To all of the NRL football community, my petition needs your signature to make necessary changes that is ruining our game regarding inconsistencies of the bunker, refereeing & penalties handed down to players.  Your signature will make a difference in helping to restore confidence back into the NRL. Once I have as many signatures as I can get I will send the petition to Todd Greenberg.  Without your signatures changes cannot be made, so please sign it and feel free to pass onto your friends and family who love the NRL just as much as I do.  Thanks in advance for your participation.

Dear Todd Greenberg,

I am contacting you to discuss the myriad of issues that the NRL is currently facing, particularly the management of the Bunker, Refereeing & Code of Conduct.  The outcome of these areas being mismanaged is significantly impacting the game experience, the fans, the players, coaches, the score board and the ladder.

I am representing all of the fans of the NRL, who travel far and wide to support their team, purchase memberships, live and breathe the game and wear their jersey with pride.  The passion runs deep, and for this reason, I am reaching out to you to in voicing the fans concerns of the game because currently it is in disrepute. 

Rugby League is becoming increasingly frustrating to watch because of the ongoing inconsistencies.  The problems with the bunker and refereeing are:

·         Teams are constantly being robbed of points.

·         If a try is a legitimate try, more often than not the referee does not call it and reverts to the bunker who get it wrong a lot of the time. 

·         Bias of referees is prominent where penalty counts are higher for one team and not the other.

·         Tries are awarded from forward passes/obstruction/players being offside, and legitimate tries are being sent to the bunker and are disallowed.

·         The ball is clearly grounded, but the bunker states ‘no try’.

·         Bunker/referees admit they made a mistake after the fact which has proven costly to the team’s performance on the day and possibly their season.

·         Referees should provide the reason behind a legitimate try not being awarded.

·         Players lying down and milking penalties, who in turn should be penalised for milking a penalty.  Why are referees telling players they will only get a penalty if they are lying down?  It should be play on unless the player is injured.

·         For some games the referee controls the game well without engaging the bunker on an even playing field.  Why can’t the referees do this all the time? 

·         Why are referees receiving penalty count updates during the game?  What purpose does this serve?

·         Why are referees advising the bunker if it was a try or no try, the bunker should decide if the referee is unsure and actually get it right.

·         Officials missing foul play.

·         Why don’t we just get rid of the bunker because of the bungled decisions and if need be go back to the video referee as a last resort only as the referee should keep a close eye on the game without having to rely on technology.

The judiciary is another big talking point, where players are handed inconsistent punishment for the same infringement as some players are handed down harsher penalties for a lesser severity.  Other sporting codes address these incidents quickly and efficiently, but the NRL drags it out when it should be dealt with so all can move on.  And what about those players who have been wrongly accused of disorderly behaviour or assault?  The mental health endured by those innocent players is paramount.  These players have shown great strength, character building and resiliency considering the way they have been treated by the NRL. Why are we protecting the players who are guilty and not the innocent?

The double standards are turning fans away from our game.  There are so many disparities that it is becoming an embarrassment to the game, and I have heard so many fans, and I include myself in this statement that if we did not love our team so much we would walk away from the game.  If you compare how other sporting codes are managed, one would think rugby league was an amateur sport.

We appreciate what next steps are going to be taken in resurrecting our game to ensure our game is evolving for the good, for the current and future generations. 

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely

Rosie Louise Gullo