It is with great sadness that I report the retirement of Umpire McLaren

No more completeley one sided first halves followed by reversed one sided second halves after half time discussions.

No more demonstrative, dare I say flamboyant hand signals, no more poncing about and unbelievably bad decisions.

He will be sadly missed.

Took the profession of White Maggatory to even lower depths.

It is with great sadness that I report the retirement of Umpire McLaren

No more completeley one sided first halves followed by reversed one sided second halves after half time discussions.

No more demonstrative, dare I say flamboyant hand signals, no more poncing about and unbelievably bad decisions.

He will be sadly missed.

Don't be so sad. there are a plethora of umpires to fill McLaren's shoes.

It's amusing watching the comments on McLaren on Twitter. Supporters of every single club believe that he singled them out for especially poor treatment.

Amazing.

It's amusing watching the comments on McLaren on Twitter. Supporters of every single club believe that he singled them out for especially poor treatment.

Amazing.

Indeed.

I've always wondered whether McLaren would receive the beating he cops from fans if James Hird had not singled him out on TV.

Some more amazingly poor judgement by Hird - are Essendon sure he'd make a good coach?

I think if he ever does make the transition, he'll be another in a long line of great afl players that became very ordinary coaches.

He will be sadly missed.

NO HE WON"T!!!

He's not exactly likeable but IMO he's far from the worst umpire. His twin brother McBurney is worse for starters I reckon.

You're all wrong...we're going to have t put him with him one more time- because he's doing our game on the weekend!

You're all wrong...we're going to have t put him with him one more time- because he's doing our game on the weekend!

Can you imagine ! I heard this. Ah well, I wish him all the best. He is 42 and no spring chicken.

Interesting fact: He umpired the last true State of Origin game in 1999. (And no the Hall Of Fame game is not S.O.O. and therefore does not count).

I hope he goes out like A Lynch, swingin'.

King hits Boomer Harvey and gets 2 years in the clink.

Whilst in the clink, I hope...

Any news on McBurney following suit?

Umpire abuse bores me.

Aussie Rules is the toughest of the footy codes to umpire. Yes they make mistakes and sometimes even shocking howlers. But then again so do AFL footballers. If those who abuse umps think that they can do better then for Gods sake get out there and umpire.

Congratulations to Scott on a fine umpiring career at the elite level.

Umpire abuse bores me.

Aussie Rules is the toughest of the footy codes to umpire. Yes they make mistakes and sometimes even shocking howlers. But then again so do AFL footballers. If those who abuse umps think that they can do better then for Gods sake get out there and umpire.

Congratulations to Scott on a fine umpiring career at the elite level.

AGREE and Scott give us a great go on your last effort to pay back all the rubbish you have given us over 17 years.

When you realise that he's gone half a decade and more being an umpire that people feel like they have a licence to single out for extra abuse, it kind of points up why Hird's comments, and Newman's pushing him to make them, were way out of line.

Still a disgrace of the greatest order that Hird's next game got zero brownlow votes despite being one of the all-time great individual performances. That was fairly blatantly personal vendetta interfering with a supposedly impartial process, and it came from the damned umpires!

As far as promoting the game goes, poor umpriing is on a level with some of the terrible commentary we're getting lately. Nothing has screwed up my gradual efforts to induct people into the joy of AFL than having to look at them and say, 'No, I'm sorry, I just can't explain what that was about'. And it is when you have a new person sitting with you that you realise how often it happens.

The laws of the game need to be stablised, have a few idiotic excesses (like the interchange 50m) stripped back, and the 'interpretations' not messed with over the course of each season. But most of all, the AFL needs to put millions, and I mean millions, more in umpire development from grassroots to the top level.

Damn, thought this thread was going to be about Boomer Harvey. Oh well...

Will never forget the Dunn incident against Norf in '08.

will the umpires chair him out after the game?

The umpiring of the game is a complete mess. NO-one can suggest AFL is the best game in the world while umpiring is in such a poor state. I appreciate it is a hard game to umpire but so often umpires are making calls on 50-50 decisions, I actually think they are being encouraged to be pro-active, don't sit on the fence, make a decision and as a result most games are over-umpired and each decision is open to interpretation. I think the two worst blokes as far as umpiring is concerned are Jeff Geishen and Kevin Bartlett. Geishen has IMO taken umpiring well backwards and needs to move on and Bartlett is so biased in his views that umpiring is going well that ultimately nothing substantial gets done except pathetic little add-on rule changes that people dont want to see.

I know it's boring but IMO umpiring is in such a parlous state they need to almost start again, and try to simplify it because at the moment it is a really flawed game and while the AFL sticks its head in the sand and refuses to admit it the game can't move forward.

Phew! Got that off my chest.

The umpiring of the game is a complete mess. NO-one can suggest AFL is the best game in the world while umpiring is in such a poor state. I appreciate it is a hard game to umpire but so often umpires are making calls on 50-50 decisions, I actually think they are being encouraged to be pro-active, don't sit on the fence, make a decision and as a result most games are over-umpired and each decision is open to interpretation.

I don't think umpires are doing a poor job; as you said, Australian Rules is a ridiculously hard game to umpire because there are so many 50/50 decisions compared to most other sports, making week-to-week consistency impossible. Factor in the massive size of the ground and the fact that the field umpires are normally nowhere near one another, and even gameday consistency is very difficult. I do think the AFL are too quick to impliment rule changes to the point where the game is becomming over-officiated. Also, in their efforts to make rules simpler, they somehow manage to make them more complicated. Case in point, the rushed behind rule was supposed to be "black and white"; if you're under pressure you're still allowed rush it, if you're doing it to waste time, you can't. But umpires have paid free kicks this year against players who've rushed it under pressure. Considering the rule was introduced in order to stop time wasting, why didn't the AFL just give umpires the power to use their own discretion, and award a free kick when they deem this to be happening? It would have solves the time-wasting problem (which was hardly an epedemic in any case) without causing the kind of confusion it has.

As for McLaren, he doesn't favor or target any sides, but he rubs everyone the wrong way with his over-the-top gestures and with his penchant for awarding head-line generating free kicks, and -on occasion- awarding harsh free kicks that seem to be influenced by the crowd. If a good umpire tries to be invisible, McLaren has increasingly sought to make himself a central feature in the games he officiates.

Edited August 26, 201014 yr by two sheds jackson

Just call the blatant ones and let it go, Like at local footy.

Dont get me started on local footy umpiring

On before the game, he said its a pity they now mic the umpires as previously when a players slegde they could right back..no longer possible.

Dont get me started on local footy umpiring

On before the game, he said its a pity they now mic the umpires as previously when a players slegde they could right back..no longer possible.

Er, "You're batting so far out of your league" sounds like sledging to me. Being miked up doesn't stop some of them from overstepping their bounds.

McLaren umpired very well in his last game. the other two were hopeless. Umpire 14 took a goal off us when Jurrah played on and gave them another when Rivers said soemthing after being denied a blatant free. I note we lost by 10 points, enough said. Umpire 31 was just plain bad.

McLaren umpired very well in his last game. the other two were hopeless. Umpire 14 took a goal off us when Jurrah played on and gave them another when Rivers said soemthing after being denied a blatant free. I note we lost by 10 points, enough said. Umpire 31 was just plain bad.

We've had some shockers paid against us this year, but none were more against the spirit of the contest than the disallowed goal to Jurrah (although the deliberate rushed against Chip comes close)

WHY NOT PAY ADVANTAGE YOU [censored]?!