Standard of Umpiring - Suggestions for change

[Roverjg]

AFL football has the most complicated set of rules for the umpire to interpret/determine in the blink of an eye. The introduction of a 4th field umpire has to date failed to improve the consistency of interpreting and making decisions.

I am finding it frustrating (am I alone in this) that the umpires are inconsistent when making decisions. If the free is there then pay it. For example there were a lot of 50/50 decisions (too high/ HTB) that BL were rewarded for but we did not get frees for when the situation was reversed. Did the crowd contribute to this?

If protecting the head is to be sacrosanct I am all for the Umps paying blanket frees for high tackle irrespective of whether the person was ducking or not. If the players are skillful enough to drop the knees good on them. It will then fall onto teams to practice tackling through the hips

The other rule that is inconsistent in its interpretation is pushing in the back. Why can't it go back to how it was for over 100 years? a push to the back in any form was a push.

What rules annoy you? What rules(s) do you want to see changed?

 

[leon123]

As you mentioned, think biggest issue is consistency and at least be consistent within a game

 

[Markfs]

push in the back has been ignored in order to keep the number of free kicks down....there were far more free kicks given 50 years ago than there is now. People complain if too many frees are given. So there's a choice involved for the people running the game and probably for us as fans. Personally, I want more push in the back free kicks given. It is an unfair disadvantage for the players who take the front position.

 

[Black_White]

push in the back has been ignored in order to keep the number of free kicks down....there were far more free kicks given 50 years ago than there is now. People complain if too many frees are given. So there's a choice involved for the people running the game and probably for us as fans. Personally, I want more push in the back free kicks given. It is an unfair disadvantage for the players who take the front position.

Don’t disagree with your push in the back frees.
But do take issue with the comparison to 50 years ago. That was a time where players played to a position and compared to todays game it was glacial ball movement.
Mush easier to officiate.

 

[TheVillageIdiot7]

Don’t get me started!!!
….too late.

It’s basically impossible to be consistent.
That’s the simple outcome.

There literally isn’t a rule besides OOTF that doesn’t require a human interpretation.
So whilst that is in place, it’s going to frustrate everyone.

So without clear black and white rules….What chance does anyone have?

I loved that the only other b&w rule was removed (hands in the back)…Now it’s just a guess.

• why can’t there be 50 frees in a game? Because if the afl were actually honest, there is easily 50 frees in every game.
• why is holding a jumper to punch someone 50m away in a scuffle not holding the man? Yet when it’s in play, it is?
• why are finals umpired differently?

I think 2 changes would help clear things up
- kicking goes to 20m. Removes the 10m one that is called (which will make the 15m kick the low length)
(Or change it to 15m from the mark position, not where the player is).

- remove benefit of the doubt for the player with the ball…you either kick, or handball…if it’s not obvious you did either…. Gone.


And another they will never do….

- I’d love to remove prior as well. Black and white rule…. You take possession… you kick or handball….. that’s it. No “trying”, “knocked out”….etc….kick or handball.
(I know the no prior is contentious and would largely do away with ruckman…But I’d like to actually see a few games without it to see the players adapt….damn it would be a fast game!!)

Edit: for clarity, the prior rule doesn’t say you need to dispose of the ball to a teammate….just dispose the ball, which in todays landscape is about 0.5 of a second.

 

[sr36]

I think the umpiring has been ok this year.

The interpretation I don't understand is why they sometimes call a ball up relatively quickly and why they sometimes take an eternity. And with both of them, I don't like the current situation where no prior equals no free, so blokes can just hold it in for ages until they've got a teammate to release to. They take so long to call the ball up that the player with no prior almost gets a free pass where he can hold it in for a ball up or get to release it to a teammate if one gets in good position

 

[Apples]

I think the umpiring has been ok this year.

The interpretation I don't understand is why they sometimes call a ball up relatively quickly and why they sometimes take an eternity. And with both of them, I don't like the current situation where no prior equals no free, so blokes can just hold it in for ages until they've got a teammate to release to. They take so long to call the ball up that the player with no prior almost gets a free pass where he can hold it in for a ball up or get to release it to a teammate if one gets in good position

You must have missed the Sydney-Port game tonight. Atrocious umpiring let Port back in when the game was essentially over. A free against Rampe was the worst I've seen in a long time. Not to mention another howler from the useless and embarrassing Arc system. A clear Port goal, was called touched by the goal umpire. The replay showed the ball had cleared the line and yet they called an Umpire's Call. Admittedly the camera shots were of the usual amateurish standard; they had two angles, one of which was in the grandstand behind the goals. A billion dollar industry won't spend the money to get the best vision available. Laughable really.

 

[Wearmouth]

Ahh…..

The standard of umpiring. It has been reverted to a total clusterf$&@k. And that’s not without true intent from HQ.

The more ambiguous and interpretive it has become. The greater the control HQ has over results and games. There is method to their madness. Even to the point the weekly faux mea culpa or the we stand by the call……Really.

You think it’s by chance that what you see happen these days when one team gets a jump on another. The viewership is absolutely critical to the sponsors and must be maintained at a high level. Drop offs can’t be the norm. So then we get what we’ve seen on many occasions. Those frees that are technically there. But haven’t been paid for months on end.

I’ll give an example of an issue that’s been current and doing my head in. There was a rule to stop players being taken out to the follow up contest by the opposition blatantly putting the player to ground or scragging them. Nick was being smashed against the Brions. Zorko and Co. were really doing a number on him. Now I watched this and then watched the game again specifically for it as the network has been instructed not to show reply’s of contentious calls to not insight the supporters too much. And on the one occasion that Nick was fed up with the illegal attention in front of the Scumpire. Instead of him receiving the free for getting scragged. Instead he retaliated and immediately was called. The previous 10 times he was illegally thwarted weren’t even looked at. Yet that was a rule put in place to stop our best players from being put out of the game.

The other was the push in the back to Jamie Elliot. Astonishing that he wasn’t given 50m penalty after marking and then being sat on his stomach by a punch in the back. Now if that wasn’t a free then the next day I watched the same thing during another game and the player took the mark and was immediately push from behind and fell forward. To my amazement, the whistle blew and the player was sent to the square for an easy goal. And rightly so.

We are not a lovechild of HQ and anytime the boot can be stuck in….it will. Watching Cloke get physically raped most games and when he did show he was bigger and stronger he was penalized. Yet I watch Lynch, McKay, Hawkins push defenders in the back and nothing.

We no longer exist as a competition. It’s now a contrived fixture with contrived results. I even like hearing the third umpire on the mike giving advice on the calls. To Tas why the whistle gets blown late and ambiguous calls get made with noone knowing which direction to point. Until they get clarification from their earpiece.


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[barrackers]

Deliberate out of bounds may as well be last touch with how they’re interpreting insufficient intent currently, so why not bring in last disposal, except for inside forward 50. That would remove one area of grey.

On a similar line note is the scoring line viewed differently to the boundary line. Make that the same too.

The whole protected area is nonsense when opponents can (or in the case of McInnes cannot) follow an opponent through. Making it play on when a teammate encroaches will quickly stop them getting close to try and buy a 50. In turn that would remove grey whether the opposing player is following someone.

Not an umpire decision, but when so many steps are being made to speed up the game why can a player swap with another before they take the kick out.

Ultimately though the issue with more umps on the field in a game with rules that are open for interpretation is we’ll always see inconsistency within a game. As that will never be overcome I’d like to see a captain’s call introduced whereby a side has 1 video review available per quarter, which is retained if successful.

 

[sideswipe]

Ahh…..

The standard of umpiring. It has been reverted to a total clusterf$&@k. And that’s not without true intent from HQ.

The more ambiguous and interpretive it has become. The greater the control HQ has over results and games. There is method to their madness. Even to the point the weekly faux mea culpa or the we stand by the call……Really.

You think it’s by chance that what you see happen these days when one team gets a jump on another. The viewership is absolutely critical to the sponsors and must be maintained at a high level. Drop offs can’t be the norm. So then we get what we’ve seen on many occasions. Those frees that are technically there. But haven’t been paid for months on end.

I’ll give an example of an issue that’s been current and doing my head in. There was a rule to stop players being taken out to the follow up contest by the opposition blatantly putting the player to ground or scragging them. Nick was being smashed against the Brions. Zorko and Co. were really doing a number on him. Now I watched this and then watched the game again specifically for it as the network has been instructed not to show reply’s of contentious calls to not insight the supporters too much. And on the one occasion that Nick was fed up with the illegal attention in front of the Scumpire. Instead of him receiving the free for getting scragged. Instead he retaliated and immediately was called. The previous 10 times he was illegally thwarted weren’t even looked at. Yet that was a rule put in place to stop our best players from being put out of the game.

The other was the push in the back to Jamie Elliot. Astonishing that he wasn’t given 50m penalty after marking and then being sat on his stomach by a punch in the back. Now if that wasn’t a free then the next day I watched the same thing during another game and the player took the mark and was immediately push from behind and fell forward. To my amazement, the whistle blew and the player was sent to the square for an easy goal. And rightly so.

We are not a lovechild of HQ and anytime the boot can be stuck in….it will. Watching Cloke get physically raped most games and when he did show he was bigger and stronger he was penalized. Yet I watch Lynch, McKay, Hawkins push defenders in the back and nothing.

We no longer exist as a competition. It’s now a contrived fixture with contrived results. I even like hearing the third umpire on the mike giving advice on the calls. To Tas why the whistle gets blown late and ambiguous calls get made with noone knowing which direction to point. Until they get clarification from their earpiece.


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Suggesting there is some sort of anti-Pies bias within the AFL is boneheaded conspiracy theory. Everyone at afl house wants the Pies to be always up. Because $$.

And even in a crazy world where there was such a conspiracy, there is no way they could organise the Scumps.

So what you are seeing is your own bias.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[The Royal Sampler]

My main complaint about umpiring is the holding the ball rule.

Prior opportunity means “if the player had a chance to dispose of the ball before being tackled”.

Umpires too frequently give a player who had prior opportunity a chance to dispose of the ball once tackled. That shouldn’t be the case. If a player had prior opportunity and gets r3tard3d by a legitimate tackle, that’s holding the ball. They don’t get to swing around 360 degrees and then drop it and it’s “jarred free”, or fall on the ground pretending to punch the ball in a “look I’m making an attempt” charade.

 

[Captivating]

The 15m rule is a joke. The ball should have to go at least 15m from the man on the mark, not from where the ball is kicked. Sure that allows you to pass the ball 2m backwards, but it stops these ridiculous short kicks inside 50.

 

[PIE TILL I DIE]

Suggesting there is some sort of anti-Pies bias within the AFL is boneheaded conspiracy theory. Everyone at afl house wants the Pies to be always up. Because $$.

And even in a crazy world where there was such a conspiracy, there is no way they could organise the Scumps.

So what you are seeing is your own bias.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

it’s not so much anti-Pies bias it’s just natural bias umpires are human too and they obviously grew up as fans of the game so they would be like any other fan growing up it’s either you love the Pies or you despise us so the 50/50 call will more often than not go against us because that hatred is always there it doesn’t go away because now they are umpires the AFL know we have the most loyal supporter base we show up no matter what so they get the $$ out of us either way

 

[Gaspard]

There are many problems with umpiring, and inconsistency is the worst. The addition of a 4th umpire has made this worse, as it had to. One more point of view added.
The insufficient intent rule has made things worse for everything in the game. It cries out for inconsistency. The long ago out on the full change was all that was needed. It should have been left at that.
They found a good change with the hands in the back rule. It made interpretation easy, and was very hard to argue with. Obviously had to go. Now, blatant pushes in the back are the norm, and a godsend to big slow players.
Holding the ball has always been difficult, and interpretations have changed a lot over the years. The current one is all over the shop, from red hot to completely laissez faire. A lot seems to depend on the player involved - some routinely get far more latitude than others.
Holding the man is one of the worst adjudicated at the moment. In the same game we often see a player clearly held off the ball for a long time and unrewarded, while someone else gets a free fro a very small hold. Often these decisions seem heavily influenced by crowd noise.
Lastly there is dissent. A whole new can of worms opened last year by the AFL. Abuse is one thing, is obvious and is not wanted by anyone. Dissent is disagreement and should not be a problem for anyone.

There are not enough good umpires to cover 9 matches with three each. The poor games usually get the poor umpires. The next 9 umpires in line are now out there, lowering the standard.

The instructions to the broadcasters to choose the replays to keep the pressure off the umpires and their bosses is a disgrace.

 

[Markfs]

Don’t disagree with your push in the back frees.
But do take issue with the comparison to 50 years ago. That was a time where players played to a position and compared to todays game it was glacial ball movement.
Mush easier to officiate.

I didnt comment about the ease of umpiring 50 years ago and it was easier.

I was saying that they paid a lot of free kicks then. Every time a player was touched without the ball or a slight push in the back. There were no rules from above that the number of free kicks had to be limited.

What makes the situation worse is that there is far more tackling now so consequently there are more free kicks for holding the ball, and more free kicks for incorrect tackes.

Something's gotta give. You can't just give less free kicks now and not miss a lot of free kicks.

What is annoying about today's umpires that they will award free kicks now for minor things. Free kicks like the one against Rampe last night shouldnt be given. The rule is that players can edge their opponents away from the drop of the ball, if the ball is within 10 metres.....but too often umpires just give a free kick. Another problem is that umpires will award free kicks if the act looks too violent. A player will crash into another and not hit their head or push them in the back or tackle them. They will just hit their opponeent hard and the umpire doesnt like it. I dont like them giving free kicks for made-up transgressions when they are overlooking free kicks which were given 50 years ago.

I also think there is a problem with having a balanced interpretation of the rules with 4 people making those assessments.

 

[Roverjg]

Ahh…..

The standard of umpiring. It has been reverted to a total clusterf$&@k. And that’s not without true intent from HQ.

The more ambiguous and interpretive it has become. The greater the control HQ has over results and games. There is method to their madness. Even to the point the weekly faux mea culpa or the we stand by the call……Really.

You think it’s by chance that what you see happen these days when one team gets a jump on another. The viewership is absolutely critical to the sponsors and must be maintained at a high level. Drop offs can’t be the norm. So then we get what we’ve seen on many occasions. Those frees that are technically there. But haven’t been paid for months on end.

I’ll give an example of an issue that’s been current and doing my head in. There was a rule to stop players being taken out to the follow up contest by the opposition blatantly putting the player to ground or scragging them. Nick was being smashed against the Brions. Zorko and Co. were really doing a number on him. Now I watched this and then watched the game again specifically for it as the network has been instructed not to show reply’s of contentious calls to not insight the supporters too much. And on the one occasion that Nick was fed up with the illegal attention in front of the Scumpire. Instead of him receiving the free for getting scragged. Instead he retaliated and immediately was called. The previous 10 times he was illegally thwarted weren’t even looked at. Yet that was a rule put in place to stop our best players from being put out of the game.

The other was the push in the back to Jamie Elliot. Astonishing that he wasn’t given 50m penalty after marking and then being sat on his stomach by a punch in the back. Now if that wasn’t a free then the next day I watched the same thing during another game and the player took the mark and was immediately push from behind and fell forward. To my amazement, the whistle blew and the player was sent to the square for an easy goal. And rightly so.

We are not a lovechild of HQ and anytime the boot can be stuck in….it will. Watching Cloke get physically raped most games and when he did show he was bigger and stronger he was penalized. Yet I watch Lynch, McKay, Hawkins push defenders in the back and nothing.

We no longer exist as a competition. It’s now a contrived fixture with contrived results. I even like hearing the third umpire on the mike giving advice on the calls. To Tas why the whistle gets blown late and ambiguous calls get made with noone knowing which direction to point. Until they get clarification from their earpiece.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't like to subscribe to the theory that I see in match day threads that we are losing or lost due to Umps cheating... However, as you indicated above, after watching replays of our games I too am frustrated by the lack of consistency in the frees paid to/against us, but where they occur

On SM-N975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[sideswipe]

it’s not so much anti-Pies bias it’s just natural bias umpires are human too and they obviously grew up as fans of the game so they would be like any other fan growing up it’s either you love the Pies or you despise us so the 50/50 call will more often than not go against us because that hatred is always there it doesn’t go away because now they are umpires the AFL know we have the most loyal supporter base we show up no matter what so they get the $$ out of us either way

When we are going well we get far bigger crowds and tv figures. This happens to every team. It just happens in a bigger way for us and a few others.

And we don’t show up to finals if we aren’t in them.


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[Wearmouth]

Suggesting there is some sort of anti-Pies bias within the AFL is boneheaded conspiracy theory. Everyone at afl house wants the Pies to be always up. Because $$.

And even in a crazy world where there was such a conspiracy, there is no way they could organise the Scumps.

So what you are seeing is your own bias.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Boneheaded is what the Dimwits cry out when they are just subservients to what they get fed.

Our fixturing isn’t for our benefit. But theirs. We are the bringer of crowds. There was no consideration to our needs this season. Or us garnering any benefit from what we bring. Our first 6 rounds was all about HQ’s revenue raising. No team is playing this many high end games like us. Not even the Handbaggers nor the Swine who finished 1 and 2. It’s done for only one reason. Money. And not that we’ll see any of it. This goes to support the other welfare recipients to propagate our further demise.

We are the golden goose. The one that keeps giving. And when it’s time to take away our impetus. It’s done with stealth and precision. And in the guise of technically it’s there……..

The betting scandal that occurred last season is just another reason to understand that they are just as flawed as anyone else. And to think that they wouldn’t show prejudice and bias in their decision making is just folly.

Just like the media hacks and the control HQ now has over them all. How none are too quick to question the hand that feeds them. Just keep spreading the company line. We aren’t even seeing replays of incidents any longer during the game. And so to are the Scumps. You have to be of a certain type of character to push the bullshit agenda. And HQ is pretty selective as to whom it will take under its umpiring programs.

Look at the free paid yesterday when the Port player walked the ball back over the goal line under pressure from his opponent and the explanation he received from the Scump. The pressure has to be with 3-5 meters of you and it wasn’t. That was true. It was within 2 meters. Yet the player can’t remonstrate, it can’t be questioned and a goal is given. And with how tight that game was, it is a definitive play in the game. All decided on the unbiased interpretation of the Scump. That Scump must have thick skin to be so righteous. Just like the one that paid the 50m against Coniglio for demonstrative remonstration. That was later defended by the Scump boss with an idiotic explanation that Coniglio was apparently remonstrating all game. So the Scump got his knickers all twisted and paid a 50m penalty out of exasperation at being questioned all day. That’s what will happen when you are making poor decisions. But there is no bias here. Where paying things apparently on their merits. Yeah right……keep feeding the chooks.

In 2011 we were a couple of goals away from ending the Handbaggers in that GF. We were burying them in a barrage of play. Until the Scumps got involved. And in the midst of 5 minutes our lead and ascendency was taken away and they were back in the contest. Noone wants to watch a blow out in a GF. Swings and roundabouts it was portrayed as. But rewatch that critical patch of time before the end of second quarter. 2018 a bit of the same.

I’ve been watching the game for far too long to know that we are no longer playing in an uncompromised environment. The stakes are now too high and HQ if it doesn’t achieve its objectives. Will start rot lose the battle.

And don’t get me started on Gill the Dill. Is he now the Sepp Blatter of the AFL. I’ll leave when we find someone better than me that can take on the job. The problem with all that is what are they actually looking for…..Or are they really looking. We saved Gill’s legacy last season by producing something that has never and probably won’t ever be seen again. Well not in my remaining years. He was going to reside over the biggest sh1t sandwich with the game teetering into the abyss. Then comes Collingwood with its uncompromising style and exhilarating play. And for 15 weeks we capture the footballing imagination and Gill the Dill gets to sell the TV rights to morons who don’t understand the true landscape. And going from sh1t to foie gras in one half season.

Now he doesn’t really want to leave. Not when he’s got $3Bil to play with. When 12 months earlier he was begging for money during Spooky19. So know he’ll keep hanging around. This season and maybe next. Then he might stay on as a consultant for the new leader. You know just to help them transition.


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[leon123]

Boneheaded is what the Dimwits cry out when they are just subservients to what they get fed.

Our fixturing isn’t for our benefit. But theirs. We are the bringer of crowds. There was no consideration to our needs this season. Or us garnering any benefit from what we bring. Our first 6 rounds was all about HQ’s revenue raising. No team is playing this many high end games like us. Not even the Handbaggers nor the Swine who finished 1 and 2. It’s done for only one reason. Money. And not that we’ll see any of it. This goes to support the other welfare recipients to propagate our further demise.

We are the golden goose. The one that keeps giving. And when it’s time to take away our impetus. It’s done with stealth and precision. And in the guise of technically it’s there……..

The betting scandal that occurred last season is just another reason to understand that they are just as flawed as anyone else. And to think that they wouldn’t show prejudice and bias in their decision making is just folly.

Just like the media hacks and the control HQ now has over them all. How none are too quick to question the hand that feeds them. Just keep spreading the company line. We aren’t even seeing replays of incidents any longer during the game. And so to are the Scumps. You have to be of a certain type of character to push the bullshit agenda. And HQ is pretty selective as to whom it will take under its umpiring programs.

Look at the free paid yesterday when the Port player walked the ball back over the goal line under pressure from his opponent and the explanation he received from the Scump. The pressure has to be with 3-5 meters of you and it wasn’t. That was true. It was within 2 meters. Yet the player can’t remonstrate, it can’t be questioned and a goal is given. And with how tight that game was, it is a definitive play in the game. All decided on the unbiased interpretation of the Scump. That Scump must have thick skin to be so righteous. Just like the one that paid the 50m against Coniglio for demonstrative remonstration. That was later defended by the Scump boss with an idiotic explanation that Coniglio was apparently remonstrating all game. So the Scump got his knickers all twisted and paid a 50m penalty out of exasperation at being questioned all day. That’s what will happen when you are making poor decisions. But there is no bias here. Where paying things apparently on their merits. Yeah right……keep feeding the chooks.

In 2011 we were a couple of goals away from ending the Handbaggers in that GF. We were burying them in a barrage of play. Until the Scumps got involved. And in the midst of 5 minutes our lead and ascendency was taken away and they were back in the contest. Noone wants to watch a blow out in a GF. Swings and roundabouts it was portrayed as. But rewatch that critical patch of time before the end of second quarter. 2018 a bit of the same.

I’ve been watching the game for far too long to know that we are no longer playing in an uncompromised environment. The stakes are now too high and HQ if it doesn’t achieve its objectives. Will start rot lose the battle.

And don’t get me started on Gill the Dill. Is he now the Sepp Blatter of the AFL. I’ll leave when we find someone better than me that can take on the job. The problem with all that is what are they actually looking for…..Or are they really looking. We saved Gill’s legacy last season by producing something that has never and probably won’t ever be seen again. Well not in my remaining years. He was going to reside over the biggest sh1t sandwich with the game teetering into the abyss. Then comes Collingwood with its uncompromising style and exhilarating play. And for 15 weeks we capture the footballing imagination and Gill the Dill gets to sell the TV rights to morons who don’t understand the true landscape. And going from sh1t to foie gras in one half season.

Now he doesn’t really want to leave. Not when he’s got $3Bil to play with. When 12 months earlier he was begging for money during Spooky19. So know he’ll keep hanging around. This season and maybe next. Then he might stay on as a consultant for the new leader. You know just to help them transition.


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You know, I tend to agree with your above sentiments at times, normally after a dozen beers or so.

But if you have ever worked in a big agency at senior management or exec level, you would know how difficult to implement the above, virtually impossible.

Typicallly, a more simple answer is responsible.... people and their competence or lack thereof

 

[legendstatus]

Haven’t read any of the posts but can imagine what this is about. The umpires alone are the biggest concern of our modern game, by the stretch of the Universe

We now have 4 of them trying to get involved with every minor 50/50

Great umpiring is “that could go either way, I won’t assume or guess unless I am 100% clear, so I’ll let it go”


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[HFF]

Thankfully Port won that game v Sydney because that was as bad as I’ve seen in a long time.
Port were getting reamed by everyone…the umps, the arc etc

 

[sr36]

You know, I tend to agree with your above sentiments at times, normally after a dozen beers or so.

You must be a lightweight. That was an 18 beer or full bottle of scotch rant.

 

[jonbe54]

Simply put compared to world games like soccer (apologies British posters) and rugby (both league and association) our interpretive rules are an absolute joke.

If the game is ever to evolve the AFL need to stop fiddling with the rules (almost from week to week) and keep OUT of the umpires changing rooms.

That alone stinks of manipulation which is a baaaad look.

 

[Finn Jim]

My one addition I'd like to see is a system of red/green lights around the perimeter fence of the playing field, say at 25m intervals, or as light bars along the ads, etc, which would inform the players as to the status of the ball.

Red: Ball is marked/free is to be taken, someone should stand on the mark, etc.

Green: Open play/play on condition. (releases man on mark)

Green flashing quickly: the umpire has called play on on a kick in flight—it's touched, not 15, etc. You should be ready to be tackled if you catch it.

My reason for all of this is that I can't stand seeing players penalized because the legitimately could not hear the umpire, or get away with something by pretending they couldn't when they could. I'd like to devise a visual system to change it. (If the broadcast can give me umpire mic feeds and I can interpret what should happen before players can, this shouldn't be a big ask...

It would also allow the man standing the mark to monitor the kicker at all times instead of the current awkward glance back and forth at the stepping opponent and the umpire waiting for the play on.

 

[Captivating]

Simply put compared to world games like soccer (apologies British posters) and rugby (both league and association) our interpretive rules are an absolute joke.

If the game is ever to evolve the AFL need to stop fiddling with the rules (almost from week to week) and keep OUT of the umpires changing rooms.

That alone stinks of manipulation which is a baaaad look.

100%.

I have the same issues with netball which has baffling decisions based on umpire interpretation. What is 2.9s to one umpire is 3.1s for another. Same with stepping, contact, obstruction.

An equally frustrating game to watch because the umpires interpretation always interferes with the game.