Fan threatened with eviction from MCG for barracking too loud

[Ron The Bear]

A tad over dramatic, Ron. Of course bad decisions trigger a response and no issue with that. The AFL may be overplaying their hand here but what is the right balance? If you want to attract quality umpires to the game do you just throw them to the lions?

Yeah, that's the right question. Where's the line? And everybody has a different answer.

Criticism at AFL games is not going to deter control freaks wanting to order bigger men around. It's a furphy like the old "fire risk" rationalisation of grounds. Offer the right money and perhaps make it a serious occupation (i.e. full time) and there will be no shortage of applicants. Supply and demand.

If players train all week for a two-hour performance, why shouldn't umpires?

Anyway it's not about umpires, it's about the fan's right to barrack the way he's barracked for 150 years. There's an anti-social hotline already. This is totally uncalled-for, it's more or less self-regulating and I haven't heard an overtly racist remark at the game for several years. The last time it happened, the perp was challenged and piped down. We're not talking about a right to exercise physical violence here.

The AFL would be better heeding the strong undercurrent of discontent with how it is running the sport.

 

[The Gong]

Yeah, that's the right question. Where's the line? And everybody has a different answer.

Criticism at AFL games is not going to deter control freaks wanting to order bigger men around. Offer the right money and perhaps make it a serious occupation (i.e. full time) and there will be no shortage of applicants. Supply and demand.

Agree with that. Need to make them fully professional. It's not going to guarantee an improvement in decision making but it has to have a positive effect. Need to have some standards around abuse though not at an Orwellian standard.

 

[BoxMatrix]

Only if you're having a go at Collingwood supporters .

(I agree with you btw, minus the typo).

Oh damn. Fixed.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Footy is a theatre where heckling is part of the package.

This is a joke that they remove a paying customer, detain them until they show membership and photo ID. All because they got involved in the show called footy.

 

[HawkMongrel]

The fact that you would even suggest this is part of the issue. Why the hell should umpires be at risk of being physically attacked? To even contemplate that is ridiculous. I love the game but it's just a bloody game. Calm the hell down, people.

All it'll take is one lunatic.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

First BigFooty, now the footy

Wish I had invested in Dettol shares

 

[GordonBlue]

This path the AFL is taking, is going to bite hard.

Either fans protest the way they are getting treated or it just becomes more dull at the footy.

 

[burto]

Remember the sepia scoreboard at Waverley? Where the umpires were announced with a cartoon umpire shielding behind a door as he was rained with cans, fruit etc? Abusing the umpire is football lore.

Umpiring standards are at an all-time low and paying patrons are merely responding in kind.

Don't shoot the messenger, fix the ******* umpiring!

People say umpiring standards are at an all time low every year. It’s no different to 5 or 10 years ago.

The majority of people complaining about umpires are only complaining because the free kick went against their team. They’d be clapping like seals if the decision went the other way.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ron The Bear]

People say umpiring standards are at an all time low every year. It’s no different to 5 or 10 years ago.

The majority of people complaining about umpires are only complaining because the free kick went against their team. They’d be clapping like seals if the decision went the other way.

I'm not generally one of them, but umpiring is in disarray. You cannot watch two consecutive games and determine what constitutes "holding the ball" or "incorrect disposal". The fans are being treated like s**t.

 

[burto]

I'm not generally one of them, but umpiring is in disarray. You cannot watch two consecutive games and determine what constitutes "holding the ball" or "incorrect disposal". The fans are being treated like ****.

I agree with you - but I remember thinking the same thing 5 years ago. Unfortunately it’s a difficult game to umpire - not like soccer where it’s pretty black and white.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ron The Bear]

I agree with you - but I remember thinking the same thing 5 years ago. Unfortunately it’s a difficult game to umpire - not like soccer where it’s pretty black and white.

It's difficult and it's always been difficult. And fans have always responded with their own interpretations. It's part of the footy experience.

 

[dmc333]

In other parts of the world adults are still trusted to behave and it's seen as a laugh

 

[Cotchins Hair Piece]

Nicholls setting himself up nicely for some post-umpiring compensation.

 

[Max Caddy]

A footy fan at Monday's Queen's Birthday clash at the MCG claims he was threatened with eviction by half a dozen police because he was "barracking too loud"

"He said police acknowledged he was not swearing or being abusive, and when he questioned them about the apparent problem an officer replied: "Do you hear what I said? You're barracking too loud".

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...-for-barracking-too-loud-20190611-p51wfr.html

 

[Frank Gallagher]

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...-for-barracking-too-loud-20190611-p51wfr.html

Stop barracking too loud then, opera claps only with the odd low 5.

 

[Marcel Proust]

nazis

 

[Frank Gallagher]

When are the Balmy Army over here Next?

 

[Marcel Proust]

When are the Balmy Army over here Next?

i find their songs genuinely offensive and what do security do? nothing, pack of pussies

 

[HawkMongrel]

Game is dying.

Needs to be a protest weekend organised.

 

[Luv_our_club]

I love you Big Brother.

 

[Marcel Proust]

The AFL is keen to crack down on unsociable behaviour at the footy, but what constitutes umpire abuse continues to puzzle fans.

A patron was evicted from Marvel Stadium on Saturday, after umpire Matthew Nicholls called out a fan who labelled him a “bald headed flog”. Only weeks prior, a Richmond cheer squad member received a three-week ban for calling an umpire a “green maggot”.

And that same cheer squad now believes they’re been watched by secret AFL spies.

As reported in the Herald Sun, one Richmond cheer squad member believes security guards and integrity officers have been conducting surveillance on the group since Round 5.

“We have noticed a massive increase in security around the cheer squad bays the last couple of weeks,” Beattie said.

“There are two guys dressed up like FBI agents from the integrity department and a spotter who points us out to the integrity guys and takes photos and sends it to the club and tries to ban us.”

The Richmond cheer squad has requested the AFL devise a list of phrases it deems acceptable, fearing more members may be ejected from games.

Western Bulldogs great Luke Darcy told Talking Footy the AFL was teetering on going over the top.

“That is an extraordinary story,” Darcy said.

“We’ve got undercover AFL investigators that are dressed up with a fake hat and moustache.

“Is this communist China? What’s going on?”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/af...e/news-story/96119f6942aabcc43870c12d03f238e4

 

[chunkylover53]

Start an uprising on social media and boycott a round I reckon. Power of the people.

http://reformtheafl.com/

 

[Macpotata]

 

[LoungeLizard]

 

[Blues_Man]

I call BS