Umpiring standards 2019

Apr 1, 2018
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Hi all.

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on umpiring so far this year. Normally I think they are pretty good but from the games I've watched this year the standard seems below par, particularly with the soft frees yet ignoring around the neck. Note I have not watched Melbourne's first game and this is not a whinge post about my team, just a personal observation.

What do you guys think so far?
 

Isaac Cumming No 1

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Hi all.

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on umpiring so far this year. Normally I think they are pretty good but from the games I've watched this year the standard seems below par, particularly with the soft frees yet ignoring around the neck. Note I have not watched Melbourne's first game and this is not a whinge post about my team, just a personal observation.

What do you guys think so far?
You haven't watched your teams opening game for the season? Seriously.
 

mike123

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I remember they let go a fair few clear arm chops in round one.
 

Luv_our_club

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i don't normally apologise for umpires... but are they not always terrible in the first month of the season.... and get less terrible in time?
 

JUSTWORK

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Watch Sydney v Adelaide and your question will be answered.

What we saw tonight was beyond a disgrace, which is putting it very very lightly. You guys were well and truely raped. Gifts to the crows all night and next book frees to you guys missed, regularly resulting in goals or missed goals.

AFL need to get serious and do something about the umpiring and not just telling us how good they are, not having Chamberlain doing special comments saying every decision is correct when asked about it would be a start.

The umps from tonight shouldn't get a game for the rest of the year !
 
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The AFL umpiring panel are the best in this sport. The very elite. The fact that errors sometimes are made during the games is indicative of how difficult a task umpiring an AFL match is. For what it’s worth I thought the umpires had an average night tonight but as in 99% of games in the AFL, had no impact on the result. Sydney were bloody awful for most of the game and completely flattered by the final margin. I doubt Longmire will use umpiring as an excuse because that would be passing the buck and letting his team of the hook. Don’t expect the same from the fans though.
 
Apr 13, 2006
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Hi all.

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on umpiring so far this year. Normally I think they are pretty good but from the games I've watched this year the standard seems below par, particularly with the soft frees yet ignoring around the neck. Note I have not watched Melbourne's first game and this is not a whinge post about my team, just a personal observation.

What do you guys think so far?

If you'd watched your game last week I wonder what you would have thought of the umpiring. Half way through the third quarter the free kick count was Melbourne 21 Port 8. This is prior to Simon whinging about Gawn's treatment.

I've tipped Melbourne this week.
 
Oct 13, 2017
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I thought it’s been pretty good.. up until tonight... the swans got rorted tonight.. they would rightly be pissed about that umpiring display.

But I will say that 50 metre that became a 100m decision was spot on... its the new rule, you cannot in anyway impede the player.. that Irish lad did it twice to chayce Jones... the second time he even grabbed hold of him.. totally undisciplined.
 

Luv_our_club

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The AFL umpiring panel are the best in this sport. The very elite. The fact that errors sometimes are made during the games is indicative of how difficult a task umpiring an AFL match is. For what it’s worth I thought the umpires had an average night tonight but as in 99% of games in the AFL, had no impact on the result. Sydney were bloody awful for most of the game and completely flattered by the final margin. I doubt Longmire will use umpiring as an excuse because that would be passing the buck and letting his team of the hook. Don’t expect the same from the fans though.

Yours is a pro-umpire view, and i agree mostly.

But....last week Razor awarded a 50 meter penalty that gave a goal to the Crows when the game was tight, because after a free kick Bruest didn't give the ball back to the Crows player quick enough. Bruest asked Razor who the free was for, and Razor said Bruest should have known and was thus intentionally delaying. It was pathetic...

He is a blight on the game.
 

PAFC_1870

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Atleast 4 lop sided games so far I've seen. Interestingly only one of those teams won.

Hawks, Power and Lions over come the maggots.
 

JUSTWORK

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Yours is a pro-umpire view, and i agree mostly.

But....last week Razor awarded a 50 meter penalty that gave a goal to the Crows when the game was tight, because after a free kick Bruest didn't give the ball back to the Crows player quick enough. Bruest asked Razor who the free was for, and Razor said Bruest should have known and was thus intentionally delaying. It was pathetic...

He is a blight on the game.

he genuinely thinks people come to watch him umpire. that says enough.
 

Frank Gallagher

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Its easier to deny everything, admit nothing. Keep the rules grey enough and you can never be wrong, even when you are..... Nothing will change until they admit there is a problem and start employing full time professionals.
Won't make any difference with fulltime umpires IMO, it's a super fast game with multiple contests happening simultaneously, rule changes week to week only add to the equation, hate to say it guys but there's no magic bullet for our game, it would have to be without doubt the most difficult football code (any sport for that matter) to umpire.
 

mehow2g

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There will always be s**t calls and questionable ones, what grinds me at the moment is the umpires being "mates" with the players on field.
 

CrowInFiji

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Yours is a pro-umpire view, and i agree mostly.

But....last week Razor awarded a 50 meter penalty that gave a goal to the Crows when the game was tight, because after a free kick Bruest didn't give the ball back to the Crows player quick enough. Bruest asked Razor who the free was for, and Razor said Bruest should have known and was thus intentionally delaying. It was pathetic...

He is a blight on the game.

Actually no, Razor is a proper umpire. Breust took an age. More umpires should call that s**t.

Razor also called HTB in the Richmond v Collingwood game (forgot who on) because they took too long. Most umpires let players go 1020 for 10 seconds before disposing (like Buddy when he held it that long last night).

People have to stop this stupid mentality that umpires need to be lenient on rules or to warn players etc- no, they need to enforce the rules. Razor does this, unfortunately his colleagues do not back him up which makes him look inconsistent.

For example - when an umpire is asking a player to come backwards 1, 2 3 metres whatever it should be asked once and if they immediately do not comply its 50.

If a player takes a mark in their defensive goal square, the mark is set at the 9m Mark. Players shouldnt need to be told this, if they dont back up - 50.

We need to stop excusing player ignorance on rules by lambasting umpires.

We also need to start holding commentators who dont know the rules to account. Lingy is absolutely incorrect with his incorrect disposal interpretation last night and yet gets a pat on the back from his cronies and every moron at home thinks its a blown call when it wasn't.

Fair enough, that very soft free with the tap is awful but when Buddy launches himself into a pack on the ground and drags the ball in what does he expect?

Sydney gave away about 8 free kicks in the last qtr when the game was gone. The count wouldve been slightly in the crows favour but the difference would not have been as steep.

Did the crows get some cheapies? Yep.

Did the Swans get away with a few? Yep. Examples- multiple swans just stepped out of bounds last night and didnt get pinged for it (unlike Tex the week earlier), rushed a point through from about 80m out with no pressure and it wasnt called, Eddie doesnt even take possession yet is tackled and its holding the ball.

Get over it Swans, Port, Carlton fans, Swans were way second best and the umpiring didn't lose you the game.

If we look more broadly umpiring is s**t because the rules are s**t- your anger is better placed at the doors of AFL house who have increased the workload of the umpiring department. They need to simplify. The AFLPA also has a lot to answer for.

If you dont like a law, you dont whinge to the cops, you whinge to the pollies. The cops just enforce the s**t laws they are given. Same thing here.
 

Benzi10

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i would hate to be a umpire, it's a quick 360 degree game with a lot of things left to interpretation. The guy doing the score review should be fully trained to assist umpires on the field at all time with since he is watching a live brodcast with many angles. No 30 second review bulls**t unless it's for score review. But take for a exemple a chop de the arm or a throw and he notices it behind the screen, then he tell the umpire onfield "chop of the arm at this contest" and the field umpire is left to decide to take action or not. Not a pertfect system and error proof but would improve the umpiring.
 

CrowInFiji

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No Swans fan is arguing against that. Doesn't mean the umpiring was not appalling though.

I dont think it was to a level you could describe as corrupt which is absolutely what several fans are claiming.

Sydney were incredibly ill disciplined last night and especially in the last 10 mins of the last qtr if we look at the raw count.
 
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