The row over the sending off of Bulls skipper Graeme Bradley is set to rumble on after Odsal officials were summoned to the Rugby Football League to justify their criticism of referee Stuart Cummings.

Chairman Chris Caisley was furious at the decision to dismiss Bradley for alleged use of the forearm in a tackle on St Helens winger Chris Smith after only 16 minutes of last Friday's elimination semi-final defeat at Knowsley Road.

The Aussie has since been cleared of the incident.

And that has fuelled the Bulls' anger as they were leading 12-6 at the time.

Their officials believed Bulls would have gone on to win the game and keep their season alive.

Coach Matthew Elliott also criticised the decision, albeit somewhat less forcibly than his chairman, and the club has been asked to appear before RFL Chief Executive Neil Tunnicliffe next Friday to explain their comments.

But the flames of discontent appeared to be fanned even further today when Cummings, who also missed a blatant trip on Robbie Paul in the Saints game, was put in charge of this weekend's top match between Wigan and Leeds.

Meanwhile Sky Sports pundit Mike Stephenson has joined in the refereeing debate and believes the officials are coming under fire too often.

"At the moment they just can't seem to win," said Stephenson.

"When they send players off they are criticised and told to put them on report and when they put them on report they are accused of bottling it.

"It surprising that they don't wonder whether it is worth all the hassle and go off and stack supermarket shelves where they could earn as much money."

The RFL appear to have conceded a need for an improvement in general standards after announcing today that Australian referee Greg McCallum is to return to England to reclaim his job as head of referees.

More details were being announced later today but McCallum will be confirmed as the Referees' Performance Director.

He made his name as a referee in the Aussie competition and was brought to Britain for the launch of Super League before returning home 18 months ago.

Current referees' boss Geoff Berry is to stay on with the League to work on development of officials.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.