Oops - mucked up there - apologies for the multiple Posts.

Go Dees.

At least you got us onto page 3 fossil

Thank you for your tolerance Wayne - and I like your Grimesy pic - he is one of my favourites as well.

Lets see a modern team cut through a pre-90's team under these conditions

• One field umpire applying the rules as they were applied pre-90's
• two on the bench with no rotations
• full-back not permitted to kick in until flags waved
• no line across the centre circle and no outer circle

and muddy grounds that weren't bowling greens

and for good measure the seconds cutting up the ground before hand

suburban ovals where the wind was a big factor

and shirt fronts allowed

Once every season or two for the past forty years, i convince my self that the umpiring I am watching is so poor, so inconsistent and so blatantly against Melbourne that when I wake up the next morning there will be headlines in all the papers screaming for the umpires heads and a public apology from the AFL for completely rorting the MFC. For good measure they have gone back through past games and awarded us points retrospectively.........But then sometimes I also realise for every perfectly reasonable and obvious free a Melbourne player is paid there is someone else in the crowd that thought it was a twiggy touchwood 50/50 free that shouldn't have been paid at all.

Umpires can't win and never will. Even if all three have a blinder and umpire the perfect game one set of supporter (but probably both) will feel hardly done by.

We need to encourage more umpires through the system but really who wants that level of abuse in their lives.

The umpiring dept is stuffed. I mean thye tell the umps to stand in a certain part of the ground rather than follow the players around. Then they miss things, or worse, guess.

What idiot tells the goal umpire to stand with his back agains the goal post when a ball is coming in from the pocket? And guess what it hots the umps leg because he standing next to the flipping thing.

Stupidity of the highest order.

They should be made to sit 1000 hours of exams and watch game after game after game til they get calls right.

They have killed my enjoyment of the game,

This is not a conspiracy theory... this is fact!

The first two or three free kicks in a game will go against MFC

The first stacks on the mill/holding the ball in the game will go against MFC

MFC will lose the free kick count early in a game, but late trends in a game will tend to even it up

MFC will not get free kicks in forward 50 of an equivalent nature to free kicks already paid to the oppositions in their forward 50

MFC will get the first deliberately OOB free in the game paid against it

There is more than one umpire who pays next to zilch frees to MFC in the course of an AFL season!!!!

Umpires and the free kicks they pay (where & when) should be monitored very closely (as far as I know nobody does this). I have said it before, the easiest way to fix an outcome of an AFL game is to have one or two umpires on the take. I have no evidence that this happens, but I didn't have any evidence against Lance Armstrong either. I will monitor this situation when I find time. Umpires should be held accountable!

Just watching the Hawks v Swans, late third quarter in the goal square Hill takes them on is tackled and ball in his hands hits the ground but he is able to hand off to Roughie for a goal. Blatant mistake results in goal yet a minute earlier everyone is in a tiss if a kick for goal was touched or not and bemoaning the lack of goal camera technology.

Just watching the Hawks v Swans, late third quarter in the goal square Hill takes them on is tackled and ball in his hands hits the ground but he is able to hand off to Roughie for a goal. Blatant mistake results in goal yet a minute earlier everyone is in a tiss if a kick for goal was touched or not and bemoaning the lack of goal camera technology.

you could say hill was legged too, earl

worse one was in last few minutes of game swans down by 10. Goodes clearly and cleanly marked in square, ball then knocked out of possession by clash of players, play on called

Well the "goal" that Gibbo blatantly touched was a joke, so only fair the Hawks got an equally rubbish goal in return, care of the umps putting the whistle away.

you could say hill was legged too, earl

worse one was in last few minutes of game swans down by 10. Goodes clearly and cleanly marked in square, ball then knocked out of possession by clash of players, play on called

You'd have to be blind to say that was a clear and clean mark. Maybe it was a mark in the loosest interpretation of "controlling the ball", but no more than that.

Oops - mucked up there - apologies for the multiple Posts.

Go Dees.

If you go to edit you can delete the extra posts, to make the game look cleaner. Not necessarily in the rule though.

Interesting article on the afl website:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-07-28/umpire-series-match-committee

This is pretty disturbing:

There are 32 field umpires in the AFL's senior squad, but because of injuries and fitness concerns, there are only 27 available for that weekend, meaning all umpires involved in round 16 will get another game, irrespective of performance.

Sounds a lot like Melbourne last year. Guys getting games because there's just no one else.

Not good enough IMHO. Need a larger squad to pick from and full time dedicated hours.

As a matter of interest, has anyone ever suggested that the four field umpires (ie, including the emergency umpire) all umpire three quarters of each game? That should do two things to help. Firstly, the umpires are more likely to be able to keep up with the pace of the game. Secondly, more umpires are getting "game play" experience which should improve standards in the longer term. On the downside, there may be a question of consistency and it may be hard for an umpire to umpire a quarter, then sit out one and come back for the last two.

I've never seen it discussed anywhere.

As a matter of interest, has anyone ever suggested that the four field umpires (ie, including the emergency umpire) all umpire three quarters of each game? That should do two things to help. Firstly, the umpires are more likely to be able to keep up with the pace of the game. Secondly, more umpires are getting "game play" experience which should improve standards in the longer term. On the downside, there may be a question of consistency and it may be hard for an umpire to umpire a quarter, then sit out one and come back for the last two.

I've never seen it discussed anywhere.

you mean put the emerg ump on the bench and have rotations?

nah.....inconsistent enough as it is

but points for thinking outside the square

Here is some thinking outside the square, possibly well off the planet:

A lot of bad umpire calls are obvious on the broadcast. A few are obvious to the crowd, but usually only spectators reasonably close to the action can know with any confidence - those further away can easily be biased in favour of their team. So how about instant free kicks awarded by an umpire looking at a broadcast. Not the Fox broadcast but a special one for umpires. (or even better use 2 cameras and umpires). No replays - just their instantaneous decision relayed to the umpire on the ground whose main job is to blow the whistle, enforce decisions and maybe look for off the ball frees.

Maybe 3D cameras would help

Must stop eating those mushrooms.

As a matter of interest, has anyone ever suggested that the four field umpires (ie, including the emergency umpire) all umpire three quarters of each game? That should do two things to help. Firstly, the umpires are more likely to be able to keep up with the pace of the game. Secondly, more umpires are getting "game play" experience which should improve standards in the longer term. On the downside, there may be a question of consistency and it may be hard for an umpire to umpire a quarter, then sit out one and come back for the last two.

I've never seen it discussed anywhere.

When we had ONE umpire, we may not have liked what he did, but he was generally consistent within a match if not from week to week.

Enter two - which one thought what.

Three - three blind mice.

Four - OMG, who what when why??? A recipe for more confusion, and dredging deeper into the cesspit from whence maggots commonly emerge.

In cricket if the middle stump is removed you are out bowled - full stop - no argument -...

Not anymore.

Interesting article on the afl website:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-07-28/umpire-series-match-committee

This is the wankiest thing i have ever read, what are these tools getting paid for that you or i couldnt do???

Full time umpires will rid them of worring about informing their boss they need Friday off!

NRL Ref's aree full time, the EPL has full time ref's with a massive amount of trainees.

WTF man?

Always enjoy a good whinge about umpires. Here's another one:

Why on earth do they always take time and breath to indicate that they are going to move backwards when they do a ball-up? They always go back on a line perpendicular to their bum and the the vague wave they do doesn't indicate that any better then just standing there. Do the players really need to be told?

have you no sense of theatre sue?

have you no sense of theatre sue?

Sure do - it would be more entertaining for me if they just ran off in a random direction. Think of the fines the AFL could amass.

Always enjoy a good whinge about umpires. Here's another one:

Why on earth do they always take time and breath to indicate that they are going to move backwards when they do a ball-up? They always go back on a line perpendicular to their bum and the the vague wave they do doesn't indicate that any better then just standing there. Do the players really need to be told?

So I umpired a game of local footy the other week. First (and probably last) time doing it. And I tried to not carry on too much but I did find myself doing this (without the hand gesture). I think it's for your own peace of mind. You know you've got some big boys behind you who are keen to get in to the space you are vacating and compete with an opponent and the ball. Just reminding them where you are going makes you feel more confident in doing what you are meant to be doing which is watching the ruck contest and watching the players.

Interesting article on the afl website:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-07-28/umpire-series-match-committee

This is pretty disturbing:

There are 32 field umpires in the AFL's senior squad, but because of injuries and fitness concerns, there are only 27 available for that weekend, meaning all umpires involved in round 16 will get another game, irrespective of performance.

Sounds a lot like Melbourne last year. Guys getting games because there's just no one else.

Not good enough IMHO. Need a larger squad to pick from and full time dedicated hours.

I'm not sure why they can't schedule the Friday nights in advance and most of the travel appointments in advance.

As for the numbers of available umps I think they need to pay the state league umps more. No idea what they are getting but if the state league guys are all up to a professional standard then they'll have a much bigger elite pool to draw from.

Whenever I've watched VFL it's been young umps. So it seems once guys hit the VFL stage they either go up to AFL level where it's a legitimate and profitable second career that they can do well in to their 30's and even 40's or they go back down to local leagues where it's a bit of a spare change hobby.

I have an umpiring moan too. They seem to stand too far away from the action, that means they miss blatant frees, or they guess, I don't get it, pack forms, and the balls going now where, but they still insist in standing 40 metres away.