According to todays League weekly last Thursdays match between Leigh and Batley was Jamie Leahy's last match as a league referee ,because He has quit to join the 15 a side code, following in the footsteps of the equally useless Karl Kirkpatrick. this is going to be a major problem for Leahy and the Rugby Union, because if he can't understand the rules of League now (and He cant) how long will it take him to absorb all the stupid union rules. good riddance say I

That's a little harsh on Jamie.



He is not a bad ref IMHO, and like players it is sad to lose officials to Union.

Karl IMHO was the best referee in league at his time of defection to yawnion. The reason he went to yawnion was because he refused to take a 50% pay cut to become a full time referee and Cummings told him he wouldn't get any SDL matches unless he did.



I didn't attend Thursday's game, but having watched it on PS I thought JL had a good game and I for one am sorry to see him go to yawnion if true.

Totally negative post from the OP, who'd a thowt it!??







IMO Jamie is a LOT better than a couple of SDL refs by far........you could see on the telly on Thursday he had a good rap with the players, and I think this is a big loss for our game!

I am sure that with your extensive knowledge of the rules you will be a more than adequate replacement, you actually compounded your ignorance by including Kirkpatrick in your scorn, he was a very good referee. He went to RU rather than go full time because he had (and still has) a very good job.

Leahy was awful on Thursday

I have seen Leahy over the years perform abysmally ,in fact I would go so far as to say that he is indeed the worst referee I have ever seen ,worse even than the Ginger Whinger

He will do fine at Union as no-one understands the rules, never mind the ref. You can just make it up as you go along.

It is enlightening when fans get totally different impressions of a referee's performance, I suppose it is based on what they are actually looking for. Some will look at total performance, some will note occasional errors and some will condemn the performance before he blows his whistle. He made a few mistakes, they all do, but the biggest positive for me was that he let the players get on with the game, this attitude made the game a better spectacle.

Good luck to him. When will people realise that without a ref there's no game ?

Can't play without them but you are never going to agree with him at every decision.When your teams losing you just seem to notice all the bad calls or should I say what we think are bad calls .On occasion I have asked nay shouted if he has left his white stick in the changing room .

Well I think he is a sad loss to our game.



Refs and touch judges spend a lot of their personal time to learn the rules and are part timers.



I lose my rag with em sometimes when I am watching a Leigh game because I am a little biased. What invariably surprises me however is when I go to watch a game as a neutral I usually have no issues with their decisions.



They call it as they see it' they are unbiased' and have to be physically fit to do their job.



They unlike me make the odd bad call but very few of us are perfect. Guess I am a bit special.