Talk:Steve Walsh (rugby union)

POV
This article is rubbish. Its all POV stuff - almost all about 'bad decisions' made in today's Six Nations Ireland v France match.

Its also poorly written and full of comical spelling errors.I think a complete re-write is in order.

Maybe after the six nations is over and emotions towards refs have cooled somewhat. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Snozzbert12 (talk • contribs) 03:25, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Talk page changes
[Random text deleted by  14:28, 12 February 2007 (UTC)]
 * [Page replaced with "Steve Walsh has nice hair" by  16:32, 13 February 2007 (UTC)]
 * ["Kiss my ass" added by  14:26, 14 February 2007 (UTC)]

Restored deleted text; + unsigned users, timestamps. — Æ.  ✉  22:41, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Comments on article
I can't believe how sad some Irish rugby fans are. The front page write up is as rubbish as it is immature and pathetic. When somebody knocks on, and a fellow team member picks up the ball 10 out of 10 referee's including "great" paddy ref's such as Alain Rollans would blow the whistle.

If Wikipedia wants to be taken seriously, it shouldn't even allow what's currently been written to make it to onto the web. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.218.120.103 (talk • contribs) 15:33, 14 February 2007 (UTC
 * Thankfully no-one does take Wikipedia seriously so can leave up what's currently written to give people a bit of a laugh. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.244.178.34 (talk • contribs) 15:51, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
 * See it's been edited in the last 20 minutes to remove the immature garbage I mentioned above. Now it's a good read. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.218.120.103 (talk • contribs) 15:56, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Well it is great that we can gloss over anything that offends the sensibilities of certain users. What happened in the match last sunday is currently under debate, the article I offered merely stated that Mr. Walsh appeared to blow his whistle too early. This is meant to be informative, that is infomation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.41.136.56 (talk • contribs) 22:44, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Dear above,
 * Please spell names correctly if you want to be taken seriously, it's Alain Rolland and as for Paddy being a great referee.....mmmmmmmmm.....not sure I'd be agreeing with that. Does humor not travel to the southern hemisphere.  The fact is that Walsh is not a bad referee, however, he does get it wrong.  His behavior towards England during the world cup was crazy and the way he talked about Ireland at the breakdown against Wales after being talked to by Jenkins was unbelievable. Where is the fairness there, it would seem to suggest that he has a slight bias against NH teams, hope this guy never refs a world cup final.


 * And just in case you think I am a bad loser, Ireland lost that game sunday themselves, SW may not have helped but we need to sort out our own mistakes first.  09:26, 15 February 2007 UTC)

While I thought the page as it was was actually pretty funny, I always find the implication by people that referees at the international level are biased as laughable. These guys are professionals and paid to do a job. To go out and deliberately favour another team would be the fastest way to terminate a career they have no doubt toiled at for years for nothing to get to international level. To suggest he has a bias against NH teams is a even more crazy in this discussion. Last time I checked, Wales, Ireland and France were all in the NH.

Walsh has made mistakes, as all referees do, and he seems to have a higher profile than alot of refs because of his age and undoubtedly because hes said some silly things in the past. But, to give him credit, unlike alot of referees, he will admit when he has made a mistake.

While the way he dealt with England at the RWC was a little bit beligerant, England were trying to put 16 men on the field at one time. Quite clearly this isnt allowed, and the fact that England were almost docked their points for winning the match must be seen as some kind of vindication for Walsh's actions.

When watching a match on TV, more often than not, the commentators are from the home nation, and invariably see things through the eyes of a home team supporter. This happens everywhere and is only natural really, but I think the bigger problem is alot of commentators don't really know the rules that well. Their opinion on a referees decision invariably influences viewers opinions, yet the referee (who does know the rules and the reason he made his decision) largely has no platform to explain himself. Likewise the (inevitably losing) coach can moan to the media straight after the match, yet again, the referee is seldom given a chance to explain his decision. That said, I havent heard Eddie O'Sullivan saying too much this week, although I may have just missed it.

I may be wrong, but I also got the impression the Welsh coaching staff stitched Walsh up regarding his discussion with them. Referees meet with coaches all the time so they can tell them what they plan to keep an eye on, and discuss any concerns the coach may have. The Welsh then went public with these comments that were probably made in confidence as some sort of vindication for their loss. Eddie O'Sullivan also suggested in the media he felt Walsh had been stitched up and he was happy after his discussion with him. He should have been, because Easterby and Leamy were slowing the ball down consistantly against France and went largely unpunnished.

Murphy's non-try was unfortunate, but as alluded to above, another French player had picked the ball up after the knock-on, so he blew the whistle. If he had blown it after Murphy had picked up the ball and galloped away, perhaps an accusation of bias might have some grounds, but otherwise, I think the edits to this page only serve to provide a bit of a laugh. I particularly had a fairly hearty giggle where he like frogs but dislikes Irish Stew, classic!

Truth be known, I think Paul Honiss is a much worse referee, but perhaps the fact that one of his errors aided Ireland in a victory over South Africa prevents him from infamy in Emerald Isle.

For what its worth (not much I would suggest), if England and/or South Africa arent in the RWC final next year, my personal preference would be to have either Chris White or Jonathan Kaplan with the whistle. 10:16, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * You guys need to put some cites in the article showing why Walsh is considered notable, or else the article will be soon deleted. Steve Dufour 12:53, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Whilst the article wasnt the best on the site Walsh is noteable for doing what he does. He is a professional Rugby Union referee in a highly complex professional sport. I am sure there are many articles on similar individuals across multiple sporting codes on Wikipedia. This article definately deserves to be here, and it also deserves to be better written. If it is deleted I will re-create it unless there is a general consensus to remove all articles on professional sporting referees across all sporting codes. Adam777 05:40, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Definitely a 5*article.

Blowing up early in an advantage situation is a classic error of an inexperienced referee. It happens to me occasionally when I have been out injured for some time and I come back, am tired and hence make mistakes. But it doesn't happen after the first couple of weeks and I don't ref Internationals, not sure how Walsh got that far.

Horan affair equally culable, he was clearly pulled back after the grubber kick. I have watched the replay several times, Walsh was not unsighted by other players (as the ref was in the Welsh game) and there is no excuse at this level for that kind of error.

I agree with the post that said it is hard to beleive that ref's are biased at this level, but occasionally some behave as if they were, and in the end it amounts to the same thing. Dean Richards (Gloucester Coach) is currently on a disciplinary charge for criticising a referee to the 4th official. Walsh's criticism to the Jenkins (the Welsh coach) of his fellow referee's interpretation of Ireland's performance at the breakdown is no different. The fact that he was allowed to continue as the scheduled ref for Ireland v France was extraordinary in the circumstances. Cillian  13:25, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Citations added
Hi. I stumbled across this in Steve Walsh BLP Noticeboard. I did a bit of searching, and managed to give the article the sourced statements it deserved (without changing the text very much either). Good luck with the future expansion of this article (how about things like his first ever top class match, or other notable games?). Best wishes. Refsworldlee(chew-fat) (eds) 12:47, 26 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Now resolved at BLP noticeboard, so I have removed the Primary Sources Request tag, as the article stands up alone now. Refsworldlee(chew-fat) (eds) 00:55, 5 March 2007 (UTC)