Thank f**k!
I'm imaging you saying this with a Powerade bottle in front of you. We need a stupid question to make it complete... "and did you feel that the refs decided the game?"
You looking at coaching there again in a higher division? Is that an option?
It's not really "coach a higher division team" as such. It's more that I would like to continue coaching this same team, but I only want to coach them if they are put in the appropriate division where the refs know the rules and protect them. I don't have any confidence that will happen, and I can't live through another year of my kids get belted high, dropped on their heads, kicked, dragged, slung and collared while the ref does nothing.
The ref in our GF allowed the opposition to drag kids along the ground, to jersey sling them to the ground, and to lift in tackles and drop players face-first into the ground. When my captain queried the ref at half time he said "lifting is allowed as long as you don't go past horizontal". The league gave us a ref in a GF that flat out doesn't know the rules. It's not good enough.
The way the league (and most punters) see it is... All Div1 teams are better than all Div2 teams, who are better than all Div3 teams, who are better than all Div4 teams. If you can't win the Div4 grand final, then you can't be very good and you would get smashed by the teams "above you".
In actuality... the two teams who contested the Div4 GF are better than all of the Div3 teams, and both were good enough to play in (but not win) Div2 this year... but good luck getting the league (or anyone else) to see it that way.
Chances are no-matter what happens in the trials next year, my team ends up in Div3 or Div4 next year and goes through another year of playing **** teams and winning by 40+ every week, except in games where the ref is an obvious cheat our key players get taken out by un-penalised head shots.