5 hours ago, rjay said:

It's only a matter of time before we start using a round ball.

The end is nigh...

I hope not, i switched off the international rules after 5 minutes. It feels so two dimensional

Edited November 14, 20177 yr by Deeprived Childhood

Well this idea of scrapping the bounce is bullshite.

It's a quirky part of our game that should be sacrosanct.

[censored] me, umpires are getting sore backs!

Well find another [censored] job!

Teachers get mentally [censored] up from dealing with out of control kids. What are they told? It's your fault for not engaging the little [censored] heads -FMD!

Plumbers get sore backs! Furniture removalists get sore backs! Well let's not move house.

What a soft [censored] society we have become! [censored] , I hope my heart surgeon doesn't feint from the site of blood and walk of the job.

Have a designated bouncer or make being able to bounce a condition of employment. Stop pandering to soft [censored]. 

Next thing we'll have to stop throw ins because boundary umps are overextending their elbows!

[censored] me! I'm going to open another shiraz.

Seriously, if the precious flowers think bouncing the ball is too demanding, bring in a specialist! It wouldn't be difficult to train up a dozen professional ball bouncers whose sole job is to deliver a straight, high bounce after each goal then get off the ground.

34 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Well this idea of scrapping the bounce is bullshite.

It's a quirky part of our game that should be sacrosanct.

[censored] me, umpires are getting sore backs!

Well find another [censored] job!

Teachers get mentally [censored] up from dealing with out of control kids. What are they told? It's your fault for not engaging the little [censored] heads -FMD!

Plumbers get sore backs! Furniture removalists get sore backs! Well let's not move house.

What a soft [censored] society we have become! [censored] , I hope my heart surgeon doesn't feint from the site of blood and walk of the job.

Have a designated bouncer or make being able to bounce a condition of employment. Stop pandering to soft [censored]. 

Next thing we'll have to stop throw ins because boundary umps are overextending their elbows!

[censored] me! I'm going to open another shiraz.

not to worry, uncle, dan the man will no doubt provide free counselling to all aggrieved fans

Maxy will love no bounce, he killed it round 1 when it was thrown up every time suits a good tap ruckman won’t suit the big brutes like Mumford 

WTF is the problem? It's only bounced at the beginning of quarters and after goals. Seems to me they are too hopeless at it and the optics are forcing the AFL's hand. The bounce is a great quirky tradition of our game. Gil should grow a pair and keep it.

I'd also like to see the return of brimmed hats and long coats for goal umps. They look so baseball-like now.

Edited November 14, 20177 yr by Moonshadow

I propose we scrap the umpires altogether and reduce the rules to a computer algorithm fed by camera angles.

Just obliterate the maggots back to Nothing Park Reserve on $100 a match with ample human abuse thrown in.

Bring t on.

They deserve nothing less.

 

2 hours ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

Seriously, if the precious flowers think bouncing the ball is too demanding, bring in a specialist! It wouldn't be difficult to train up a dozen professional ball bouncers whose sole job is to deliver a straight, high bounce after each goal then get off the ground.

Footy fluffers?

2 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Well this idea of scrapping the bounce is bullshite.

It's a quirky part of our game that should be sacrosanct.

[censored] me, umpires are getting sore backs!

Well find another [censored] job!

Teachers get mentally [censored] up from dealing with out of control kids. What are they told? It's your fault for not engaging the little [censored] heads -FMD!

Plumbers get sore backs! Furniture removalists get sore backs! Well let's not move house.

What a soft [censored] society we have become! [censored] , I hope my heart surgeon doesn't feint from the site of blood and walk of the job.

Have a designated bouncer or make being able to bounce a condition of employment. Stop pandering to soft [censored]. 

Next thing we'll have to stop throw ins because boundary umps are overextending their elbows!

[censored] me! I'm going to open another shiraz.

Does that Shiraz have a cork requiring a corkscrew procedure or is it a Spalvins cap  pandering to soft corkers?

Edited November 14, 20177 yr by dpositive
Auto correct initially reduced the significance of the pun

The centre circle rule and the soft turf due to drop in cricket pitches have killed the bounce.

Having to throw the ball up when the ball goes out of the circle makes umpires look bad and wastes time.

Bouncing the ball on soft typically around the ground turf instead of the firmer cricket wicket turf makes it much more difficult to get good height.

I'd like to keep it for the start of every quarter otherwise I won't really miss it. I do think the throw ups in the middle need to have good height on them though and if that's not happening I can see a role for drones dropping the ball from height in the future.

6 hours ago, hemingway said:

So many of the great features of the game are gone.

The features that made our game unique.

The bounce is a wonderful thing that helps to make our game what it is.

How exciting to see that first bounce of the day and to a slightly lesser extent the bounce at the beginning of each quarter. To see this replaced by a limp throw-up that hardly goes above the umpires head will be sad thing to witness. 

It will be a tragedy to see it go, and once it goes, it will never come back. 

It is unbelievable how our game is being systematically ruined. 

Just think of all those things that have changed, eliminated or disappeared due to the misguided attitude that the changes are for the better of the game. 

If anyone thinks it is for the better, you have rocks in your head.

The bounce is unique, it is an iconic part of the game that tells you "ladies and gentlemen we have a contest on our hands", and we see two ruck man going head for head.

God help me. God help the game. 

Eleni Glouftis first woman Afl umpire, l recall she umpired a Melbourne game one of our home games in NT, can't remember exactly, sometime this year. Eleni struggled to bounce the ball  after a goal was kicked . I think she by passed the bounce and one of the umpires then took on the bounce of the ball. Quote me on that. Another reason why the bounce may go.

I don't have a great deal of energy to complain or get emotional about this, but my general feeling is just plain old sadness. Another quirky cultural trait soon to be abruptly sacrificed at the alter of modernity. I've spent an inordinate amount of time explaining our great game to foreigners, and this will be just one less opportunity for me to see their eyes light up.

9 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

I can see a role for drones dropping the ball from height in the future.

Now you're talking DS.....

AFL in Westworld ... bring it on

Couldn't care either way.

There's a lot of emotive twaddle here about the "game". Missing the bounce will end up like missing the drop kick, place kick, 19th and 20th men and "stacks on the mill" (you think today's game is "congested"?).

As for female umpires and "strength", Eleni Glouftsis is better at bouncing the ball than most of the men. Maybe not as high, but much more consistent.

16 hours ago, hemingway said:

It is unbelievable how our game is being systematically ruined. 

God help me. God help the game. 

With all due respect "our game" has never been in better shape. You may be living in a different era and not coming to terms with the evolution of "our game". This is not to give blanket approval to everything the AFL does - but think the AFL do get the mass majority of their decisions correct. 

Lets be brutally honest, the majority of the rule changes are forced upon the AFL because of clubs manipulating the rules. 

3 hours ago, DaveyDee said:

With all due respect "our game" has never been in better shape. 

Huge Statement. 

Get rid of interchange rotations and let’s see players push through the pain barrier during the last Quarter. 

Full Forwards kicking 10 goals a game, haven’t seen that for years..

The AFL has far too much power as it stands...

16 hours ago, Biffen said:

I propose we scrap the umpires altogether and reduce the rules to a computer algorithm fed by camera angles.

Just obliterate the maggots back to Nothing Park Reserve on $100 a match with ample human abuse thrown in.

Bring t on.

They deserve nothing less.

 

If EA Sports can't even get the trade algorithm for NBA Live right, what chance do we have of the AFL creating a fair and coherent computer system?

23 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

While I thought the banning of the 3rd man up was a good idea when it was introduced, its implementation has, I think, had the opposite effect. Now umpires have to identify who is the nominated ruckman before they throw it up. That introduces an unnecessary delay which exacerbates congestion.  A quicker throw into the air should reduce congestion, and if a club can't work out which of their players should jump for the ball and end up with more than one, blow the whistle and pay the free kick.  

A good idea except we now have the 'stand 1m apart' rule which would have to go if the umpires don't know who it is that has to stand apart.  What would be the effect of dropping the newish 1m rule?

Edited November 15, 20177 yr by sue

What is the AFL doing to our game? A  "stand 1 m apart" rule is just another added burden for umpires and players. It's the rules that are destroying the umpires, not the players or the coaches.

As I mentioned elsewhere, go a view matches from the 80s, especially finals in 87, and see how easily the umpires controlled the game.

A quick ball up as soon as the ball is trapped and no need for the umpires to notify an exit path,  determine who is contesting or ensure that they are 1 m apart. A quick ball up does not allow for the wrestling matches to start.

There used to be a time when free kicks were awarded for infringements in a contest. Not any more - stand in the wrong place and you are penalised. Reminds me of the absurd rules in other grossly inferior sports.

I suggest that the umpires be instructed to ball up as soon as the ball is trapped and eliminate the stupid other rules at the ball up. It's time to simplify the rules to enhance the spectacle of the our game.

10 minutes ago, tiers said:

...A quick ball up as soon as the ball is trapped and no need for the umpires to notify an exit path,  ....

Now that is one that always irks me.  They always run straight backwards, so why indicate that that's what they are going to do?  Just more theatre for the umps to star in.

Poll?

I am staggered that its being considered.... but I liked umpires in all white with the goal umpires wearing a lab coat and proper hat.  Very disappointing. 

20 hours ago, daisycutter said:

well may we say "god help me" because nothing will save hemingway or the game

The GG (aka, pillar of stone) may well be saying "God help me" at this very moment.......

 

21 hours ago, monoccular said:

Well Gil follows the compulsion of his predecessors to make at least one rule change every season.  Pity he can’t think for himself, and / or leave the rules alone for at least one year. 

"think of himself, and leave would be far better"

1 hour ago, sue said:

A good idea except we now have the 'stand 1m apart' rule which would have to go if the umpires don't know who it is that has to stand apart.  What would be the effect of dropping the newish 1m rule?

like drop it for a 5m rule?

33 minutes ago, Robbie57 said:

Poll?

I am staggered that its being considered.... but I liked umpires in all white with the goal umpires wearing a lab coat and proper hat.  Very disappointing. 

and a good lab coat has plenty of tomato sauce on it

On 11/14/2017 at 2:24 PM, Sir Why You Little said:

Good one AFL. Another iconic feature of the game being attacked. 

So each Ruck Duel will be perfect now will it?

f$&@ the AFL Commission

The current AFL admin, with their hands on the controls of our game, are about to balls it up again. Pun intended.

There used to be this thing ... the art of ruckwork ... a unique position, with a unique skill set. And apart form making our game different, it was another thing to watch and enjoy ... like pack marking .... like a leading full forward ... like two centremen playing man on man for 120 minutes ... as the two ruckmen had to contend with a ball that doesn't go perfectly vertical, and bounces to a different height each time, so they had to judge where and when it was going to go, and get to it, and tap, palm, or punch the ball to their teammate.

Some ruckmen were beanpoles. Some were big fat buggers. Some had mighty leaps. Some were practically nailed to the ground. Various kinds but they all had this beautiful thing, the art of ruckwork, at their disposal.

Because of their misguided "fixing" of rules that required no fixing, the AFL have watered down this skill set gradually to the point where it is nearly non existent.

Now it will be a totally predictable tipoff. Totally predictable means every ball up will be a set play, which means more players in their assigned position ready to charge in the moment leaves the ump's hand, which equals more congestion. Just what the game needs. well done AFL.

 

On 11/14/2017 at 4:26 PM, daisycutter said:

but will the umpires be skillful enough to all throw the ball up the same height? and what is the ideal height anyway?  higher the better i think, especially not those dinky little tip ups like basketball you so often see

Will their poor arms drop off because of the amazing physical impact of throwing up this odd shaped thing? Why haven't we heard of boundary umps hospitalised with dislocated arms? They give it a hell of a heave.

 

On 11/14/2017 at 4:15 PM, DaveyDee said:

The game has passed ruckmen by - they are outdated Dinosaurs and have been for many years.

Possibly because some rules of the game, which made having a ruckman in your lineup an advantage, have been altered bit by bit over years.

 

19 hours ago, Biffen said:

I propose we scrap the umpires altogether and reduce the rules to a computer algorithm fed by camera angles.

If the AFL are going to remove every variable from the game, anything which "might cost someone a grand final!!!!!", then they might as well simulate the whole thing on computers and send the results out on twitter. Save a heap of dosh on player payments. Season can go for 34 rounds too.

 

17 hours ago, nosoupforme said:

Eleni Glouftis first woman Afl umpire, l recall she umpired a Melbourne game one of our home games in NT, can't remember exactly, sometime this year. Eleni struggled to bounce the ball  after a goal was kicked . I think she by passed the bounce and one of the umpires then took on the bounce of the ball. Quote me on that. Another reason why the bounce may go.

I seem to recall Eleni doing a pretty good job of bouncing the ball .It's not like it requires incredible strength. Watch a female golf pro hit the ball. They can really spank it and no one would call them "strong". Fit and well skilled, yes. "Fit" and "well skilled" are things that are within a lot of peoples' reach, particularly if they are full time professionals with the time to devote to fitness and honing their skills. (Spot the glaring red flag.)

Bouncing the ball is a skill that the AFL have allowed to atrophy over the years, to where it is now almost terminal. Like an endangered species with two breeding pairs left. It's probably going to die out because it may now be too late for remedial action.

Watch replays of old. One and two umps bouncing the ball all over the ground, all match, on surfaces nowhere near as consistent and of good quality as today. Incredibly, they didn't end up hospitalised with their arms falling off due to the impossible physical demands of bouncing a wet muddy ball all day long.

And they didn't recall it if it didn't go straight up. It was up to this facet of the game, the art of ruckwork, to  come in to play to anticpate, allow for , and counter this imperfect flight of the bounced ball. A beautiful thing.

Now to be another football dodo and another regression of our game towards hybrid rubgy.