Opinion Umpiring: Corruption or Incompetence, or both

[VineValerian]

Umps were worse than mediocre last night.
But not why we lost.

We were diabolical.
Played 20 minutes of decent footy. 20 bloody minutes. 4 goals in 7 minutes in the first qtr, a ten minute burst in the second, nothing in the third, then the first 3 goals of the final term. In the blink of an eye we surrendered the adcendancy in EACH case!

Geelong kick straight in the 3rd, and we lose by ten goals.
We are officially hopeless.

 

[TeeKray]

Geelong FC 2021 represent everything that is wrong with contemporary football.

In all my years of watching I have never seen a side so focused on setting out to win games of football by not actually taking the game on and playing football.

They are a blight on the sport.

And yet here we are, about to finish below them on the ladder for the 16th time in 17 years.

I'd love us to be a blight on the sport.

 

[finbarr]

Was it Parfitt who spear tackled Farrell? That should have been reported on the spot. Even the NRL has stamped that out.

He didn't spear him. He lifted him but Farrell landed on his back. He was winded. I personally didn't have a huge problem with that one.

 

[JohnHinckleyJr]

Bonner htb worse call ever ..
Sellwood ducking Into legs no call
That's w***er leading in with his head gets a free Stewart I believe..
Dix getting ****ed in our goal square and the resulting 50 screams little man syndrome from the umps..

Multitude of throws not paid and high fend offs..

And their ruck every ******* bull up literally just jumped in ladhams or held him ..

Gill has ****ed the AFL

 

[finbarr]

Im certain the AFL brought in a rule not that long ago that if you duck yoir head to induce high contact thats your prior opportunity and its holding the ball. But Selwood is still able to duck the head with impunity....

 

[Ford Fairlane]

He didn't spear him. He lifted him but Farrell landed on his back. He was winded. I personally didn't have a huge problem with that one.

Even lifting him was a bad look. I've seen Port players get 3 matches for less of an obvious "lifting tackle".

 

[Snake_Baker]

And yet here we are, about to finish below them on the ladder for the 16th time in 17 years.

I'd love us to be a blight on the sport.

It's a hollow victory.

It's no coincidence that the 2 sides in last years grand final were the best throwers of the ball, and all because the AFL thinks that speed is the best thing for the game.

The so called "guardians of the game" have been committing incest.

 

[finbarr]

Even lifting him was a bad look. I've seen Port players get 3 matches for less of an obvious "lifting tackle".

Im not so sure I want a game that has become so Whateley'd that a player can't drive in low and dump his opponent. SPP kind of announced himself with a similar tackle on Shaun Burgoyne in that trial match at Noarlunga.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Im certain the AFL brought in a rule not that long ago that if you duck yoir head to induce high contact thats your prior opportunity and its holding the ball. But Selwood is still able to duck the head with impunity....

Here's the thing, he knows where the umpires are at all times and the moment he gets contact he looks straight at them.

I don't have any doubt that Geelong put serious drills in to umpire manipulation. This isn't just random chance here. It's too broadly represented and consistent.

 

[Brian McGee]

Im not so sure I want a game that has become so Whateley'd that a player can't drive in low and dump his opponent. SPP kind of announced himself with a similar tackle on Shaun Burgoyne in that trial match at Noarlunga.

That was a fend off. SPP had the ball and burgoyne was trying to tackle him.

 

[Palpatine_Power]

The one where Selwood had the ball, looked up and saw Boak coming toward him, then ducked his head as he got tackled and won the free for a high tackle. That one more than any other had me questioning if I even want to keep following this sport.

I think my personal favourite was Ratugolea throatpunching a tackler and getting a free for high.

 

[finbarr]

That was a fend off. SPP had the ball and burgoyne was trying to tackle him.

Oh yeah. My point still stands. I just don't have a real problem with driving in low with force.

 

[JohnHinckleyJr]

Oh yeah. My point still stands. I just don't have a real problem with driving in low with force.

All good and all you wait to one of our goes for a month

 

[Ford Fairlane]

The other one Geelong gets away with is diving into a player's legs, especially near goal. They weren't called for it once, but I bet if we did it the umpires would have run in shrieking like a Stuka dive bomber.

 

[The Hobo]

Horrendous umpiring - wasn't the reason we lost, but my god it's frustrating!

So many rubbish frees - I knew we were in trouble when Bonner got done for HTB early on. Jonas had a similar one at the end, where Hawkins and Smith tackled him and the umpire said he wasn't making an attempt. The umpire was behind Jonas, so not sure how he could make that call, and there was nothing Jonas could do.

Still yet to see a replay of that Wines "hold" on Blicavs that cost Georgiadis a shot on goal.

That block by Dixon in our forward line where Blicavs clearly had hold of Dixon..and then the 50m on top

high contact by Georgiadis which turned out to be his arm glancing the Geelong players head as they grappled. If you look for it, you'll find minor contact like this in most contests - we can't be blowing the whistle for these.

We got some soft ones too. I just wish they'd put their whistles away. Call the big obvious ones, let the rest go.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

What's your decision? Ratugolea gives a don't argue to Drew's neck, Drew going to tackle puts his left arm on Ratugolea's shoulder/neck area. Umpire - free kick to the Rat who didn't know if the free was against him or to him. Drew stuck his arms out saying what? Darcy says - confusion reigning there.

There was some very dodgy frees paid, maybe 8-10 of the 49 paid, but it was more the missed frees that where the issue IMO.

 

[Alberton Proud]

The one that went against Robbie in the third quarter when the Geebung player dove into his legs to extract a 'high contact' free was particularly galling

 

[Alberton Proud]

What's your decision? Ratugolea gives a dont argue to Drew's neck, Drew going to tackle puts his left arm on Ratugolea's shoulder neck area. Umpire free kick to the Rat who did't know if the free ws against him or to him. drew stuck his arms out sayig what. Darcy says - confusion reigning there.

There was some very dodgy frees paid, maybe 8, but it was more the missed frees that where the issue IMO.


View attachment 1152330

Carbon copy of the Fyfe one from last week

Willem who ?

 

[It Just Is]

My personal favourite was the incorrect disposal paid against Ladhams, last quarter in the forward pocket. The controlling umpire could clearly be heard saying “knocked out in the tackle, play on” before an out of zone umpire intervened.

What hope do we have in understanding the rules when 2 umpires interpret the same incident entirely differently?

 

[dirty2]

Hate the afl... ****ed game.

 

[Pt Augusta Power]

Doesn’t matter how bad the umpires are- afl is and will always be the number 1 sport in this country. They don’t have to try - they can be completely incompetent and know people will keep watching.

It’s bullshit but that’s the way it is.

 

[Greasyrhys]

All these stupid rule changes & the nuffies running the show are a cancer on the sport

 

[Port 2004]

All these stupid rule changes & the nuffies running the show are a cancer on the sport

Yeah and the pricks forget that they are only custodians as well. They don’t own the product.

 

[rumoursofwinter]

The umpiring in the Sydney v Hawks game was woeful. Umpiring this year is stands out as woeful. The game is confused.

 

[Janey]

The umpiring in the Sydney v Hawks game was woeful. Umpiring this year is stands out as woeful. The game is confused.

I listened to Dennis Commetti call a match (who has fairly and accurately called more football matches than I've had hot dinners) a couple of weeks ago. Within about 10 minutes he called about 3 free kicks that all went the opposite way, and he had absolutely no explanation for why that had happened. If he's confused what hope do the rest of us have.