Ban the Bounce

[Bunk Moreland]

How hard is it for a professional to kick a 20m drop punt? Easy.

Umpires standards should be no different

What?

Being able to kick a football is a core skill for a footballer!

Umpiring is about making decisions. Not performing some old stupid party trick.

 

[DemonTim]

The bounce is a "hurdle" skill for umpires... as in they may look promising in all other areas, but if they can't do it, they'll struggle to get anywhere.

I cannot think of a single elite sport (or any pursuit really) that would readily discriminate against otherwise effective officials based on a skill that has ZERO relevance to their ability to officiate a game effectively.

It's so monumentally, mind blowingly stupid.

People keep saying this but there has been no specific evidence to show these multitudes of umpires not getting a job because of it

Apparently the Yarra valley just got so lucky all these blokes having the ability to bounce a footy. Must be something in the water

 

[Power04Surge]

What?

Being able to kick a football is a core skill for a footballer!

Umpiring is about making decisions. Not performing some old stupid party trick.

Umpiring is about being able to ensure the game is able to be played the way it is meant to be and not to change the rules to suit what best suits them.

It's not a party trick, it's a part of the game.

Is the banana shot for goal a party trick that not all players can perform so it should be banned? No, it's a part of the game.

Bounce is a part of the game, simple to get right. Go bounce a ball 250 times during the week and they will get it perfected just as the players perfect their skills.

That was also in reference to a previous comment FYI

 

[Cold Sober]

Its not rocket science,with so many umpires per game select one ump per game who can bounce the ball ,he only has to open each quarter to keep tradition
If not lets go full on yank and have a designated ball bouncer.

 

[DemonTim]

Umpiring is about being able to ensure the game is able to be played the way it is meant to be and not to change the rules to suit what best suits them.

It's not a party trick, it's a part of the game.

Is the banana shot for goal a party trick that not all players can perform so it should be banned? No, it's a part of the game.

Bounce is a part of the game, simple to get right. Go bounce a ball 250 times during the week and they will get it perfected just as the players perfect their skills.

That was also in reference to a previous comment FYI

Yeah he pretty clearly ignored that it was someone else's logic (who supported his view) and had a go at you for it

 

[dylan93]

Stop changing the bloody rules!

 

[SterlingArcher]

I did lol at the mental pressure part. * me. Precious or what?

But yeah I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary these days. I like it and enjoy the tradition but I'm not going to be pained if we lose it.

 

[Shane Hird]

Start every quarter with the bounce, scrap it otherwise.

I 2nd that idea.

 

[Cold Sober]

Another one for the experts.so
As in Melbourne Cup ,they parade past winners,keeps em around,have'nt seen too many bad opening bounces in Grand Finals in the last 40 years so to keep retired succussful GF opening bounces involved we could use them as designated ball bouncers.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

So you enjoyed the days of the flood and encroaching on the mark and the deliberately going only around the boundary?


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Well to be honest thousands and thousands did, the crowds were no smaller than today. People have enjoyed our game in huge numbers for over a century, never once in the 70's, 80's or 90's did I hear people leaving the grounds complaining about the state of the game, they loved it.
Now the state of the game is all that is talked about. Not sure that is a good thing at all. Media driven crap if you ask me.
How crap do you really think footy was if all those people were loving it so much?

 

[greatwhiteshark]

What?

Being able to kick a football is a core skill for a footballer!

Umpiring is about making decisions. Not performing some old stupid party trick.

I think it's harder now for the umpires as like you said it is not a core part of the game as it once was, up and coming umpires used to bounce the ball in junior footy and onwards from there, it was very much a part of being an umpire.
Now at most levels it is thrown up because some years back the highest level said every bounce must be fair when that was not really any part of it.
It was not a party trick it was part of being an umpire in Aussie rules, not so much now as the poor old ruckman can't put up with the odd bounce not being dead centre. Poor devils.

 

[doppleganger]

Umpiring is about being able to ensure the game is able to be played the way it is meant to be and not to change the rules to suit what best suits them.

It's not a party trick, it's a part of the game.

Is the banana shot for goal a party trick that not all players can perform so it should be banned? No, it's a part of the game.

Bounce is a part of the game, simple to get right. Go bounce a ball 250 times during the week and they will get it perfected just as the players perfect their skills.

That was also in reference to a previous comment FYI

What is the average disposal efficiency in AFL, low 70s yeah.

So the highly skilled AFL footballers can only get their basic skills right 3 out of 4 times.

Umpires are tracking at 90 per cent, but that isnt good enough.

When did they start recalling the bounce? This is only a recent change.

Prior to that if there was a sh1t bounce that favoured a ruck it didnt matter as it was luck of the draw and accepted as part of the game.

You either go right back to that, and accept that the bounce by design is random and potentially unfair in nature and never recall a bad bounce.

Or if it is now decided that both rucks must have a fair chance at contesting, a new rule change, then scrap the bounce as a throw up will create equality and a contest everytime.

 

[Power04Surge]

When taking into account player efficiency then there is also a high level of pressure on their disposals which reduces that efficiency to 70%. The umpire bouncing the ball doesn't have that surrounding pressure of being tackled or chased by others, they simply have to bounce the ball.

All sport are always going to have an element of unpredictability, in AFL the bounce is a part of that and if people really think the bounce going a few degrees one way or the other every now and then will decide the game then perhaps your following the wrong sport.

Unpredictability brings excitement, you win some and you loose some.

But the umpire should be able to bounce the ball with a much better success rate then that of the player efficiency for various factors and if they do go at 90% then there is no need to change the rule.

 

[Banyo Bloods]

The way these articles are being written this seems like the agenda wheel in motion and the bounce removal is a mere fait accompli

At best you can probably expect a debate then a small compromise of starting the game with a bounce.

Sigh

 

[McOrist]

I don't go to the footy to watch the umpires bounce the ball. I don't go to the footy to watch the umpires at all. Their job is to adjudicate the game, not participate in it. There's enough vaguries and quirks in our game to keep everyone happy. Taking the bounce away will have zero effect on the game -apart from removing the massive groan from the crowd whenever an errant bounce is recalled.

 

[Skeparovic]

Hmmm so argument seems to be umpires that are good decision makers are held out of top level roles in AFL because they can't bounce the ball.

So IF we do away with umpires that are good bouncers of the ball but sh*t decision makers and replace them with good decision makers instead THEN the Swans should have won last years Grand Final quite comfortably and ruined the dogs fairytale story.

Can I reconsider my original position?

 

[Dwhale44]

yay lets just cut off a tiny piece more of our game, when i was an auskicker / junior / park footy player we used to love walking out before a game or at training and try and bounce the ball like the umps do, guess none of the future auskickers / juniors will even think of trying that anymore in years to come if the bounce gets eradicated. can't see them all standing in a circle going wow I can throw the ball up in the air perfect! the round ball is what makes our game unique along with OUR rules, stop trying to be like other sports

 

[Banyo Bloods]

I don't go to the footy to watch the umpires bounce the ball. I don't go to the footy to watch the umpires at all. Their job is to adjudicate the game, not participate in it. There's enough vaguries and quirks in our game to keep everyone happy. Taking the bounce away will have zero effect on the game -apart from removing the massive groan from the crowd whenever an errant bounce is recalled.

You may not go to watch those things but you still watch it because it is part of the game. Removing the bounce won't have the slightest bearing on good decision makers. Even if they make good decisions they are crucified due to the massive tinkering of rules to make calls subjective and open for interpretation. This is just change for the sake of change under the guise of "you will suddenly have better decision makers in umpiring". BS. You are right nobody wants to watch the umpires at all but the AFL have made them untouchable and power mad and very much at the fore front of the game.

If bouncing upsets them cos it highlights their weakness good cos they ain't Gods.

 

[Allan Shorty]

I suspect those like the OP who want to axe the bounce also wanted to axe the grand final draw. Both changes seek to make the game more certain, more homogenous, more global, less parochial.

 

[McOrist]

Q: Why do umpires still bounce the ball?
A: Because they always have.

If we're claiming it's the umpires bouncing the ball that helps make our game 'different', it's a pretty shallow claim. We can claim to have the best ball-bouncing officials of any football code?? Hooray!!
Removing the bounce will make the game better and fairer. The tap ruckmen will have more opportunity to show their skills -and it's the skill of the players that truly makes the game 'different' and 'parochial'.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Just stop the umpires from being robotic about it
Look at this video from 1950 for example



The umpires just throw it down however they want, because it works for them.
Half the umpires these days are forced to have a method which doesn't work for them

MCG carpark still packed even in the 50s

 

[Mervyn Beasley]

I have it on very very good authority from very experienced ex ump that Scott McLaren umpired many more finals (including GF's) than he otherwise would have because of his superior ability to bounce the ball!!!!!!
This very statement should change the mind of any argument to keep it.

 

[dmc333]

Either stop calling it back and let it ride, or stop bouncing altogether. This halfway approach is ridiculous.

Yeah, unless it's a total right angle I reckon just let it go.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I suspect those like the OP who want to axe the bounce also wanted to axe the grand final draw. Both changes seek to make the game more certain, more homogenous, more global, less parochial.

Umpires don't want the bounce, players don't want the grand final draw (and Collingwood supporters don't want either).

Q: Why do umpires still bounce the ball?
A: Because they always have.

Well no that's not the case, as explained by historian Col Hutchison in the latest video posted on the AFL website.

 

[gavaniacono]