Ditch the bounce!

[Guest]

The bounce down has got to be the most antiquated and unfair way of restarting dead ball situations, for example the art of rucking is completely lost because the ball bounces in every direction except vertical possibly giving one side a gimme tap or punch, the umpires cant do it - ever wondered why umpires don't recall shocking bounces, and this is no bulltish, the pressure on doing a secondary bounce would be too much for the poor umpire! Quality umpires are not in the game today because they cannot bounce an oval ball(who can) how ludicrous is that! And finally a personal observation, it looks stupid! Of course the easy (oops! "easy" and AFL don't go together) answer is to throw it up all the time, so simple it will never happen.

 

[Drakey]

I wonder if it has something to do with the way umpires hold the ball to bounce it.

They now hold it at the ends so when they bounce it the bottom of the ball makes contact with the ground.

In the SANFL before we had a side in the AFL umpires used to hold the ball on the sides (almost as if they were going to kick a drop punt) & bounce the ball almost on its point. From memory this method gave a more consistent bounce.

They changed it to the vic way because they were told they had to to get selected to umpire AFL games.

 

[Pessimistic]

If good umpires are not umpiring because they can't bounce, dedicate one person to bouncing the ball (another unique 'first' for the sport) and go back to 2 umpires. The umpire can then actually look at the game instead of the grass when all the action is happening

 

[Dave]

So what next, get rid of the oval ball becuase sometimes it bounces funny? Baahh! The uncertainty and unpredictability are part of the game. Keep the bounce I say!

 

[GoEagles]

The bouncing of the ball is a unique part of the game and I'm definately in favour of keeping it! It would get a bit boring if the umpire had to keep throwing the ball up all the time - or maybe "happy hawker" wants us to have 'kick-offs' like what they do in Thugby(Rugby) and Soccer.

 

[Daniel]

This is another case of people arguing for the blatantly illogical. While erratic bouncing is not a serious problem, the game would unquestionably be slightly more skilful if the umpire threw the ball in the air to make it a fair contest for both ruckmen. Yes, it would seem unaesthetic at first, but it's only a matter of conditioning.

If you think this kind of unpredictability is better for the game, why do umpires throw the ball in the air when the ground is wet? Wouldn't we be in unpredictable heaven if the ball was skewing off the ground all over the place? We would not, because the skill of ruckwork would largely eliminated. The reason we don't see throw-ups yet is probably because the AFL doesn't want to alienate small-minded fans.

This is not truly a major issue, but it is simply more sensible to throw the ball in the air as a means to fairly re-start play, because ball-ups are supposed to start neutral. I groan when I see a horribly bad bounce. If you think this kind of unpredictability from umpires bouncing the ball is good, then wouldn't you also like unpredictable and inconsistent umpiring interprations of free kicks? (Incredibly, umpire Stuart Wenn actually argued in favour of this in last week's footy record. I was amazed when I read it and Rucci did a story on it in the Advertiser during the week.)

 

[Guest]

Aaaahhh Dave uncertainty and unpredictability eh, well I prefer FAIR which is better than your expectations.
And Goeagles don't give me this crap about the traditions of the game, pleeeaaasseee!
Daniel I agree with all you said, where it is not really a major issue but simply throwing the ball up would make the game so much cleaner NOT more sterile!
You also mentioned something about alienating small-minded fans. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.