Chief executive of the Warriors’ major sponsor One NZ has broken his silence after it was revealed the NRL would review his extraordinary claims against referees.
Jason Paris accused referees of “cheating of the highest order” following the Warriors’ 18-6 loss to the Panthers in Magic Round.
Two New Zealand players were sent to the sin bin and debutant Demitric Sifakula’s striking action on Nathan Cleary was the most contentious decision of the game.
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“Are you kidding me? How biased are the @NRL bunker and referees against the @NZWarriors? Have they got money on them to lose? It’s like we are permanently against 14 on the field and they want us to play with 12,” Paris wrote in a tweet.
“Imagine how the team feel – three games in 11 days and then this rubbish. Cheating of the highest order,” Paris also replied to a user’s tweet.
An NRL spokesman confirmed to The Daily Telegraph on Sunday that the league is “aware” of the comments and would “review them closely”.
Now Paris has spoken out after his claims were met with heavy criticism, praising NRL referees and withdrawing his initial stance.
“A bit of interest in my support for the mighty @NZWarriors Just to clear things up – I do not think the @NRL referees are cheating,” he tweeted.
“They come to work everyday to do their best job for the game. My comments were made in the heat of the moment as a passionate fan.”
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However, Paris went on to reveal he still believes there is an “unconscious bias” against the Warriors putting his team at a “disadvantage”.
“However, I do believe that there is unconscious bias happening every week against the Warriors & it needs to be addressed,” he wrote.
“All we want is consistency, but we are not getting it. Take opinions out of it & analyse the video footage from past games & compare our decisions vrs other teams.
“I think it will find that we are being disadvantaged – then we can work out why & take steps to fix it.
“We will always back our team.”
