TV official to the rescue
If you follow me on Twitter, you will know I get pretty grumpy during rugby games when things are not going well. I moan about anything, the person who stops the clock, the commentators and, of course, my pet hate the TMO.
I am one of those punters who talk (or tweet) from the pocket and am not impartial when making some of my judgments.
I am convinced, though, that over the years I have been hard done by when it comes to decisions requiring TMO intervention. I have had many a try ruled out for a marginal or inconclusive forward pass, only for a blatant NFL pass to be overlooked in the next game.
The inconsistency drives me crazy.
Last Saturday, I took a chunky bet on the Lions to score six tries or more in their match against the Bulls. I got a bit better than even money. After a slow start, they kicked into gear and it looked as though I would collect heading into the last quarter, as the Lions scored their fifth try.
The five-pointers dried up, though, and with time up, the Lions turned the ball over deep in Bulls territory and a grubber kick was sent into the try-scoring zone. The Bulls player missed and the Lions player only had to dot it down to score. However it appeared, both in real time and from his reaction, that he had failed to do so.
When a player shakes his head you generally assume no try but they went upstairs anyway and to my amazement the TMO ruled there was downward pressure.
As I celebrated the unlikely win, I paused to consider just how angry I would have been were I betting in the other direction. I never lost sleep over it, though, as I felt I was owed something after multiple heartbreaks in this area.
Needless to say the betting gods still had the last laugh when the VAR saw the French awarded a dubious penalty in the World Cup final. I was on Croatia at 11/1 and they never recovered from that controversial call.
Brent Graham is a sports betting blogger at
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