Smith was right with vital call

Jun 6 2007 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

MATCH officials chief Stuart Cummings has confirmed Ian Smith's decision not to award a penalty to the Giants in the last minutes of the Super eague game at Hull was spot-on.

Giants chief Jon Sharp and his players were left fuming when Smith didn't award the visitors a penalty on the last play of the game.

Huddersfield claimed Hull centre Sid Domic was in an offside position when he collected the ball and the Giants should have been awarded a penalty 40m out in front of the posts.

However, Cummings believes video footage from the game shows Smith was right not to award a penalty.

"We've sat down and reviewed the incident and it is clear Ian Smith got it right in not awarding Huddersfield Giants a penalty for offside," said Cummings.

"The rules of the game state that a player is placed onside once he retires behind the point where the ball was last played by one of his own team.

"In this case, Hull FC's Sid Domic collects the ball at least three metres back from where his teammate Motu Tony first touched it, thus making him onside."

The video footage, which can now be seen on the Super League website, shows Giants winger Martin Aspinwall kicking the ball forward in the final seconds of the game.

Hull's Tony, who is standing one metre inside his own half, fails to catch the ball cleanly and knocks it backwards towards his own posts.

Domic, who was in front of the catcher, then comes back and picks up the ball a further three metres back from where Tony first touched it.

Cummings added: "I hope by making this footage available for all to see, people will realise Ian applied the letter of the law correctly.

"It's only when you slow down the footage that you can clearly see what a good call it was."

And in a new move by the Rugby Football League, to try clear up any future uncertainty regarding decisions made by match officials, supporters will soon be able to contact Cummings for a full explanation on why a decision was or was not given.

Starting with round 17 of engage Super League over the weekend of June 16, fans will be encouraged to e-mail the match officials director before Monday evening with their query.

Then, with the aid of video footage on the engage Super League website, he will choose a selection of incidents and give a full explanation of the decision within a couple of days.

Stuart added: "Sometimes fans leave games puzzled at some of the decisions given by match officials.

"Sunday's game at the KC Stadium is a prime example of this.

"Our aim is to put an end to this by inviting supporters to e-mail me their query. It may be that they're baffled at why a try was disallowed, a forward pass not given or penalty not awarded.

"Each week I'll review the video footage of a number of incidents on the Super League website and explain the decision.

"Hopefully, in the majority of cases, it will be just the interpretation of a law that needs clarifying. However, in some instances, and hopefully very few, we may have to hold our hands up and say that the official got it wrong.

"At the end of the day, officials are only human and, just like players, can sometimes make an error during a game."