Standard of Umpiring?

[pahoffm]

The defenders of umpires will claim "they can only pay what is there".

The final straw came in the last quarter when Simmonds was thrown out of a vital one-on-one marking contest in the forward line.

Blind Freddy would have paid that one.

Apart from that there were some perfect tackles by Richmond players on Melbourne players that did have prior opportunity.

On the other hand, there was a vital centre bounce ruck contest when Melbourne had full impetus when Simmonds decided to take the ball out of the ruck, got tackled and lost possession. Simmonds should have been pinged immediately. Of course, the umpire missed it.

 

[TOT70]

The final straw came in the last quarter when Simmonds was thrown out of a vital one-on-one marking contest in the forward line.

Blind Freddy would have paid that one.

Apart from that there were some perfect tackles by Richmond players on Melbourne players that did have prior opportunity.

On the other hand, there was a vital centre bounce ruck contest when Melbourne had full impetus when Simmonds decided to take the ball out of the ruck, got tackled and lost possession. Simmonds should have been pinged immediately. Of course, the umpire missed it.

Two of the worst decisions on a bad day for umpires.

I have no doubt that umpires are intimidated by the Richmond crowd. We get so few frees that almost every one is accompanied by the obligatory bronx cheer, and generally with good reason. I'm sure that umpires have the thought at the back of their mind: "Stuff you, crowd, no 50-50s for you!"

What I don't understand is that interstate crowds are just as vocal, just as intimidating and just as obnoxious as our mighty Tiger Army and they are good for at least one or two dodgy frees each game; the umps seem to get into the spirit of "let's roast the Vics today" at AAMi or at Subi without a problem.

Why are we treated differently?

 

[TOT70]

How many throws are there in a typical game of footy these days? Twenty? Thirty? More? Sometimes, players under pressure dispose of the ball by handing it to a team-mate or just letting it go, obviously throws.

The only one penalised yesterday was the one we kicked a goal from. It does my head in.

 

[the claw]

i dont believe in blaming umps its the same on the day for both teams. having said this the overall standard of umpiring or interpretations of rules is quite literally destroying the game. more and more physicality is being taken out of the game. in far to many instances players are disencouraged to go for the ball its better to sit back and sweat. defenders are no longer allowed to defend yet onballers and mids are illegally taken out of contests and in most instances cant even get to a contest.ruckmen arent allowed to make contact.unless your over 200cm you are becoming a liability in the ruck. no room for physically strong ruckman as compared to height you arent allowed to use your best asset.
blokes whos best attribute is they can run all day are disadvantaged because coaches rotate players of the bench against them. really small players can hardly aspire to play at the top level and we get few contested marks in a game. boy it goes on and on. they wont be happy until we a playing something close to gaelic footy.

 

[ronnit]

totally agree



the new rules are stuffing up the game...it is so frustrating to watch,,imagine what it must be like for the players.....

some of the frees that were not paid yesterday were unbelievable

the one i dont get is when a player gets tackled, drops the ball, and the the player who tackled him gets pinged for holding the man...i dont get that one....

 

[wigglyworm]

What about that decision when in the ruck contest White fell over when Pattison bumped him trying to get the tap. That one resulted in a free kick 15 metres out from goal.

 

[TOT70]

i dont believe in blaming umps its the same on the day for both teams. having said this the overall standard of umpiring or interpretations of rules is quite literally destroying the game. more and more physicality is being taken out of the game. in far to many instances players are disencouraged to go for the ball its better to sit back and sweat. defenders are no longer allowed to defend yet onballers and mids are illegally taken out of contests and in most instances cant even get to a contest.ruckmen arent allowed to make contact.unless your over 200cm you are becoming a liability in the ruck. no room for physically strong ruckman as compared to height you arent allowed to use your best asset.
blokes whos best attribute is they can run all day are disadvantaged because coaches rotate players of the bench against them. really small players can hardly aspire to play at the top level and we get few contested marks in a game. boy it goes on and on. they wont be happy until we a playing something close to gaelic footy.

My son plays Junior footy and I watch the way it is umpired. Mistakes are occasionally made but the umps usually stick to the principal that they will pay a free if they believe it is there, which is fair enough and the way the game should be umpired. If it means 10 frees for a game or 100, then so be it. I agree with you that under these circumstances, it will even out in the long run.

Another agenda operates at AFL. The umpires do not pay everything that they see, they are concerned with allowing the game to flow and become the best possible spectacle. So they ignore obvious frees because they don't want every contest to be resolved by a free. Conversely, they will pluck something out to clear congestion, often it is the fourth or fifth infringement that attracts the whistle, often it is often the big name gun player who is the lucky recipient.

In other words, at AFL level, the umpires are expected to make judgement calls on which frees they will pay. It is another level to simply looking for what is there and making a decision.

Hence, you get the situation where only one throw is penalised for a whole game and it happens to be the one that would have seen goal if it was let go like all the others. The ball sweeps to the other end and another over-zealous free kick for hands-in-the-back or ruck contest or whatever else was Tuesday Night's Umpire's focus group workshop's "free of the week" sees a 12 point turnaround.

To me it is the selective use of the whistle that sees umpires influencing far too many games. They are making far too many judgement calls and many of them appear to be of the sort where the ump is thinking: "Too much congestion, I'd better pluck something or I'll get my bum kicked. There's Gary Ablett/Chris Judd/Robert Harvey,I'll jsut give him a quick kick to open it up."

Too many goals flow from what are essentially a few frees plucked from a huge bucket of infringements. Too many judgement calls are being made by the umpires. Too much influence over the game.

They should call it as they see it!

 

[ILuvLids]

The last two weeks we have been forgotten by the umps. There have been some appauling decisions and the standard is going downhill at the present time. There have been some very cruicial decisons that resulted in us nearly losing the game last night. One main point I want to know is the holding the ball hasn't been paid correctly in a whole game. It has been atrocious umpiring that I've seen in the last two games.

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

Last week they paid things that weren't even there, this week they paid nothing. Infuriating.

Polak HTB decision was correct BTW, perfect tackle.

 

[GoodOne]

i dont believe in blaming umps its the same on the day for both teams. having said this the overall standard of umpiring or interpretations of rules is quite literally destroying the game. more and more physicality is being taken out of the game. in far to many instances players are disencouraged to go for the ball its better to sit back and sweat. defenders are no longer allowed to defend yet onballers and mids are illegally taken out of contests and in most instances cant even get to a contest.ruckmen arent allowed to make contact.unless your over 200cm you are becoming a liability in the ruck. no room for physically strong ruckman as compared to height you arent allowed to use your best asset.
blokes whos best attribute is they can run all day are disadvantaged because coaches rotate players of the bench against them. really small players can hardly aspire to play at the top level and we get few contested marks in a game. boy it goes on and on. they wont be happy until we a playing something close to gaelic footy.

With you on this one Clawsy. The problem is with some of these interpretations is its not the umpires fault. They are umpiring to instruction. The umpiring wasnt great when there were two umpires, with three you have 3 different interpretations thus the extreme frustration for supporters.

Sometimes I think games would be fairer if the players just self-umpired. One free kick in a half. That has to be imposible doesn't it? Melbourne's game in the second half must have been like the immaculate conception to only give away 1 free kick in that time.

 

[Talon]

Was in Melbourne for the weekend and saw 3 games, watched teams I rarely ever see, I was at the Collingwood Carlton game and couldn't believe how confused I was with the umpiring, I clearly don't know the rules, I saw Mick was unhappy after the game about a couple of decisions made close together, but I generally thought Carlton got the wrong end of the stick and I have no general desire for either one of them, I've never been a Didak fan, I don't like the way he goes about his football but I couldn't believe how soft he actually is and how he will not go get the ball, he takes short steps and wants to wrap a player up and try and draw a soft free plus is extremely undisciplined, he is the exact tosser I thought he was as well as Medhurst and Thomas!

 

[IanG]

I've never been a Didak fan, I don't like the way he goes about his football but I couldn't believe how soft he actually is and how he will not go get the ball, he takes short steps and wants to wrap a player up and try and draw a soft free plus is extremely undisciplined, he is the exact tosser I thought he was as well as Medhurst and Thomas!

I think thats actually a Scumwood tactic to try and take advantage of the way the rules are at the moment regarding jumping on the ball.

 

[Tiger74]

I've never been a Didak fan, I don't like the way he goes about his football but I couldn't believe how soft he actually is and how he will not go get the ball, he takes short steps and wants to wrap a player up and try and draw a soft free plus is extremely undisciplined, he is the exact tosser I thought he was as well as Medhurst and Thomas!

We could make you an honorary Tiger for talk like that ;D

 

[TOT70]

While we are on dodgy umpiring, what is it with the latest invention, the Shane Tuck handball in the middle?

Typically he wins the hard ball in a pack, then lifts his arms high, holds the ball upright in one hand above his head and gives it a wristy girly-slap with his other fist. I must admit, it's effective because it often clears the congestion.

Every time he does it you can hear the muffled groans in the crowd. Was that a legal hand-pass? Stuffed if anyone knows.

 

[tigersnake]

Another agenda operates at AFL. The umpires do not pay everything that they see, they are concerned with allowing the game to flow and become the best possible spectacle. So they ignore obvious frees because they don't want every contest to be resolved by a free. Conversely, they will pluck something out to clear congestion, often it is the fourth or fifth infringement that attracts the whistle, often it is often the big name gun player who is the lucky recipient.

In other words, at AFL level, the umpires are expected to make judgement calls on which frees they will pay. It is another level to simply looking for what is there and making a decision.

Hence, you get the situation where only one throw is penalised for a whole game and it happens to be the one that would have seen goal if it was let go like all the others. The ball sweeps to the other end and another over-zealous free kick for hands-in-the-back or ruck contest or whatever else was Tuesday Night's Umpire's focus group workshop's "free of the week" sees a 12 point turnaround.

To me it is the selective use of the whistle that sees umpires influencing far too many games. They are making far too many judgement calls and many of them appear to be of the sort where the ump is thinking: "Too much congestion, I'd better pluck something or I'll get my bum kicked. There's Gary Ablett/Chris Judd/Robert Harvey,I'll jsut give him a quick kick to open it up."

Too many goals flow from what are essentially a few frees plucked from a huge bucket of infringements. Too many judgement calls are being made by the umpires. Too much influence over the game.

They should call it as they see it!

totally agree. couple of comments.

the amount of throws of half-arsed flick passes these days really *smile* me. I don't mind so much if a player knows the ump is blindsided and flicks a throw out of congestion and gets away with it, fine, thats footy. I'm talking about constant throws in plain view. Its a function of the game getting faster, but the umps should keep pace.

another thing that infuriates me but I don't think there is anything that can be done about it, is the umpires subconciously, (or maybe consciously), buying into certain scripts. For example:

1) Paying kicks that are barely there or not there against Richo, when they wouldn't be paid against another powere forward, because the script says he does his block and gives the crowd and press some grist for the mill.

2)Allowing players like judd an extra half second to get the ball off before paying holding the ball against him. Because the script says Judd is a master at standing in the tackle and getting the ball away.

3) Going along for the ride when the side has momentum. A side can be on the good or bad side of this, but it shouldn't happen.

4) paying a marginal free that they haven't been paying all day when the game is in the balance at the death. The classic is the deliberate out of bounds, one that isn't clear cut. I really hate that.

 

[TigerForce]

The free kick that pissed me off on Sunday was actually for us when Polak provoked a Melb player, got shoved and then purposefully fell on the ground right in front of an umpire.

They can't use common sense realising it was just an act.

 

[TOT70]

1) Paying kicks that are barely there or not there against Richo, when they wouldn't be paid against another powere forward, because the script says he does his block and gives the crowd and press some grist for the mill.

One of my pet hates. Richo is an umpire villain who has to be molested before he gets a free. It has got so bad that the Big Fella doesn't worry about it anymore and just takes the mark anyway.

2)Allowing players like judd an extra half second to get the ball off before paying holding the ball against him. Because the script says Judd is a master at standing in the tackle and getting the ball away.

It is easy to get so many clearances when another set of rules operate for you.

3) Going along for the ride when the side has momentum. A side can be on the good or bad side of this, but it shouldn't happen.

They have too many decisions to make about which frees they will and won't pay. They end up being participants, not adjudicators.

4) paying a marginal free that they haven't been paying all day when the game is in the balance at the death. The classic is the deliberate out of bounds, one that isn't clear cut. I really hate that.

Another pet hate. The old deliberate out of bounds in the last 10 minutes when there have already been twenty similar instances let go during the game. they are usually good for one of these a game.

All these things influence the result of games when they shouldn't. It is not the frees that are paid that are the problem, they are usually all there. It is the similar decisions that end up as non-decisions that change the outcome.

 

[LeighW]

I have screamed for consistency in umpiring one way or another for ages now. If they are going to ruin the game with all the netball free kicks pay them to everyone, if they are going to umpire in "the spirit of the game" (as Newman calls it) then do that for everyone. It is the chop and change ways that they have got going at the moment that makes me want to pull my hair out.

With that being said I had an interesting conversation with a mate, and although I am not fully convinced he thinks that the rules dept. and the AFL are to blame for the umpiring not the men themselves. He says with all the rules being changed, different rules for the wizzfizz cup the interpretation of some frees is too ambiguous. He also says with the AFL being the way it is the umpires seem to be part of the games spectacle now, not just there to ensure t flows nicely for the players and us.

 

[TOT70]

I have screamed for consistency in umpiring one way or another for ages now. If they are going to ruin the game with all the netball free kicks pay them to everyone, if they are going to umpire in "the spirit of the game" (as Newman calls it) then do that for everyone. It is the chop and change ways that they have got going at the moment that makes me want to pull my hair out.

With that being said I had an interesting conversation with a mate, and although I am not fully convinced he thinks that the rules dept. and the AFL are to blame for the umpiring not the men themselves. He says with all the rules being changed, different rules for the wizzfizz cup the interpretation of some frees is too ambiguous. He also says with the AFL being the way it is the umpires seem to be part of the games spectacle now, not just there to ensure t flows nicely for the players and us.

Every time I watch a Junior game, I see umpires who make the occasional mistake but are generally reasonably good. AFL umpires come out of this pool and, presumably, are the best of them. Hence, it would follow that your point is correct, the umpires themselves are capable decision-makers who can spot an obvious free when they see one.

So why don't they?

The first thing you learn when you umpire a game of football (or anything else for that matter) is that if you penalise something consistently, it stops happening and if you don't penalise it consistently, it will happen more often. It is called human nature and is a perfectly normal reaction to an individual's circumstances at the time.

Most of these dodgy "hand-passes," "hands-in-the-back" pushes, "off-the-ball" tackles, "360 degree-spin-around" handpasses and other annoyances would simply disappear out of the game if they were consistently penalised.

If it means a hundred free kicks a game for a few weeks, then so be it. The game will be purer because of it and my blood pressure will remain 120 over 80 for a bit longer.

 

[TigerMasochist]

I have screamed for consistency in umpiring one way or another for ages now. If they are going to ruin the game with all the netball free kicks pay them to everyone, if they are going to umpire in "the spirit of the game" (as Newman calls it) then do that for everyone. It is the chop and change ways that they have got going at the moment that makes me want to pull my hair out.

With that being said I had an interesting conversation with a mate, and although I am not fully convinced he thinks that the rules dept. and the AFL are to blame for the umpiring not the men themselves. He says with all the rules being changed, different rules for the wizzfizz cup the interpretation of some frees is too ambiguous. He also says with the AFL being the way it is the umpires seem to be part of the games spectacle now, not just there to ensure t flows nicely for the players and us.

AFL and the umpiring department are red hot on the maggots to pay the blatant obvious infringement no matter how insignificant the contact because " It's the rules".
The rest of the scragging bashing and crunching done in the crush of play just gets glossed over because there's to many players doing to many things wrong at the same time to pick out a decision. Makes life easy and there's not to much stopping and starting with time out to confuse the timekeepers. Just a lot of rolling mauls and spilled footy.