Bad refereeing

What makes for a bad refereeing mistake?

Let's be honest - every referee makes a mistake every now and again. Probably less often than players and coaches believe in the heat of the moment, but make mistakes they do.

But why are some of them shrug and move on, while others are talked about for days, weeks, sometimes even years?

I rather think the quality of offence is irrelevant. It could be a knock-on to a head-butt - a scrum to a red card - and it might be talked about for ages to come. The clarity and impact of the offence means more - much more.

Contemponi's offside against Scotland was clear - he was miles offside - and critical - because it affected the outcome of the match very clearly. Last second, award a penalty in front of the sticks to the side that's 1 point down... he might have missed of course, but it's very unlikely. It's destined to hang around on Barnes' resume, along with that forward pass and so on for a long time. And Mr. Barnes has just missed another one, catching the retaliation and not the original offence. OK, that's not uncommon, but the original offence wasn't subtle and should have been caught.

There is another issue I believe - that is having a feel for the spirit of the game. Rugby is a game, perhaps more than any other, where circumstances come into play at every moment. A player crawling out the wrong side of the ruck is technically offside but is rolling away from the ball letting the other team play it (at least supposedly). The whistle shouldn't (and usually doesn't) go for that, unless that player impedes the other side playing the ball before he gets back onside. I remember one Tri-Nations match when the opposite lock was pretty much in the three-quarter line and the side with the ball just passed the ball across in front of him like he wasn't there. Clearly offside, but he kept his discipline and watched the ball go by in front of him and the referee kept his cool and let the play develop - not even an advantage because he didn't interfere. Smart and definitely right in terms of letting the game flow. If the referee is one that is generally believed to have a good sense of the game, his mistakes are perhaps overlooked or forgiven more easily. If they're a martinet and blow for every little thing, then missing something is even less acceptable.