daisycutter

seems like local football and umps don't agree with you, macca Umpires say the AFL’s abuse crackdown is doing more bad than good There are fears the controversial crackdown on dissent in the AFL’s top flight is opening up community umpires to more abuse. Brayden May, Daniel Cencic and Chris Cavanagh (Herald Sun) The AFL’s crackdown on abuse towards umpires is having the opposite effect of its intention according to match officials. VAFA umpire Brian Clarke, who has over 20 years’ experience, said it’s becoming even harder for umpires to remain as “invisible as possible” in their roles, with the new dissent rules making them a target for crowd abuse. The crackdown reached boiling point at the top on the weekend when 50m penalties were handed out for players having their “arms out” in response to umpiring decisions. Clarke said he understood the push to reduce abuse but said the AFL have “yet again, gone too far.” He said local footballers would soon be calling for 50s when an opposition players “waves their arms around”. “At a community level, if I umpired the way they do in the AFL, I would be shot so I don’t officiate that way,” he said. “Our role is to be as invisible as possible and the AFL have not helped us at all with the constant changing of rules. “Many people work hard during the week – they come down to the footy to not only barrack for their team but also let off a bit of steam. “In this role I believe we play an important community function. “It’s great for individual and community mental health to not keep life’s pressures bottled up inside you. “So if a supporter or player is giving me some feedback during the games, and offering some unsolicited advice, then fair enough. “None of us – the players, supporters or umpires – are robots. “We all love footy because of the passion and emotion involved, and long may this continue. “Where would our game be without it?” AFL field umpire Darren Goldspink spoke on radio SEN station on Tuesday morning saying there was now “more pressure on umpires”. In February, the AFL had written to clubs about the need for more respect towards officials. “In isolation what the AFL has tried to do is fair enough and we all know the reasons why they do that,” Goldspink said. “To me it seems like it’s had the opposite effect at the moment.” The veteran of six AFL grand finals said officiating was “bleeding” at community level where some umpires are watching over up to five games a weekend. “How is that any good for anybody? The guys who are doing five games are old guys like me who aren’t in any physical condition to do five games,” he said. “What’ll happen, and this might be over the top, but one of them is going to have some sort of serious medical episode on the ground and then we’ll all stand up and say, ‘Oh sh*t that shouldn’t have happened’. “It just riles me.” Former AFL umpire Michael Vozzo said the crackdown on abuse at AFL level served to create a safe environment for those at local level. Vozzo, who umpired 281 AFL matches between 1999-2011, previously held the head of umpiring post at the Eastern league. “To be honest, I used to laugh a little bit … we were sort of the first crop of umpires that started clamping down on it (abuse) and I remember commentators were saying ‘The umpires need to be a bit bigger than that’ because they (thought) we should accept it and put up with it,” he said. “They’re doing it to create an environment at local level for umpires to go out and do their job without the threat of abuse. I’ve coached umpires and I’ve seen the abuse where it’s easy for someone to get at an umpire in local football, whereas in the AFL, they’re protected. It’s quite rare at AFL that it hurts an umpire, but we do it to ensure that local level umpires aren’t subjected to it. “I’ve seen a grown man threaten a 15-year-old umpire … and his mum sitting up in the grandstands crying. If people are going to get all huffy and puffy over umpires trying to clamp down on player abuse, they’ve got to think about that mum that’s put themselves in that position where if it was their child out in the middle of the ground, what would they think when a player’s going up to them, pointing in their face and threatening to bash them after the game? “I think people would have a bit better understanding if it was their kid.”

well in round 4 i saw an umpire reverse a decision - can't remember which game umpire 1 paid a free against a player. player appealed, no fifty a good 5-10 seconds later umpire 2 runs in and indicates the free should have been to the other team, as all the players were setting up for the first free. they decided on a ball-up just saying..... i thought it a good resolution and wished it happened more often when different umpires see it differently, as i'm sure probably happens reasonably often

well to be fair, red, it is his brother's favourite player after all ,

just like your predictions on never changing the predominately white away strip, eh macca

let me be very clear on this, od. is there any other form of politics? 🤣

i can see a future for scott in politics

m'kay

well, given you like stats, macca i'm curious what your response is to sue's "report on the reasons for lack of umpires commissioned by the AFL in 2021" posted above

i never said get them all clear cut........i did say "some" could be eliminated and some better defined. no big deal in that. all sports have grey areas, and i'm not claiming afl is an easy game to umpire.....just that it could be improved i can live with grey areas, 50:50s and occasional missed frees. what i want is better consistency umpire to umpire and week to week the 2 big issues in our game at the moment is umpiring and set shot goal kicking the former would be greatly improved with full time professional umpires just like all the other operational areas of the afl. i don't understand why you would even try to argue against that

no you can't eliminate all grey areas but you can reduce them somewhat and better define some to be clearer the main thing that would help in grey areas would be better consistency with umpires, and this consistency is something that i would expect to improve drastically with full time professional umpiring

i don't want perfection at all. umpires will never see everything and they don't have built instant replay as i said it's the constant rule changes, many just stupid, plus the ever changing "interpretations" it's not that hard, macca to improve and simplify the adjudicating of our great game as others have said the afl need to usher in full time professional umpiring and actually spend some serious money on it, instead of this continual, all to clever, knee-jerk, over-reacting we have seen in recent years

most (real) abuse umpires cop (at all levels) is from the spectators this over-reaction is only going to get the umpires more abuse from the spectators and a reduction in respect hard to see much will be gained, especially as they continue to make inconsistent and bad decisions in general a lot of it is the afl's fault for meddling with the rules and weekly changing interpretations

i'm really hating the umpiring standards this year, the contentious and technical, non-consequential 50m penalties and now the new baffling umpire dissent adjudications it is all so frustrating and ruining my enjoyment of the game and i don't think i'm alone

afl have shown scant regard for junior and grass roots football they happily spend as little as they can get away with it's not just a shortage of umps at junior level, it's also players

with facial detection software and umps mic'ed up it's probably available now i'm tipping yellow/red card next cab off the rank. afl and broadcasters would love the theatre of it

impure thoughts won't be far off now

or just do away with umpires

it's going to turn into a game of 50m rules will need a new name

sorry, but in all honesty i don't like it far too busy and pantomine looking no offence meant, i'm sure someone put a bit of work into it

caro's jumped in too and backing the afl.......players will have to learn to be disciplined robots

wasn't just the staging, his hand hits the hawks player's face and we've talked before about hawkins wandering arms/hands

sliding doors if this is what's coming from the literate feral fans..... .....imagine what the illiterate ferals must be saying

as i predicted

gave me a chuckle

that's the media for ya. always looking to drag up some contentious point for the sake of a few clicks