The Geisch Gawn

[The Third Eye 259]

Departing umpires boss Jeff Gieschen proud of increasing respect to umps

More respect for umpires but less for the position of umpires advisor.

Won't miss him and I hope his successor brings a bit of clarity and consistency to the interpretation of the push in the back rule vis a vis hands in the back.

[Biffen 12,940]

What a failure of a bloke .

he actually decreased respect for umpires because they would run out with different rules each week and inevitably stuff up.

Just leave the game alone-don't tinker,don't adjust,don't modify or change it .

Scrap the board and Gollum Bartlett-let them get a real job.

[monoccular 17,417]

Hopefully he will rapidly slip into oblivion.......or he could go back and coach the Toiges for all I care.

[DemonFrog 1,354]

I will always have a soft spot for Jeff Gieschen, but to be honest never paid that much attention to how he went in this AFL role.

[Macca 16,941]

Happy to see the end of Jeff Gieschen and hopefully things will improve now that he is going. The decline in the standard of how the game has been umpired in the last 15 years has been astonishing ... and I have the utmost respect for the umpires in general - it is not their fault that they've had such incompetent people above them. Those above Gieschen also need to shoulder much of the blame including those on the rules committee. The fish rots at the head.

Players are now allowed to seemingly hold on to the ball forever, they're often allowed to throw it, duck their heads into tackles etc etc. The rolling mauls and congested play can be directly attributed to how the game is umpired. Not that many years ago, a quick ball up or a free kick was paid to break up play - sometimes it worked in your favour and other times it didn't - everyone just got on with it.

The game was much more open because of the interpretation of the rules ... and the occurrence of having 36 players in one quarter of the ground was rare (that now happens all too frequently)

Again, this is not an attack on the umpires as I believe they should not be blamed for the way the rules of umpiring are interpreted. They're acting under instruction, Under the circumstances, the umpires have generally done a fine job and are always going to make the odd mistake.

They should appoint an ex umpire into the position of umpires director (or advisor) That has worked better in the past - for instance, Bill Deller was an excellent umpires director and was highly respected.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Macca

[Sir Why You Little 36,999]

Heard him interviewed on KB's show last friday. It was a genuine love in.

Today a spectator has no idea what an umpires decision will be when the whistle blows unless it is blatant.

Too many grey rules. Too many umpires.

Don't start me on hands in the back or touching a jumper!!!!

Edited December 1, 2013 by why you little

[rjay 24,896]

Happy to see the end of Gieschen and hopefully things will improve now that he is going. The decline in the standard of how the game has been umpired in the last 15 years has been astonishing ... and I have the utmost respect for the umpires in general - it is not their fault that they've had such incompetent people above them. Those above Gieschen also need to shoulder much of the blame including those on the rules committee. The fish rots at the head.

Players are now allowed to seemingly hold on to the ball forever, they're often allowed to throw it, duck their heads into tackles etc etc. The rolling mauls and congested play can be directly attributed to how the game is umpired. Not that many years ago, a quick ball up or a free kick was paid to break up play - sometimes it worked in your favour and other times it didn't - everyone just got on with it.

The game was much more open because of the interpretation of the rules ... and the occurrence of having 36 players in one quarter of the ground was rare (that now happens all too frequently)

Again, this is not an attack on the umpires as I believe they should not be blamed for the way the rules of umpiring are interpreted. They're acting under instruction, Under the circumstances, the umpires have generally done a fine job and are always going to make the odd mistake.

They should appoint an ex umpire into the position of umpires director (or advisor) That has worked better in the past - for instance, Bill Deller was an excellent umpires director and was highly respected.

Have to agree 'Macca', the congestion is a direct result of the time and method allowed to dispose of the ball. Correct interpretation of the rules would stop these problems and all the other changes to the game that the powers that be seem to think are needed to fix it.

Simple, interpret the rules you have properly in the first place.

[Macca 16,941]

Have to agree 'Macca', the congestion is a direct result of the time and method allowed to dispose of the ball. Correct interpretation of the rules would stop these problems and all the other changes to the game that the powers that be seem to think are needed to fix it.

Simple, interpret the rules you have properly in the first place.

It's not a hard fix 'rjay'. I reckon they overthink it.

What's wrong with having more free kicks or ball ups? With the quick ball up situation, often teams would just belt the ball forward to open up play and get the ball moving their way.

We watch these rolling mauls and packs for endless amounts of time and they often end up balling it up anyway - just ball it up straight away. Or pay the correct free kick early.

[daisycutter 29,605]

Happy to see the end of Jeff Gieschen and hopefully things will improve now that he is going. The decline in the standard of how the game has been umpired in the last 15 years has been astonishing ... and I have the utmost respect for the umpires in general - it is not their fault that they've had such incompetent people above them. Those above Gieschen also need to shoulder much of the blame including those on the rules committee. The fish rots at the head.

Players are now allowed to seemingly hold on to the ball forever, they're often allowed to throw it, duck their heads into tackles etc etc. The rolling mauls and congested play can be directly attributed to how the game is umpired. Not that many years ago, a quick ball up or a free kick was paid to break up play - sometimes it worked in your favour and other times it didn't - everyone just got on with it.

The game was much more open because of the interpretation of the rules ... and the occurrence of having 36 players in one quarter of the ground was rare (that now happens all too frequently)

Again, this is not an attack on the umpires as I believe they should not be blamed for the way the rules of umpiring are interpreted. They're acting under instruction, Under the circumstances, the umpires have generally done a fine job and are always going to make the odd mistake.

They should appoint an ex umpire into the position of umpires director (or advisor) That has worked better in the past - for instance, Bill Deller was an excellent umpires director and was highly respected.

good summary macca. sad but true

i can't stand the week by week re-interpretation of rules caused by puppet masters who think they are above the game

[P-man 13,366]

Heard him interviewed on KB's show last friday. It was a genuine love in.

Can't say I'm shocked. They're as hopeless as each other.

A good day for the game, as just about anyone will be an improvement.

[Pates 9,660]

The biggest issue I had with him was his unflinching support of some terrible umpiring decisions. I get that he needs to back those under his employ but the best way to improve is to be critical of the bad decisions so that the umpires can learn and look out for it next time.

[Macca 16,941]

good summary macca. sad but true

i can't stand the week by week re-interpretation of rules caused by puppet masters who think they are above the game

Jeff was in the job for far too long, 'dc'. 14 years? Maybe 2 or 3 years would have been sufficient, all things considered.

There are 2 distinctly different arguments that can happen here. The competency of the umpires and the fact that umpires are instructed to umpire the sport in a certain way. My focus is on the latter argument. The 'former' argument is definitely a matter of opinion.

You only have to put yourself into the shoes of an umpire - they may not enjoy 'not' blowing the whistle all the time. In many ways, those who oversee the umpires have stifled them. That stifling effect might appeal to a number of footy fans but it's not big picture stuff in all reality.

More free kicks and "early" ball ups leads to more open and positional play (IMO) A ball up doesn't have to necessarily take a lot of time either. It can be done reasonably quickly with a bit of forethought.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Macca

[Gorgoroth 12,926]

I think the biggest thing they took from the umpires was their ability to umpire on the feel of the game, everything they did was by what they thought Geish wanted them to do.