Holding the ball interpreation is rubbish. All it does is encourage the tackler/s to hold the ball in resulting in more scrimages and rolling mauls. There are loads of examples of holding the ball where the player awarded the free kick actually has possesion of the ball. Definately does not reward the ball players like Viney.

The rule itself is okay but the interpretation should be where there is no reasonable opportunity the Umpires should ball it up. You reduce ball ups by paying incorrect disposals when they occur even if the ball is knocked out in the tackle. That would encourage quicker movement rather than encouraging players to pile on top and hold the ball in.

The 'no reasonable opportunity' idea is a good one. I'm sick of players pretending to knock it out when being sat on by 5 other players. Usually they are banging the ball into their own chests but with enough squirming about they ump says they 'tried'. (Though I think we are unique in having a decision against us on Sat for knocking the ball into our chest - not sure who the player was.)

That period where Sydney got two holding the ball decisions which were rubbish (espeically the Viney ones) was ridiculous. They were then forced to pay Melbourne a soft holding the ball just to keep things even.

I believe that was the only occasion i've ever seen an umpire pressured into a call by Melbourne supporters... If he didn't give that, there could have possibly been a bit of fence jumping and his life could have been in danger...

Edited April 28, 201411 yr by low flying Robbo

I believe that was the only occasion i've ever seen an umpire pressured into a call by Melbourne supporters... If he didn't give that, there could have possibly been a bit of fence jumping and his life could have been in danger...

Haha this just reminded me, against Carlton there was a ball up on the wing on Southern Stand side. The ball was tapped down straight to Gibbs and he was tackled instantly. The crowd was dead quiet expecting a ball-up and as a joke I let out an almighty yell of "baaaaaalllllllll" - the umpire stopped the direction he was walking waited a second or so then blew his whistle "holding the ball". My brother & I and the other Melbourne supporters around us started pissing ourselves, I don't know if my yell had any effect but it was pretty funny nonetheless. It happened about half way through the third quarter.

Haha this just reminded me, against Carlton there was a ball up on the wing on Southern Stand side. The ball was tapped down straight to Gibbs and he was tackled instantly. The crowd was dead quiet expecting a ball-up and as a joke I let out an almighty yell of "baaaaaalllllllll" - the umpire stopped the direction he was walking waited a second or so then blew his whistle "holding the ball". My brother & I and the other Melbourne supporters around us started pissing ourselves, I don't know if my yell had any effect but it was pretty funny nonetheless. It happened about half way through the third quarter.

Well done, sir. Well done.

Haha this just reminded me, against Carlton there was a ball up on the wing on Southern Stand side. The ball was tapped down straight to Gibbs and he was tackled instantly. The crowd was dead quiet expecting a ball-up and as a joke I let out an almighty yell of "baaaaaalllllllll" - the umpire stopped the direction he was walking waited a second or so then blew his whistle "holding the ball". My brother & I and the other Melbourne supporters around us started pissing ourselves, I don't know if my yell had any effect but it was pretty funny nonetheless. It happened about half way through the third quarter.

well played

I believe that was the only occasion i've ever seen an umpire pressured into a call by Melbourne supporters... If he didn't give that, there could have possibly been a bit of fence jumping and his life could have been in danger...

The funny thing was, the crowd was almost being sarcastic. I think most Melbourne supporters knew it wasn't holding the ball, but we were all yelling it with a tinge of "well if you paid the one before...".

It's a shame, the umpiring WAS actually going well for the first 3-4 rounds, I swear I reckon the media attention for the tagging on Cotchin seemed to totally change things. The very next week the ball winners were getting soft free kicks again. But aside from that rules seem to change interpretation from incident to incident.

At the start of the season the AFL said they were going to have teams of umpires for the first three rounds. This works.

Maybe they stopped after the 3 rounds?