BETWEEN Rounds 1 and 7 of the 2025 Betfred Super League season, there were no red cards. In the three since, there have been four – and two of those have been shown to Hull FC players.
Cade Cust became the first player sent off in the competition this year when he was given his marching orders for a dangerous tackle on Hull KR’s Arthur Mourgue in the Good Friday derby, while Liam Knight was dismissed for a shoulder charge just before half time in the Magic Weekend defeat to Huddersfield Giants.
Yet while halfback Cade was suspended for one game, the match review panel decided not to charge forward Knight, leaving Hull FC head coach John Cartwright seeking clarification for his players over why the match officials and the panel disagreed.
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“The referees ruled it as a shoulder charge, the match review panel called it a no shoulder charge, so I suppose that’s the biggest issue for me,” Cartwright said ahead of Friday’s Round 11 away match against Leeds Rhinos, whose April 26 defeat to Hull KR saw red cards contentiously shown to Ash Handley and Jesse Sue.
“You’ve got players in there asking questions – ‘What’s a shoulder charge and what’s not a shoulder charge?’, so I just want to clear that up.
“The system’s not perfect, but it’s a hard system to get perfect. It’s a game where it’s fine lines and the camera doesn’t always tell the true story.
“We’re all going to be talking about this forever and a day, which is why we love the game, but the big one for me is clearing up what a shoulder charge is and what isn’t.”
Cartwright was due to speak to the RFL on Tuesday afternoon, having been in contact with both the officiating and disciplinary departments previously.
Rugbyleaguehub.com understands the RFL are satisfied the match officials were following the instructions they have been given around enforcement of incidents where contact with the head occurs.
Cartwright is happy to go along with whatever rugby league’s lawmakers decide, but called for consistency between what is being decided on the field by the referees and off it by the judiciary.
However, he also recognised it is up to him and his players to make sure they are not giving the officials decisions around cards to make.
“Whatever you do, you’ve got to stay strong with what your beliefs are,” Cartwright said. “If both parties believe it was a shoulder charge, well we have to get that tackle out of the game because that’s within the rules.
“We all want to see consistency and I think they’re trying hard to get there… I’m glad I’m not doing that job, I’d rather do what I’m doing.”
“We’ve been put in that scenario twice and we’ve got to be better at what we do.
“That’s been going since day dot, what’s a send-off and what isn’t, and we’ll probably be talking about that for a long time.”
