Controversy in Australia, as the National Rugby League (the main professional league in Australia) held it's Grand Final yesterday, and it didn't end well.
The Sydney Roosters defeated the Canberra Raiders on what is viewed in Australia as a massive referee blunder, 14-8.
The was a smaller bit of controversy during the match in the third minute. A kick from the Roosters hit the head of a Raiders player and rebounded off one of the on-field trainers. Had that trainer not been there, it would have been an easy try and conversion for the Raiders early on -- but, as in most sports, such parties are viewed as "part of the field". So not sure how much was in play there.
The big one, however, was with the score drawn at 8 and about eight minutes to play in the match, one of the officials (seen at 2:49 of this Sky Sports Australia YouTube video) was seen waving for an infraction which would have allowed Canberra another set of tackles (six of them) with the ball about 20 meters from scoring a try to break the deadlock.
The call was immediately changed without the players being aware of it, and Canberra lost possession due to the confusion.
Sydney scored the winning try within seconds.
And, oh why would the NRL want to rig the Grand Final?
Cooper Cronk, making him effectively the "Jordan" of the NRL -- three consecutive Premierships with his teams (the last two with Sydney, the one before his final game with Melbourne after 14 years), the first to have that honor in the modern era. Six Premierships in nine Grand Finals in his sixteen year career.
Yeah, I think Canberra just got "The Jordan Rules"...
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