Why can't umpires bounce?

[ItsAllAboutMe]

Last bit is astoundingly irrelevant. If a female umpire is good enough but her bouncing is s**t, she'll either not get the gig or be taught how to improve. If strength is an issue they'll work on that too. They're not going to diminish the product to fast track women just because.

You would be wrong, its all about PR.. same as fastracking Bannister and Fisher to become AFL umpires. How many news articles have been written about the female umpire and she hasnt even umpired a game yet. She was not considered in the top VFL umpires last year but is now inline to umpire AFL footy.

 

[Underdog]

Reserve umpire to perform centre square duties? Removes fatigue from the equation.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

You would be wrong, its all about PR.. same as fastracking Bannister and Fisher to become AFL umpires. How many news articles have been written about the female umpire and she hasnt even umpired a game yet. She was not considered in the top VFL umpires last year but is now inline to umpire AFL footy.

How many news articles are written about draft picks before they've played? She's got a body of work, it speaks for itself, if a bunch of umpires get injured and she actually gets involved in a game then that's more power to her.

Has literally nothing to do with the bounce.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Reserve umpire to perform centre square duties? Removes fatigue from the equation.

With the controlling umpire on stand by five feet away to call a ruck infringement? Seems like the solution should just be get rid of it, which they eventually will do. Plus can you imagine Nic Nat with a predictable consistent throw up and a clear run at it? Delicious.

 

[doppleganger]

Originally the randomness of the bounce was part of the game, the odd bounce skewing off was fair game.

Not sure when that perception changed?

The 'bounce' was never meant to be about creating a basketball style tip-off that gave equal opportunity to each ruck, it was just how the umpire would re-start the game from a stoppage.

No bullsh1t about waiting til rucks were ready, no nominating of who is in the ruck, no alerting the players of the umpires escape route, the umpire got in and re-started play.

The basketball style tip-off bounce is bullshit.

 

[pazza]

There's a simple reason. Back injuries.

Been too many.

 

[Toump Ass]

I can get a ball and throw the ball down on the grass and have it bounce straight up. They ysed to be able to do it perfectly all the time. Why can't they do it anymore?

Because bouncing a ball is somewhat difficult, plus umpires have s**t for brains.

 

[Damon_3388]

Not really true - all it takes is a casual viewing of the Winners Rebooted to debunk that.

All it takes is a casual viewing of that to tell how much tactics, skills and decision-making have improved immensely since that era, too. A lot of '70s and '80s football looks like a bunch of chooks running around with their heads cut off.

 

[Runnin Blue]

All it takes is a casual viewing of that to tell how much tactics, skills and decision-making have improved immensely since that era, too. A lot of '70s and '80s football looks like a bunch of chooks running around with their heads cut off.

Wow, that's interesting. You should start a thread.

 

[Upgrayedd]

especially if they continue to fastrack female umpires who will struggle to get the height required at AFL level.

3 ladies who i worked with when i was an umpire were all better then me at bouncing the ball and consistently got it as high as required, What the * made you think it would be an issue?

 

[WaltzingMatera]

I was watching some old footage from the 1970s (my Dad is a Carlton fan so that's about all he has to look back on) and the quality of the umpiring with bouncing, decision making, control of the game, and signalling was so bad it was funny. Granted there was only one of them though. The umpiring in general is light years ahead of where it used to be despite the fans' constant complaining.

Specifically on bouncing, i used to be in an umpiring development squad to feed into the WAFL when i was an undergrad uni student but my knee troubles really held me back from excelling at bouncing. The guys around me (some certainly had a bit of a natural talent for it) used to practice almost daily down at the local oval (over and above their formal training).

 

[AstonSouffle]

Think you'll find umpiring skill and bouncing ability most certainly don't go hand in hand, but if we're going to follow OP's logic... we should give more games to those that can bounce and umpire, rather the better umpire who can't bounce.

Which btw is exactly what happens.

I can't bounce consistently, I mean I can do it because I won't be getting games if I can't. But it puts a ridiculous amounts of stress on my back and I have an arm slightly longer than the other, let alone that one arm is stronger than the other. So it's a bit of head* to get right. All that concentration for something I still to this day can't see the point of(apart from it being a necessity if you want to get into the purple circle).

So no offence OP, but no it isn't that simple of a skill.

 

[The Speaker]

It doesn't need to bounce straight up all the time. It was never meant to. The point of the bounce was never to provide an even contest.

 

[KevinTaylor]

I can get a ball and throw the ball down on the grass and have it bounce straight up. They ysed to be able to do it perfectly all the time. Why can't they do it anymore?

I'm jealous. I reckon its hard as *. I can jag the odd one, but to bounce the ball anything like the AFL guys do consistently is extreme.

 

[juss]

I honestly like the unpredictability of the bounce. I dont think ive ever watched a game and thought the bounce has ruined the contest.

 

[frenchfri12]

I honestly like the unpredictability of the bounce. I dont think ive ever watched a game and thought the bounce has ruined the contest.

Well you aren't a Collingwood supporter, obviously.

 

[Sw3Et]

They can if you drop them from high enough.

 

[incubi]

I dont believe it has got any worse but that we are more aware of it because the ball gets called back. Go find a video of an old game and actually pay attention to the bounces, ball goes all over the place.

 

[Crawb]

Umpiring ability and the ability to bounce a ball don't go hand in hand. We should completely ditch the bounce - we're missing so much actual umpiring talent that is badly required all because a lot can't do a bloody party trick.

 

[The Speaker]

I honestly like the unpredictability of the bounce. I dont think ive ever watched a game and thought the bounce has ruined the contest.

That's how it's meant to be.

Umpiring ability and the ability to bounce a ball don't go hand in hand. We should completely ditch the bounce - we're missing so much actual umpiring talent that is badly required all because a lot can't do a bloody party trick.

No! We should return the bounce around the ground, and stop thinking that it's meant to be a perfect ruck contest. It's not. It's meant to be a way to stop the area around a ball-up being congested.

 

[Crawb]

That's how it's meant to be.



No! We should return the bounce around the ground, and stop thinking that it's meant to be a perfect ruck contest. It's not. It's meant to be a way to stop the area around a ball-up being congested.

The bounce was a nice tradition. But the bounce is preventing good umpires actually from umpiring and from moving up the ranks across various leagues in the country now. I'll happily take throw ups to improve the standard and talent pool of umpires as there is no question that would fundamentally be better for the game. If you support having the bounce still IMO you 100% don't have the right to complain about any umpiring decision ever.

 

[The Speaker]

The bounce was a nice tradition. But the bounce is preventing good umpires actually from umpiring and from moving up the ranks across various leagues in the country now. I'll happily take throw ups to improve the standard and talent pool of umpires as there is no question that would fundamentally be better for the game. If you support having the bounce still IMO you 100% don't have the right to complain about any umpiring decision ever.

The only reason the direction of the bounce started to matter was because coaches started complaining that it wasn't a fair contest 100% of the time, even though it was never meant to be and that was the point of it. It's got nothing to do with it being tradition.

 

[Crawb]

The only reason the direction of the bounce started to matter was because coaches started complaining that it wasn't a fair contest 100% of the time, even though it was never meant to be and that was the point of it. It's got nothing to do with it being tradition.

You missed the point. Completely.

Look, I prefer the bounce personally. But the cost of maintaining the bounce in the game (i.e preventing actually good umpires from umpiring, hence effecting standard of the overall game) far out ways the very small benefits the bounce brings. Hence why it would be better if the bounce goes - it's got little, if anything, to do with the direction of the ball during the bounce and what not, but instead the practicality of umpires actually performing the bounce and the wider impact this has on the standard of umpiring which influences and effects the game far more.

 

[The Speaker]

You missed the point. Completely.

Look, I prefer the bounce personally. But the cost of maintaining the bounce in the game (i.e preventing actually good umpires from umpiring, hence effecting standard of the overall game) far out ways the very small benefits the bounce brings. Hence why it would be better if the bounce goes - it's got little, if anything, to do with the direction of the ball during the bounce and what not, but instead the practicality of umpires actually performing the bounce and the wider impact this has on the standard of umpiring which influences and effects the game far more.

I'm missing the point? If we stopped thinking that the bounce needed to be straight up all the time, the umpires wouldn't need to worry about how 'good' their bouncing is in order to be selected.

 

[frenchfri12]

I dont believe it has got any worse but that we are more aware of it because the ball gets called back. Go find a video of an old game and actually pay attention to the bounces, ball goes all over the place.

Start @ 8:00