TELL US WHERE THE FRACKING HIT IS

“I thought you were out....’’

– the marshall's reply to Ben when he asked where the hit was on him which turned out to be nothing it was a ghost hit. Ben had 2 wrong calls on him and had a mysterious 1 for 1 call on him. Getting a 1 for 1 penalty because a marshall made a mistake is a bitter pill to swallow because it was THE MARSHALL's mistake that costs us the game not us infringing the rules.

That quote just about summed up the standard of the marshalling on the weekend. Abysmal.

I thought you were a real marshal and you call someone out only if they are HIT.

I thought when you call a 1 for 1 you pull ONE guy and NOT TWO.

I thought when you CLEAR a player to "play on" after a paint check your don't change your mind and decide its "playing on" and call a '1 for 1'.

I thought when you call "play on" after a paint check your colleagues doesn't come along on the other side and decide its "playing on" and call a 'one for one'

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Ok we there are no more 'un-obvious hit' anymore - each player has to be aware of hits on his pack etc.

FINE I wont argue with that and live with it

HOWEVER I would like something else in return.

Can the marshals please tell us where we're hit? Surely it is not too much to ask that you just say where you think you saw me get hit. Head/arm/ hopper/leg etc? Just tell us on top of the call where the hit is. You saw it- make the call and where the hit is. Don't just yell 'out' from the sidelines for the sake of yelling it. GET IN THERE AND MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE THE HIT IS and TELL US.

This is not something new - Dan Perez who is the ultimate at the former
NPPL and now the USPL, advocates communicating with the players where
they are hit. "It makes the referees jobs easier and the players accept
the calls better."

I dare say if a ref has to tell us where the hit is- he would have to be fracking damn sure it is a real hit before he calls you out. And we can cut out the "I thought you were out" rubbish.

In the light of the marshalls making so many bad calls- this will also give the marshall to CORRECT HIS CALL. Because THE MARSHALLS NEED A CHANCE TO CORRECT A BAD CALL IN THE GAME. Saying 'sorry its a mistake' after the game is a bit too late and has ruined too many games.

For international tournaments - even if the players or the referees don't speak English a simple finger pointing to the spot would suffice. Point to the arm leg or hopper- or get in there and show the player where he is hit- would stop all these ghost- calls of non-hits.

As much as I hate to criticize the marshals - I am not going to just slam them in my blog - I will speak to Junaidi and Ulrich about it at the World Cup. I think its a simple thing in implement and will go a long way to make things easier for all parties.

If I had 10 mins with the marshalls I would clear all this crap out.