a couple of referees in the Aviva who are quite good - cant remember namers. Not currently international level referees but better than Peason or Barnes

geoff998rugby wrote:As an Irishman I think Clancy is the worst referee in the Elite panel by some distance.

George Hook is spot on - he is there because he ticks boxes.

Having said that to suggest he should be not be allowed to ref at all is stupid.

I actually think there are a couple of referees in the Aviva who are quite good - cant remember namers. Not currently international level referees but better than Peason or Barnes

A very good post +1

So was Max Boyce right in the 70's about this nursing home for blind Irish referees? - Is he a visonary?, maybe a Mystic Max

Ruby, I don't think the issue is being blind.

Rather seeing too much.

Stag - do you have to spoil this for me

A ref who doesn't overlook the illegal bits that annoys the people who want him to see them all?

A ref who ticks boxes when really he should allow 'flow'? - that mysterious entity we all think we want to allow but loose the run of ourselves when we do see it and it isn't pinged.

No, I'm not making all this seeming ambiguity up - 606v2 is a prime example of the blurred vision (dare I say hypocrisy) when it comes to refs being blamed for not letting a game 'flow' and being equally blamed for not pinging the guilty players who do the 'flow' bits.

SecretFly wrote:A ref who doesn't overlook the illegal bits that annoys the people who want him to see them all?

A ref who ticks boxes when really he should allow 'flow'? - that mysterious entity we all think we want to allow but loose the run of ourselves when we do see it and it isn't pinged.

No, I'm not making all this seeming ambiguity up - 606v2 is a prime example of the blurred vision (dare I say hypocrisy) when it comes to refs being blamed for not letting a game 'flow' and being equally blamed for not pinging the guilty players who do the 'flow' bits.

Damned if you do. Damned if you dont.

The system is flawed.

red_stag wrote:

SecretFly wrote:A ref who doesn't overlook the illegal bits that annoys the people who want him to see them all?

A ref who ticks boxes when really he should allow 'flow'? - that mysterious entity we all think we want to allow but loose the run of ourselves when we do see it and it isn't pinged.

No, I'm not making all this seeming ambiguity up - 606v2 is a prime example of the blurred vision (dare I say hypocrisy) when it comes to refs being blamed for not letting a game 'flow' and being equally blamed for not pinging the guilty players who do the 'flow' bits.

Damned if you do. Damned if you dont.

The system is flawed.

And that is exactly why we need the philosophical shift in perception otherwise we will all go Mad

OK – when George first appeared on the scene I was a big critic. However, he appeared to work very hard and steadily improved, to such an extent I was delighted for him to get the opening game of the RWC

Unfortunately, since returning from the RWC he has been been awful , with no empathy at all. Wales v Italy and Blues v O’s immediately spring to mind (Both games in which the team I support actually won, so there’s no sour grapes). It also seems as if he’s thought, "I’ve made it to the top and can have a wee rest"

That’s what I find so frustrating about him. He worked hard, improved and now seems to have let it all go

PenfroPete wrote:OK – when George first appeared on the scene I was a big critic. However, he appeared to work very hard and steadily improved, to such an extent I was delighted for him to get the opening game of the RWC

Unfortunately, since returning from the RWC he has been been awful , with no empathy at all. Wales v Italy and Blues v O’s immediately spring to mind (Both games in which the team I support actually won, so there’s no sour grapes). It also seems as if he’s thought, "I’ve made it to the top and can have a wee rest"

That’s what I find so frustrating about him. He worked hard, improved and now seems to have let it all go

The question is, we all know how good a ref Clancy can be but how much time do you provide him to show it again?

I guess ref's are like players in that they can also lose form.