I remember when it first came in and I brought it up here and complained that it will be too difficult to umpire and will ruin the game. A lot of people disagreed at the time, but I guess now everyone apart from the AFL itself has realised that there is nothing worse than manipulating rules that have been set in place for years.

you mean this thread Jaded? http://demonland.nozzs.org/forum/index.php...175&hl=rule

B)

i was at the match last night and boy did the crowd of tigers supporters go wild after that, the rule should be scrapped too hard to police

you mean this thread Jaded? http://demonland.nozzs.org/forum/index.php...175&hl=rule

B)

Mmmm, I love it when I'm right

i was at the match last night and boy did the crowd of tigers supporters go wild after that, the rule should be scrapped too hard to police

The umps got it right last night. I hate the rule but the free was there as was the 50. The umps did a good job last night and essendon deserved the 4 pts.

Under the current interpretation, it was a free kick............but Robert Walls makes a good point saying that for 15 years of Richos career, it wasn't, now all of a sudden this season it is.

Pathetic rule change............the increased involvement by the umpires in the game is seriously starting to turn me off AFL at the minute.

I was furious last night. i don't care what Kevin Bartlett says-This rule change stinks

The current 'interpretations' of holding-the-ball and push-in-the-back will drive fans away from AFL football. Every year the game moves closer and closer to basketball with every little tweak that the rules committee makes, and as much as i love getting stuck into the umpires you have to feel for them when they must uphold such ridiculous rules that go against everything we love about Australian Rules.

The current holding-the-ball interpretation is my pet hate, the rule does not encourage players to attack the ball and it causes scrappiness as players wildly fling the ball away in an attempt to get rid of it before they're touched by an opponent. The rule has become so confused, you can hear umpires over the effects mic sometimes declare 'incorrect disposal', 'he dived on it', 'he tried to knock it out', 'it was held to him'. And then the commentators stuff things up more by introducing 'reward the tackler' and 'dropping the ball' into the mix as well. And whatever happened to 'prior opportunity'?

In my knowledge of the rules, you can be penalised for either 'holding-the-ball' or 'throwing the ball', nothing else. So when a player gets run down from behind whilst in the action of kicking, after having possessed the ball for all of 1 full pace and the ball is knocked free by the tackler, he was neither caught holding-the-ball (no prior opportunity) nor did he throw it, yet he will still be penalised. Surely in this situation, the tackler's reward is dispossessing his opponent? And the AFL think these changes help to speed the game up? Every instance that used to be a 'play on' call, there is now a whistle and the game is stopped so the player can take a free kick for tagging his opponent.

And then we get to the stacks-on-the-mill scenarios, of which there were 5 or 6 in today's game. I can't comprehend how a player can be penalised for trying to take possession when the ball is on the ground, only for 2 opponents and a teammate to pile on top of him. And the worst part is that most of the time the ball is pinned under his legs somewhere or is being held in by an opponent.

These rulings are killing the game of AFL. The trend away from contested footy will only continue if they are not changed.

The current 'interpretations' of holding-the-ball and push-in-the-back will drive fans away from AFL football.......

These rulings are killing the game of AFL. The trend away from contested footy will only continue if they are not changed.

Kevin Sheedy said about as much in his press conference after the game against Richmond.....

Something along the lines of certain aspects of the game need to be looked at by "serious football people" because of the problems that have been created.

I think that these comments came on the back of complimenting Matthew Richardson for the fact that he did, and the way he, played.

Kevin Sheedy said about as much in his press conference after the game against Richmond.....

Something along the lines of certain aspects of the game need to be looked at by "serious football people" because of the problems that have been created.

I agree 100%. Its hard to understand why the AFL wants the game to be played this way. Something needs to be done before everyone becomes accustomed to this rubbish.