I suspect that watching this in real time many people called it a free kick. Umps included. It's a very difficult sport to umpire because of the nature of interpretation and it's getting harder not easier. Unfortunately on BF and at the game, a lot of time is spent complaining about the umps and it's really becoming tedious. Game day threads on the main board are a waste of time these days-all about the umps, not the play. At the ground the refrain of 'ball' which used to be lots of fun has become so ubiquitous and so often called for incorrectly, that it's annying now. The reality is we just have to accept there will be contentious decisions. So can we stop sooking everyone.
What a silly comment we can stop sooking. The rules have been compromised for several years now and the umpires are trained strictly to follow the letter of the law to the point of ridiculousness. I'll give examples of that just in a few areas of free kick awarding , WHAT these frees are, is not the question , the question is WHY.
So here's just a few, in the heat OF PLAY NEAR THE BOUNDARY a player has a ball bounce of his shin by pure accident , and instead of a throw in he gets a free against him (out on the full) it happens quite a lot? Point , there is no reason for a free kick in an instance like that.Other issues free kicks for incidental touching by accident of a shoulder, not so bad today but before it was, when even a finger above the shoulder got a free. The hands in the back rule is confusing, the punching the arms of an opponent that rule has totally been turned around because you used to be told punch the arm if he's in front or too tall. But even that rule is now a toss up as to how the umpire calls it. In the back , what is it? When some players tackle and the momentum leaves them on top of a player on the ground they get in the back????? OR THE POOR MONGREL ON THE BOTTOM OF THE PACK GETS CAUGHT FOR HOLDING?? ha ha !The shoulder drop and knee drop, the free for that is totally wrong, but Shueys episode was a free because all the action was round the neck, that's actually a rule ????? when its blatant it is disgraceful, Shueys was a free kick , sorry Port , but Shuey facing away from the tackle was scragged high, free kick whether shoulder dropped or not, and bulldust about slow motion film and normal speed replay is just that , bulldust, umpires are not machines! There are stacks and stacks of rules that have been tampered with re interpreted , and made watching football a frustration sometimes instead of a pleasure, and you come out with a nonsense that it is something we have to accept. Well my friend I don't accept garbage , never have and never will, and every weekend after the footy people whinge about decisions, and I said years ago on here (BF) that games will get decided on things that we see EVERY WEEK in every game.
Paddy Ryder 's hand up ruck nomination then a free, cost Port a goal, well he actually did put his hand up , the umpire never saw it.
So in the strictness of the rule he had infringed, even though on TV last night we see Sandilands not nominate earlier in this year, and the umpire calling play on, that rule has that WHY?????? factor to it.
To stop a third man up, so what?????? Isn't that competition, isn't that what football is about.
The AFL seem hell bent on stopping certain tactics that make it hard for opposing teams , that called competing, there are some styles of tactic like Sydney lock down rugby which make packs form and make our game look horrible , its still a tactic, but the extent tactics go to ,should be calmed a little but not to the detriment of the game itself, where as said in the past , will create an umpire created win or loss, and the ump is trying to read this complicated mess of rules the AFL (WHO DOES NOT OWN THIS GAME!!!!) has made and make a decision in a split second on GREY RULES, that the fans can barely understand.
The AFL at the same time , have introduced two new teams that have cost the competition a dropped level of standard, that was threatened even with 16 teams only, now the dilution sees some low standard games, and some who maybe shouldn't be playing at Senior AFL level.Dilution.
So my friend if you bother reading this, the teams and the umpires cannot be blamed, and the people who supply the money we the punters who do the buying, DO NOT HAVE TO STAND BACK AND ACCEPT NONSENSE FROM AFL RULES!
We have a game now wide open to gambling and cheating, because of mis perception or misunderstanding or "calling what ever you want to call " types umpiring, the AFL have turned our sport into something it is not meant to be.
When you spend post match week arguing about bloody free kicks winning and losing games, then maybe we should have all gotten really really angry when the AFL and bloody McGlaghlan a few years back started pissing around with the rules of the best game in the world.
So Romeowho what do you reckon , just lay back and take it, til the game is destroyed! And the sycophants rule the sport on TV.
AFL needs to be over hauled completely , and our Dear Leader Gil needs to pee off.