Chaisa
Brownlow Medallist
- Jun 2, 2013
- 14,630
- 14,418
- AFL Club
- Sydney
- Other Teams
- The Exers
Obviously what happened last night caused a big ruckus. But whille the Hickey call was admittedly probably wrong (he did try to take it on once taking it out of the ruck), part of the problem beyond it being the last minute was that the rules regarding that was changed with little fanfare, hence an otherwise poor decision looking an ATG howler.
That (and a couple of other calls) lead me to the question - given how much the rules rely upon interpretation and the like, is the AFL too hard to umpire? With stuff like deliberate calls, HTB's, etc. they pretty much have to decide whether the opponent could get rid of it, how it was gotten rid of, whether they made "enough intent" to keep it in, etc.
Actually it's not just interpretation, it's also that the game is very 360, played at a pretty rapid pace and all over the ground. Which is to say that the umps not only have to have a decent understanding of the rules the umps have to be very fit and know how to bounce a ball properly. Needless to say that doesn't apply to everyone.
You also had that case with that Collingwood idiot trying to have a crack at the umpire post-game last week, and plenty of abuse on social media and the like. Obviously in-game criticism is part of the theatricals and I think most umpires just wear it, but cases out of the game could potentially chase away wannabee umpires in the future. Which is to say that umpires who might be quality otherwise stay away as they don't want the mental health impact.
That (and a couple of other calls) lead me to the question - given how much the rules rely upon interpretation and the like, is the AFL too hard to umpire? With stuff like deliberate calls, HTB's, etc. they pretty much have to decide whether the opponent could get rid of it, how it was gotten rid of, whether they made "enough intent" to keep it in, etc.
Actually it's not just interpretation, it's also that the game is very 360, played at a pretty rapid pace and all over the ground. Which is to say that the umps not only have to have a decent understanding of the rules the umps have to be very fit and know how to bounce a ball properly. Needless to say that doesn't apply to everyone.
You also had that case with that Collingwood idiot trying to have a crack at the umpire post-game last week, and plenty of abuse on social media and the like. Obviously in-game criticism is part of the theatricals and I think most umpires just wear it, but cases out of the game could potentially chase away wannabee umpires in the future. Which is to say that umpires who might be quality otherwise stay away as they don't want the mental health impact.