fevnut's musings 2025/#18: Table predictions, Video Refs and Horrible posts on social media

    

Predicting League Tables

Before a season starts there are a lot of people who like to predict where each club will finish and the rugby league press usually carries such predictions in their pages.

We are not anywhere near the end of the season but the current Championship table is very different to what most would have predicted and that includes one of the best rugby league magazines who employ some of the best rugby league journalists.

We compared their prediction to where the clubs are currently lying and there are some massive discrepancies. 

The teams that are now in first and second places were predicted to finish in 9th and 11th! Nearly every prediction we saw had Fev in the top three and we all know where we are at the moment.

It makes the Championship a much better league to follow because in Super League the results and, therefore the table positions are much more predictable.

Whilst on the subject of league tables, we were dumbfounded by the Championship table after last weekend’s matches. We have recently introduced a new feature to our table which is arrows to show whether each club has moved, up or down or stayed in the same position. We devised a means whereby our computer could analyse the last two week’s tables in order to automatically slot in the correct arrows. When we did it last Sunday night we thought that there must be a bug in our spreadsheet design because it showed all thirteen teams in the same position as the week before. We wasted about an hour trying to find what had gone wrong only to end up discovering it was correct. Yes, despite the 6 matches played last weekend none of the clubs moved either up or down. Definitely be watching out to see whether that happens again because we suspect it is very unusual.

The good thing is, that despite having a bye week, Fev didn’t drop even lower in the table.

Video refs

When the idea of having video referees was first mooted, we welcomed the idea. The more decisions that are correct, the better. But now we have become completely exasperated by the process.

It disrupts the flow of the game by taking ages to get to the point when the game can be re-started. It wouldn’t be quite so bad if the video referee had access to footage that helps them to make good decisions. Sadly, that is often not the case and so all that time has been wasted for nothing. In addition, when we see the video footage on which they make the decision there have been many occasions when we have watched closely and then been astounded by what seems to us to be incorrect conclusions.

It often takes several minutes while they watch endless replays at different speeds and from different angles and finally another ridiculous delay occurs, after we have heard their decision, while the screen is filled with messages that a decision is pending and then we get stupid graphics to take up yet more time until the conclusion is shown on the screen.

The whole point of video referees is to get more correct decisions. It does get a few more decisions correct but the interruption to the flow of the game is simply not worth it.

Back in the day, we used to have to accept that referees are human and make mistakes (although nowhere near as often as fans think!) and just get on with it. Of course, that is still the case for most games outside Super League.

The whole process needs to be scrutinised and, if it is to be continued, a means by which it can be speeded up. For a start, do away with those idiotic graphics and let the referee indicate the decision as soon as the video referee has made up their mind.

Horrible postings on social media

We were both horrified and very sad to read some posts on social media that were so insensitive to Thomas Lacans.

 

 

We can only assume that this bile was written because he left Fev. But we know why he did so. A very close relative became terminally ill, and he wanted to be near him. We can’t help wondering what the authors of these posts would have done if they had, sadly, been in the same position whilst working in another country. Wouldn’t they have wanted the opportunity to spend as much time as possible with their relative?

Some of the worst quotes appear to believe that the ‘offence’ of leaving Fev deserves capital punishment, some are highly abusive and others are clearly nonsense and written out of spite.

If it wasn’t so nasty we would have laughed at the suggestion that Thomas was soft. There have been many times, whilst playing for Fev, that we have seen him tackling big prop forwards. In these circumstances he was fearless and tackled way above his weight. We’d love to see what the authors quoted above would do if they were faced with big, heavy professional prop forwards!

We know that we speak for many diehard Fev supporters when we say that we have thoroughly enjoyed his time at Fev. There were several moments of pure entertainment as he scored tries with wonderful side-stepping. We wish him well even though circumstances have meant that he is no longer a Fev player. Thomas, thank you for your time with us and we wish you well for the future.

We should all remember that, if you are a professional rugby player, it is a job, and we all make decisions about jobs based on what is best both for ourselves and our families. To treat a player who leaves Fev is akin to regarding every Fev player as an escaped slave!

There have been about 150 players who have played for both Fev and Cas and about 180 for both Fev and Trinity. Maybe the people who write such posts would like to give a handsome reward to those who come to Fev from our rival clubs and put those who go the other way in front of a firing squad.

The flags above represent all the nations that, under current rugby league rules, members of the 2025 Fev squad have played for, or are eligible to play for.