Originally posted by Batemans Bay Rooster
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Independent commission chairman Peter V’landys spoke of his anger and frustration over the incident in that match officials had failed to send off or at least sin bin Parramatta five-eighth Dylan Brown.
Bizarrely, Brown was put on report 20 minutes later.
“You can spend millions of dollars trying to encourage participation, but incidents like Friday night that are not acted on at the elite level puts that money to waste,” V’landys said.
“It has an effect on mums out there not wanting their kids to play.”
V’landys took personal responsibility for the failure of senior bunker official Steve Chiddy and referee Matt Cecchin to act on it appropriately.
As a result, Chiddy has been stood down from the bunker for the remainder of round nine.
The NRL’s head of football Graham Annesley and chief executive Andrew Abdo had emergency talks late on Friday night after the game before standing down Chiddy, who was in charge for last year’s grand final.
A furious V’landys had called for stronger action against foul play just days before the game.
“We’ve let the fans and the players down,” V’landys said. “I feel I’ve let them down.
“The commission put out an edict on foul play last week but it was not adhered to.
“It’s disappointing because the referees have been doing a terrific job this year.
“Maybe it’s my fault and we need to implement our directives better. With the technology available in the bunker, we need to do much better.”
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