refs.in the cfl

not only are the refs. horrible in the league but i dont think there is that many…its always the same faces as the main ref in all the games…and each year there are more screw ups, so i think its time to start cutting some of these old farts like jake…and getting some new crews in here…a.s.a.p!

i agree. lets name them

Jake "the snake" Ireland
Andre' Prioux
Ken Lazaruk
Bud Steen
Glen Johnson

and i think i am missing the other newer guy.
they all have their crews. all with pros and cons. some can;t see a blanant pass interfernce, while others can call ones where no receiver gets touched. at least crew wise

now we all know that some of these head refs can;t call a hold for the life of them. i can;t count how many times i have see dlinean in this league get to a qb with an oline man on their back.

Jake is the only guy I see that warrants being on that list.

you tell me where there are some qualified referees?

since you seem to think you're so good.. why don't you go join up and referee some football and then see if they'll take you on after 5 years??

I would but I’m nearly as old as Jake and my need to be in the limelight is almost as great as Andre’s. I’m a bigger homer than Paul Dojack was and I have less reffing experience than Matt Dunigan. Actually I’m probably older than Jake but he looks older.

But notwithstanding any of the above I think I would do a great job.

I think though, it is time we give the refs a bit of slack, myself included. These guys get it right a large percentage of the time and don’t receive any praise for those times, yet they make one mistake and get pummelled for it. I propose we set aside next Monday Sept. 22 as “National Praise the Ref Day” and for just one day we here nothing but praise for the good things they do.

Well people here seem to think that referees are infallable. that they should never make mistakes!

nobody's perfect! especially Football referees, it is so difficult to see all the infractions that happen in 1 play that you can't possibly call everything! and yes, there is a tendency to miss things!

Jake is the Head Referee. he doesn't have power to tell someone NO I won't announce that penalty.. the referees as a group can discuss the call but only if more than 1 saw the infraction!

if Jake is only watching a part of the game he's suppose to he can't possibly see things that happen behind him!

THIS is why they have sideline Officials! they watch stuff like sidelines, and offsides, and procedures.. they also watch pass interferences, and they can call holding if they see something obvious and the Head ref is not in a position to call it.

But not every referee out on the field is suppose to call everything!

that's why there are 7!

they each maintain a part of the field!

the back Judges who take care of downfield stuff, like deep to intermediate passes.. don't call offsides, and holding and so on.

just like the Umpire and Referee don't call pass interferences deep down field!

some of you truly need to understand how the refereeing system works.

ask me! I refereed Football for 5 years! I know how it works!

Good post cflisthebest. Trouble, the Referee bashers will now put their cross hairs on you! :lol: :lol:

Again, mistakes are going to happen. I see just as many mistakes in the NFL and the NHL. Every one screams to replace the CFL Officials. With who? I watch Junior football games out here. There are one or two good officials, but the majority of officials out here in BC working Junior ball are OLDER THAN I AM! Now if that math formula works out across the country, there maybe at best 12 decent officials able to make the CFL jump. Definately not enough to fire the CFL Officials.

As long as there is the human element and until we can program robots to do the Officials jobs, we will have dozens and dozens of Referee bashing posts. :roll:

This type of stuff doesn't really bother me all that much. As a ref, you're a part of the show and every good show needs a villain. I don't have my rulebook here but I think the CFL panel consists of 40 officials all in at the start of the year. You don't want to throw them all out.

There is almost nothing you can do not to look like the bad guy. You don't want a ref who is more worried about what the crowd thinks than what he sees on the field.

An interesting note - it's unlikely that the CFL is going to take any official younger than 30. There is a huge pressure increase between amateur ball and pro ball and you simply need reps at CIS before you can make the jump -- and it's a jump, not a step. Playing football is how the pro players pay their bills so, as a ref, your job just became MUCH more serious and you are scrutinized much more intensely.

Oh, Sportsmen, the old guys on the Junior and CIS field provide a very valuable service to the young guys who might want to go to pro. Do you know there are four former CFL officials (from expansion days) currently working onfield and three former CFL officials working as game tape evaluators/game supervisors in BC (out of a total of 4 supervisors/evaluators)? Of the evaluators, I know that two of them have Grey Cup experience as well -- there is much to be learned from these guys.

My only beef is with the video replay.
I was a big proponent of it but I don't know if I am anymore.

We all understand that they will miss some calls but when the make the right call and then overturn it after watching it again.....
Well there is just no excuse for it!

I agree Ro it exposes the refs mistakes. I think that is where most of the problems come from.

Video replay is great if they can get it right, and they do most of the time.
From what I hear, the league needs to spend some money and update the equipment. There is something wrong with us sitting at home and getting a better view of a play than the ref having to rule on it. Heck, even in the NFL on Sunday the equipment failed and they could not execute a challenge.

But we dont get a different view than the refs. They see exactly the same ones that we see at home

Not with near the same quality. They still use 27 inch tube televisions!!!

There is nothing wrong with a 27 inch tube, but my point was they get the same replys that we do

So there is hope for a 70 year old like me. :lol: :lol:

I will start running laps now! :wink: Where do I buy a rule book? :lol: :lol:

My point was, people think there is this big Referee machine out there. Between Junior games and my Grandsons games I don’t see this big pool of officials to draw from.

making simple observation. thats all it is. i ahve loved and layed football most all of my life. i know the rules of the game. now i know you can’t or call everything but in the cfl this year it is to drastic of a point. Out of all the years i have watched and played football i can honestly say i have seen the top 3 worst calls this season.

now i am a 6 year baseball umpire. i know its hard to be an official and get everything right. no-oe os that good but there has to got be a limit to how bad some of the calls are.

Lets get those NFL guys that blew the call in San Diego last week. After all even the worst NFL guys are better than our best. Right?

It's laughable how some people think that you can simply "get some new guys in here" and it will suddenly be SO much better.

I sometimes wonder if people aren't more interested in the refs and the bingo callers than they are in the actual football game.

First the league has to make rules that make sense, for example the: Ball survive the fall rule could be interpreted in too many ways to be completely fair. A catch is a catch, final.

rpaege i agree. getting new guys won;t cure the problems at all. but this year they do have a new head official for games. and he is doing a good job. and hey look at the guys who tossed armour. they got moved back down. if you ask me the CIS guys are even worse.

I agree footballmad. They are doing a very good job this year.

Mistakes are going to happen. That's football.

Those who expect perfection will always be disappointed.