Four Umpires ....... Really ??

[LordLucifer]

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/sp...s-in-all-games-next-year-20180605-p4zjka.html

The AFL is open to the idea of having four field umpires in all games next year, having announced that it will trial four umpires during rounds 13 and 14.

The AFL's general manager of football, Steve Hocking, said four umpires would not be introduced full-time this season, but it was on the agenda for consideration in 2019. "In the future, yes,'' said Hocking, when asked if the four umpires could become the norm. "Not in this season, no.''

 

[Neddysmith]

becasue 3 umpires completely over officiate the game and you have whistle blowing heros like Chamberlin making calls for 2/3 of the field away lets have another umpire to blow the whistle.......

 

[theyellowsash]

so west coasts free kick advantage will increase by a further 25% then. yay

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

Its a cluster...fcuk with 3 umpires adding a fourth makes it a mmmm shambolic cluster fcuk...add a couple more goal umpires while u r at it..plus 2 more boundary umpires. They are joking..right?

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Wouldn't matter if they have 22 umpires. Unless they start umpiring by the written rules, and stop paying free kicks only when they feel like it, umpiring will always be crap.

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

I do wonder about the law of dimishing returns. We occasionally see differences between individual umpires now. I only notice it on TV like last night when a head high tackle was called play on by the closest ump and the whistle blown from further away.

It's natural for the administrators to want to help the umps, and the right thing to do. There's a point where it'll be counter productive as co-coordinating themselves around the field and staying out of the way starts to take more effort

 

[Tiger2709]

Cant believe the way an ump down the ground can override the one on the spot, ridiculous, 2 field umps at most with assistance from boundary umpires off the ground, the flogs are always in the way and chat to players way to much its what causes congestion.

Time for Gill to go and get someone in that has a clue.

 

[Plugger35]

Don't think it's any coincidence we've seen more free kicks with 4 umpires out there, they need to justify their existence by blowing their whistles at every opportunity for minor infringements or for stuff that just isn't there.

Barely a contest goes by when they don't pluck out a free which makes the game frustrating to watch, you want to see players decide games not umpires.

 

[Tiger2709]

Selwood and Dangerfield could seriously break some free kick records this week, playing against the team with the wordt differential an all.

 

[Dyer_ear]

Perish the thought. There is no logic for having 3. Most of the congestion is caused by umpires. Imagine the stagnation caused by increasing the number of a##e clowns by 25%

 

[Alesana]

so west coasts free kick advantage will increase by a further 25% then. yay

I see math isn't a strong suit of Richmond supporters

 

[theyellowsash]

I see math isn't a strong suit of Richmond supporters

No you're right it's an extra 33.33333333333%

 

[mic59]

After the first game, Port/Bulldogs where this was trialled there were 49 frees(26 WB to 23 Port). The AFL said that showed the game was not over-officiated. Not sure what they based that on as the average frees per game for rounds 1-12 was 42. By the end of the round 285 frees had been paid, an average 47.5.
The free counts were 49, 54, 37, 49, 43 and 53. Not sure what happened in every game but I noticed some accidental umpire contact which could be put down to the extra umpire, as well as an umpire nearly marking the ball. Maybe there were a few other instances in games I did not see.