The game is tied and there is not much time left on the clock. Both teams work for field position and start taking shots at field goals.
Welcome to the world in which Golden Point Extra Time does not exist!
No one likes going home having watched a draw. I hate draws. I don’t watch games hoping that the contest is a draw. I want to see one team win and one team lose.
People tend to forget that we brought in Golden Point extra time because the vast majority of people are like me. They don’t like watching a drawn game either.
Critics of Golden Point extra time point to the field goal contest that takes place. Only in Rugby League could a legitimate scoring option be seen as a bad thing!
In Golden Point, we see teams trying to get into field position and end the game with a field goal. It’s a legitimate tactic. There is nothing at all wrong with it.
When good teams are involved in a Golden Point match, the game is over fairly quickly. One team gets field position, they get their kicker in place and he calmly slots over the field goal. Game over.
Occasionally we see teams in a Golden Point game that are not so good. They get into position to kick and field goal and for what ever reason they can’t kick it between the sticks. That is OK too! Not everyone is going to master this game. You need bad teams as well as good teams in any competition.
The problem is that Golden Point critics rate Golden Point matches on these terrible performances when teams can’t ice the game with a clinical field goal. They look past games where the contest is decided by a try.
We need to remember that people that don’t like Golden Point extra time are a tiny, vocal minority.
Another criticism of Golden Point extra time is that one team is level at full time but they don’t get any points for that effort if they lose the Gold Point extra time period. GOOD! They had their chance to get the two competition points and they couldn’t get it done. They blew their chance!
Some thing we should give the losing team in Golden Point extra time one competition point. A completely ridiculous idea that would make Golden Point matches worth 3 competition points, more than are on offer in a regular 80 minute contest.
Every team can’t be a winner. Every game can’t be a classic. Critics of Golden Point need to quit complaining and start to deal with the fact that this debate is well and truly over.
The vast majority of fans like Golden Point extra time. All the whinging in the world won’t change that.
Some of the best games I have seen since limited tackles came in ended as low scoring draws.
I don’t want to watch 26 tired players struggling to get a drop goal or playing for a penalty in extra time when a draw should be a fair result.