Opinion Umpiring: Corruption or Incompetence, or both

[TeeKray]

What's frightening is that we play Carlton at the MCG in a few weeks time. Nothing surer than an absolute pasting by the men in green that day.

 

[LP7_]

Anyone got a stat on how often the rushed behind has been called this year? I know we’ve copped it twice in two weeks. Along with the Dixon 30secs rule against Geelong, I’m almost convinced these rules only exist against us.

 

[QPower]

It is shame it has got to the point where supporters are singling out umpires like Nicholls and Stevic.

If the AFL had dealt with their problem children umpires it would not have got to this point.

Nicholls should be dropped next week, but won't be and will be emboldened to keep pushing his agendas again and again.

 

[OneGreatClub]

Corruption fair and square
Hate tge AFL and what this game has become.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

13 v 30 in Perth

23 v 36 in Shanghai

23 v 31 in Launceston

How many sides have received 30 free kicks in the last 6 years?

 

[carnthemaggies]

18 v 30 in Perth

23 v 36 in Shanghai

23 v 31 in Launceston

How many sides have received 30 free kicks in the last 6 years?

We seem to expect it. Club needs to be vocal about poor decisions- we need to send them a list of these for explanations.

 

[OneGreatClub]

18 v 30 in Perth

23 v 36 in Shanghai

23 v 31 in Launceston

How many sides have received 30 free kicks in the last 6 years?

Something stinks here
Clarko would have had the whole AFL commission over for dinner and a
Power Point presentation if Hawks had received the treatment we receive game after game, year in year out.
It’s just not getting any better.
What are our coaches doing about it?

 

[Freak Dodgeball Accident]

I want to press the like button, but there's nothing to like about this stat. It's so hard to enjoy watching the game anymore =(

18 v 30 in Perth

23 v 36 in Shanghai

23 v 31 in Launceston

How many sides have received 30 free kicks in the last 6 years?

 

[ctpower]

It is shame it has got to the point where supporters are singling out umpires like Nicholls and Stevic.

If the AFL had dealt with their problem children umpires it would not have got to this point.

Nicholls should be dropped next week, but won't be and will be emboldened to keep pushing his agendas again and again.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

My mistake it was 13 v 30 in Perth. Forgot to put my eyes in this morning.

 

[Capital Power]

Yeah I think that's the crux of it for me, too. Whether the umpire have an agenda or preconceived outcome in mind, they have become quite overbearing on the game.

54 free kicks and 11(?) 50s in a game played in perfect conditions between two teams with good attacking options makes the game a farce. If I were a neutral watching that I would have switched off by half time. AFL's becoming a chore.

 

[Powerade 08]

At least we’ll get a fair run in the SANFL today.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

At least we’ll get a fair run in the SANFL today.

Hahaha thanks for reminding me.

 

[ctpower]

Over the last seven or eight years I’ve been working with a guy who umpired over 200 league games.
He would always swear that there was never any buyest or cheating ect etc.
As he got to know me more he began to let his guard down a bit and whilst he continued to say they never went out to cheat he would tell stories of his umpiring days and which teams and players he and other umpires did not like for a variety of reasons but mostly due to abuse they received on the field from that person or team.
As I listened to some of those stories it was hard not to think those guys subconsciously were doing exactly what they swore they never did.

 

[rumoursofwinter]

Yeah I think that's the crux of it for me, too. Whether the umpire have an agenda or preconceived outcome in mind, they have become quite overbearing on the game.

54 free kicks and 11(?) 50s in a game played in perfect conditions between two teams with good attacking options makes the game a farce. If I were a neutral watching that I would have switched off by half time. AFL's becoming a chore.

This. Boystown is killing their goose. 50 metre penalties for trying to run with your opponent and infringing some arbitrary magical zone that means nothing is pure crap. Afl games have become boring over officiated mess.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Rooch in his SM article confirms 11 x 50m penalties were paid, a record and 8 were against us. Plus he is right that some of those 8 helped swing the momentum of the match.

 

[mic59]

What I hate about the 50 metre protected rule is that it is not policed enough. The first one against Westhoff was questionable, the umpire agreed he was following his man but said "you weren't close enough". Bit of a dubious call there. The Charlie Dixon one was a bit more obvious, he almost ran into Mitchell's back after having plenty of time to stop. Don't know what the second 50 there was, probably backchat as umpires are such precious jewels, but he was in a pretty easy goalkicking position before it. Umpires should do better in keeping lids on their emotions, they don't pay fifties when there's an outburst at a free but when they've already paid a fifty they're ready to penalise a player who's probably already disapointed that he's let his team down.
And if Hawthorn got those what about the one when Wingard got his free/mark smothered on the wing? He barely ran off the line and somehow a Hawthorn player was able to smother. How far must they have been away when he was about to kick?

 

[Pappagallo]

Yeah I think that's the crux of it for me, too. Whether the umpire have an agenda or preconceived outcome in mind, they have become quite overbearing on the game.

54 free kicks and 11(?) 50s in a game played in perfect conditions between two teams with good attacking options makes the game a farce. If I were a neutral watching that I would have switched off by half time. AFL's becoming a chore.

This.

The game is not about the umpires but they’ve made it about themselves. Their mandate should be do the job without being noticed i.e. don’t get involved unless you absolutely must.

And stop f@&king cheating!

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Where were the frees paid

D50 7 v 5
Mid 16 v 21
F50 0 v 5

From champion data table on the paper green shading means 30% above 2017/18 average. Our 7 in D50 their 21 in the midfield and their 5 in the forward line is 30% above that average.

They also shade stats in red to indicate 30% below 2017/18 average. Our 0 frees inside forward 50 Was Not shaded in red.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Anyone got a stat on how often the rushed behind has been called this year? I know we’ve copped it twice in two weeks. Along with the Dixon 30secs rule against Geelong, I’m almost convinced these rules only exist against us.

The Bonner one in Shanghai was there but Howard was hung out to dry. In the context of the game that should have been let go. He made a good enough case that he was trying to paddle the ball up while crashing into the point post knowing there were players nearby. Watch the number of times players just walk a ball over the line either for a point or out of bounds and there's no decision.

The umpiring in that game stunk to high heaven. Make of it what you will. But just days after Clarko's coffee and Gil in Tassie telling the heads of footy there would be no AFL team but promising to take care of grass roots footy.

We were the sacrificial lamb.

 

[Forzaport]

And if Hawthorn got those what about the one when Wingard got his free/mark smothered on the wing? He barely ran off the line and somehow a Hawthorn player was able to smother. How far must they have been away when he was about to kick?

Right after the obvious 50m Chad wasn’t paid as well.

I noticed all game that Port players were told to play on much quicker than Hawthorn players. At one point they called play on to Jonas right after he marked it because it looked like he was about to go off his line when he actually didn’t.

By not confronting the terrible umpiring, we’re continuing to enable it.

Ken saying “it’s a tough game to umpire” does a massive disservice to our club and does precisely zero to improve our chances of success. Clarkson had an issue with Roughead being blocked, took it straight to the AFL, Roughead no longer gets blocked or at least gets many more frees.

Nicholls should be blacklisted from ever umpiring our games again. I also noticed that whenever we built momentum, Nicholls wasn’t actively umpiring that part of the ground. For some reason he screws us over every time he umpires our games, the pattern is there.

One final issue - the technical free kick. Yes Chad technically gave away a free with an arm over the shoulder during a contest on the wing. If you’re going to pay that against our club, pay the same technical frees the other way. Far too many times we have to play to a far higher technical standard to avoid giving away frees while the opposition has more freedom to infringe without being penalised. As a club we need to address this otherwise we will continue to be handicapped.

 

[Pappagallo]

Where were the frees paid

D50 7 v 5
Mid 16 v 21
F50 0 v 5

From champion data table on the paper green shading means 30% above 2017/18 average. Our 7 in D50 their 21 in the midfield and their 5 in the forward line is 30% above that average.

They also shade stats in red to indicate 30% below 2017/18 average. Our 0 frees inside forward 50 Was Not shaded in red.

Game. Set. Match.

9 times out of 10 you’re just not gonna run down that handicap. Tennis analogy Stawelled but talk about a Gift!

 

[rumoursofwinter]

Why is there a ten metre protected zone? I read it was to increase scoring. Lol. Scoring keeps going down. The only goals are from 50's for some stupid rule.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Why is there a ten metre protected zone? I read it was to increase scoring. Lol. Scoring keeps going down. The only goals are from 50's for some stupid rule.

The Hawthorn bullshit of stopping the man on the mark from being able to tackle a Hawks player when they run around because another Hawks player stands next to the man on the mark. So to stop that rather than a 10m zone for the man on the mark a 10m zone all around the kicker is introduced.

 

[Janus]

I think Ken is reluctant to call out the umpires when our players continue to make stupid mistakes with the ball. He wants to tee off but he knows that their crap isn’t the sole reason why we lost and so he can’t.

Forget these campaigners. We need to get better so they become irrelevant and can’t influence the outcome.