Very frustrating week. Ratings and attendance is down - year after year. The league institutes new rules to help with scoring. Yet the CFL referees continue to ruin big plays.
This week alone - 3 times they’ve called back big plays. Two drives in a row in the debacle of a game between Sask and Edm 12-11 final. Killed the momentum and honestly fans turn off the game.
Now in the Montreal game, horrible Illegal contact call on an Alouettes interception return.
CFL referees - PUT AWAY YOUR WHISTLE ! The game is not about you. Flagrant fouls - call, yes….Marginal ones - let the players play.
You honestly are contributing to the deterioration of our game.
They are PAID to make sure that the game is played WITHIN the rules. I have seen too many players make too many mistakes to blame the officials for any delays. I have written before that if players didn’t use so much of their brain power planning a celebration for their next successful play, they might be able to avoid committing so many infractions.
Instead of ragging on game officials, do one or more of the following:
1- Lobby for looser rules so that there are fewer penalties to be called, but then be ready for more injuries and other bad results.
2- Demand that the coaches of your favorite team do a better job of coaching their players to AVOID committing infractions, so they don’t need to be called.
3- If enforcement of game rules offends you so much watch “pro wrestling” instead!
PS: One fan’s “marginal call” is another fan’s crime of the century. All too often a fan’s concept of a marginal call on “his/her” team is just as illegal as the the same thing done TO his team, for which that fan goes ballistic if a flag isn’t thrown.
You are correct. The referees are supposed to make calls to stay within the rules of a CFL football game.
However, my point with this post is that they are far too often not adhering to those exact rules. They are calling penalties when there is no infraction or a “marginal” one.
Watch how often this year this happens. Big plays called back that shouldn’t be. Watch the replays. I’m not advocating to not call penalties - just the ones that are justified. The Alouettes TD in first quarter on the Pick-6 should never have been called back.
Perhaps if players were allowed to practice more and teams were not restricted from hiring enough coaches, players would develop more and we would see fewer infractions.
Some of this comes from above the officials’ pay grade. Pi and Illegal Contact on a Receiver, as examples, are called to the standard mandated by the league office. It is in the league’s power to tell officials to back off to a more reasonable standard on these calls, but for some reason, they refuse to do so.
Best example in recent memory of when the flag should have stayed in the pocket is the 2014 Grey Cup. Speedy B would have gone down in Grey Cup history with the punt return TD for the win against Calgary
Flag for holding. Has been shown 100’s of times. The infraction was behind and far away from Speedy.
Ruined a great finish and left a bad taste in every CFL fans mouth … even Stamps fans were in disbelief
On that note, I know that fans can come up with oceans of complaints without any encouragement, but the way Glen Suitor criticizes officiating is just “offensive.”
I wonder why, if not, the league has not brought this up with TSN and/or Suitor.
Maybe it’s time for the league to tell Suitor to put his money where his mouth is and officiate a preseason game next season. Let’s find out just how much of an authority on officiating he really is.
I bet the REAL officials would have a good laugh with this idea.
I’m not a fan of Suitor, but it appears his complaints are mostly for less penalties being called. He rarely goes on about missed calls, he normally gets annoyed at the tickey tack ones.
And I don’t blame him
And by the same argument I don’t think Andre Proulx would be great at commentary on TV.
“Why don’t you do it” is not a defense for being bad at the job you’re paid to do.
