SULPHUR

What do you think about these whinging umpires. I thought the players were the important ones not the maggots who can't keep out of the way. Bring back Croach.

mongrel

Since this rule of no contact with umpires has come into effect, it seems to me they think they don't need to avoid players(who quite rightly only have eyes for the ball or opposition players). I agree, the game is about the players, and the umps should be having as little effect on the outcome as possible by staying the hell out of the way.

I personally would scrap the no contact rule, and not just because I love to see umpires get flattened . Too many players are being charged for pathetic, unavoidable contacts.

I'm glad Darcy(it was Darcy, wasn't it? Hard to remember with so many at the tribunal this week) got off.

mongrel

Bloody hell, I've just been checking the AFL website, and noticed they're going to have a "summit" to try to figure out what to do about it.

I think the answer is simple; eliminating the rule would give the umpires an incentive to get outta the way. What's the bet they just create more rules, instead?

BigBlue2

I would love to see the to-do if Spider Everett did what Blocker Roach did a few years ago - pat an umpire on the head after just being admonished.

I would probably hear the squawking all the way up here .

SULPHUR

So they are having another meeting about umpires. Tell them to bounce the ball before the pack forms and get out of the way.There are two other umpires who can keep an eye on what is happening.

HaysooChreesto!

Ha! Just when I thought that referees in the NFL (American football) must be the most incompetent...
Officials are are the guys in sports that fans love to hate. The highest of crimes are when refs and umpires decide the outcome of a game due to a mistake in rules interpretation that the 60,000 people in the stadium and the 5 million people watching on tv couldn't get wrong.
When a rule is decided to be a bad one, rather than changing the rule they modify it to make it more complex thereby making the situation even worse.
In professional American football they use instant replay to determine many things on the field that the refs aren't sure about. How could you go wrong with instant replay, right? This feature of the game has caused some of the most dumbfounding spectacles that have ever been witnessed in sports. The original thinking is that "if we can slow it down and look at it from 10 different angles then there's no way we can get the call wrong". BAH!
The thing has taken on a life of it's own with referees deferring to IR rather than just calling 'em as they see 'em. The result is worse officiating because the refs know they can just check out the IR. In essence, they don't have to pay as much attention.

SULPHUR

Generally at a match there are up to 25 cameras so a player has very little chance of taking out your opposing player. The problem is that the umpires are getting in the way of the players,who, if they make contact with an umpire are fined or suspended. Who do you go to see the players or umpires?

HaysooChreesto!

Making contact with the officials is going to happen in every team sport. Even in baseball the umps get hit at home plate from time to time. In basketball the refs get contact frequently due to the small space and speed of the game. Same with American football.
As a matter of fact, plays are often run designed with the idea of trying to get a certain ref between the offensive player and the defensive player. If the ref is in the way while a player is running down the field he gets ran over. It's their job to get the hell out of the way.
If baseball, basketball, and American football fined or suspended their players for making contact with refs they'd have to have to greatly increase the squad size of each team.
A players job is to play the game, not dodge refs and umpires. Any rule(s) stating otherwise takes away from the quality of the game.

SULPHUR

Could you send an e mail to the AFL

mongrel

Thankfully, Lamma, Aussie Rules is not really suitable(IMO) for instant replays, since the nature of the game is more continuously high paced and flowing. Umpires need to make decisions fast and continue the flow of play. Stoppages are short, and I don't think fans would tolerate lengthening them to wait for a replay.

Besides, we already see cricket umpires calling for the third(video) umpire's decision too often, for no other reason than they weren't paying proper attention. They seemed to me to be more capable before that was introduced.

Hammer, nail, head, and all that...

Personally, I feel the rule about no contact with umps has been detrimental to the game, but I can't see the recomendation of this summit being to scrap it. They'll most likely make it more complex/worse.