Tapscott Report

[Chook 15,023]

Matthew Leppard

Discipline: Field

AFLUA Heritage No: 420

Shirt Number: 11

1st AFL Match: 2011

AFL Matches at the end of 2012: 31

Commenced career with: Goulburn Valley Umpires' Association

Occupation: Risk Analyst________________________________________________________

In case anyone was wondering.

Risk analyst? Ha! That's rich!

The risk of Tappy getting Scotland high was next to nil. Time to look for another job, buddy!

[McQueen 17,867]

Matthew Leppard

Discipline: Field

AFLUA Heritage No: 420

Shirt Number: 11

1st AFL Match: 2011

AFL Matches at the end of 2012: 31

Commenced career with: Goulburn Valley Umpires' Association

Occupation: Risk Analyst________________________________________________________

In case anyone was wondering.

Any relation to Def?

[RalphiusMaximus 6,110]

Any relation to Def?

I hope not. He'd retroactively suck away their mojo and make us all remember them as sounding like a seekers cover band.

[DeeZee 7,463]

2 weeks for a shoulder bump....disgrace.

[What 18,810]

Great hit by Tappy.

Hope he irons out a few more blokes this week

[TheoX 1,222]

2 weeks for a shoulder bump....disgrace.

Are you cereal?

[Tassie Devil 28]

If a player is reported isn't it automatically a 50m penalty?

I may be wrong - but if not the umpire got it doubly wrong.

[Moonshadow 17,678]

Matthew Leppard

Discipline: FieldAFLUA Heritage No: 420Shirt Number: 11 1st AFL Match: 2011AFL Matches at the end of 2012: 31Commenced career with: Goulburn Valley Umpires' AssociationOccupation: Risk Analyst________________________________________________________

In case anyone was wondering.

His umpire shirt number is actually based upon his IQ.

[Goodvibes 3,596]

The beautiful part of that bump was that Fletcher saw him coming and fumbled. Wonder what Robinson thought about that effort.

[DeeZee 7,463]

Are you cereal?

Sorry i was surreal

[binman 44,683]

Scotland? Fletcher? No wonder they threw it out - they couldn't determine who he bumped.

[TheoX 1,222]

If a player is reported isn't it automatically a 50m penalty?

I may be wrong - but if not the umpire got it doubly wrong.

I think they scrapped that rule a while ago, probably to save further embarrassment over ridiculous reports like this one.

[The heart beats true 18,188]

That's not even in Tappys bump highlight reel. He went to ground like an Italian striker and then popped back up the minute he got the free.

Bruise free indeed.

[Sideshow Bob 2,475]

What gets up my goat is that Waite gets a week for a head but that was 1 metre directly in front of an umpire and no action taken yet a completely legal bump is penalised by a game day report which also then gives a free kick and a launch towards goal. Where oh where is the damn consistency by those pr1cks caled umpires.

Btw I don't think there was overly much in the head but either but hey it's a principle thing. The dee's are consistently on the wrong end of the 50/50 frees - especially those in font of goals at either end

[Rod Grinter Riot Squad 5,654]

Any relation to Def?

Are you saying he is def and blind?

[Bobby McKenzie 2,407]

Here it is. Enjoy.

Thanks for the footage Chook. Wasn't it great to see Maxy getting right into it too. How about the look of amazement on Tappy's face when told he was reported? Will Umpire # 11 get a senior game next round? We will watch with interest.

[TRIGON 4,796]

Here it is. Enjoy.

Best summed up by Tappy's (I think) summation near the end of the clip..."that was S@!thouse mate".

[Young Dee 1,303]

So any 'reports' on Tappies game.

Thought he was pretty good - had a consistent presence (something he has struggled with).

Is he becoming a starting 18/22 player. I remember most at the start of the year (including myself) just couldn't see a spot/role for him in the team.

Definatly think that the Chappy role (high forward/stint midfielder) is the right one for him. I think his aggression is very important for our team.

[hardtack 10,975]

This will probably get me bagged, but what the hell...

I really can't understand the venom that gets spat in the direction of the umpires on these forums (particularly in the game day threads). They have one of the toughest jobs going in the sport, constantly have to make snap decisions in a pressure cooker situation, are frequently unsighted due to the nature of the play, do not have the benefit of the replay system before making a call and are not particularly highly paid when compared to the mid to top range players. In other words, it's a thankless task... they are doomed to criticism no matter what they do - yet the game would not/could not go ahead without them.

This guy made a mistake yes, but it was perfectly obvious that it would not make it to the MRP and as there was no 50m penalty, it amounted to nothing more than a free kick... and we won that count quite easily on the day.

I wonder how many of the "critics" on here would be willing to take on the job, and if any did, how many would not make similar bad calls under pressure from time to time.

[jazza 1,323]

tried to count carltons mistakes, minor and major got up to 167 and gave up

counted dee mistakes and got up to over 100 and gave up

counted the umpire mistakes. hhhmmmm not many

[RalphiusMaximus 6,110]

This will probably get me bagged, but what the hell...

I really can't understand the venom that gets spat in the direction of the umpires on these forums (particularly in the game day threads). They have one of the toughest jobs going in the sport, constantly have to make snap decisions in a pressure cooker situation, are frequently unsighted due to the nature of the play, do not have the benefit of the replay system before making a call and are not particularly highly paid when compared to the mid to top range players. In other words, it's a thankless task... they are doomed to criticism no matter what they do - yet the game would not/could not go ahead without them.

This guy made a mistake yes, but it was perfectly obvious that it would not make it to the MRP and as there was no 50m penalty, it amounted to nothing more than a free kick... and we won that count quite easily on the day.

I wonder how many of the "critics" on here would be willing to take on the job, and if any did, how many would not make similar bad calls under pressure from time to time.

The bolded text is my biggest issue. They make calls when they didn't actually see what happened. This is a fundamental flaw in the way they are trained. In the case of Tapscott's entirely legal bump, the umpire saw a guy bending over get bumped and assumed that there was head high contact despite not actually seeing any. He made a call that was instantly shown to be entirely incorrect and which resulted in a Carlton goal. In this instance it had no impact on the result, but imagine if we had lost by that one goal.

[ucanchoose 1,816]

Given the mood of Demonland ATM I'm surprised nobody's started a thread calling for the umpire or even the Geisch to be sacked.

During the footy flashback on Sunday they were calling for his head and that was 13 BLOODY YEARS AGO!!!!!!!!

[hardtack 10,975]

The bolded text is my biggest issue. They make calls when they didn't actually see what happened. This is a fundamental flaw in the way they are trained. In the case of Tapscott's entirely legal bump, the umpire saw a guy bending over get bumped and assumed that there was head high contact despite not actually seeing any. He made a call that was instantly shown to be entirely incorrect and which resulted in a Carlton goal. In this instance it had no impact on the result, but imagine if we had lost by that one goal.

Well, I would say that from his angle, he saw what he was fairly certain amounted to head high contact, and so he was committed to his belief that is was a reportable incident - regardless, even if the report hadn't been made, I think you would find he still would have awarded a free for high/unreasonable contact and the goal scoring opportunity would have still been there (and did this result in a goal really? I can't recall to tell the truth)... perhaps this would suggest that in instances such as this, they should allow the umpire to go to a third umpire who could use the Foxtel/7 footage to determine whether a reportable offence took place?

[RalphiusMaximus 6,110]

Well, I would say that from his angle, he saw what he was fairly certain amounted to head high contact, and so he was committed to his belief that is was a reportable incident - regardless, even if the report hadn't been made, I think you would find he still would have awarded a free for high/unreasonable contact and the goal scoring opportunity would have still been there (and did this result in a goal really? I can't recall to tell the truth)... perhaps this would suggest that in instances such as this, they should allow the umpire to go to a third umpire who could use the Foxtel/7 footage to determine whether a reportable offence took place?

I'm fairly sure Carlton took it straight down the field and scored.

Personally, I would like to have an appeal system of some sort. Obviously it could only work during a halt in play, but if the captain or coach could flag the call for an instant replay and adjudication it would save everyone a lot of angst. It works in the NFL, why not for us?

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,069]

This will probably get me bagged, but what the hell...

I really can't understand the venom that gets spat in the direction of the umpires on these forums (particularly in the game day threads). They have one of the toughest jobs going in the sport, constantly have to make snap decisions in a pressure cooker situation, are frequently unsighted due to the nature of the play, do not have the benefit of the replay system before making a call and are not particularly highly paid when compared to the mid to top range players. In other words, it's a thankless task... they are doomed to criticism no matter what they do - yet the game would not/could not go ahead without them.

This guy made a mistake yes, but it was perfectly obvious that it would not make it to the MRP and as there was no 50m penalty, it amounted to nothing more than a free kick... and we won that count quite easily on the day.

I wonder how many of the "critics" on here would be willing to take on the job, and if any did, how many would not make similar bad calls under pressure from time to time.

Agree with this.

In addition, I wonder how "conditioned" umpires have become to the principles behind relatively recent rules. Most criticism appears to surround umpires' interpretations of high profile rule changes, such as those associated with pushing in marking contests and head high bumps.