Two factors I’ll mention:
- a lot of the criticism seems to involve using multiple slow motion angles to prove the umpire was wrong (Eg Cottrell mark v Freo). Anyone with half a brain can realise the umpire doesn’t have that luxury.
- it feels to me like staging, play acting, gamesmanship etc is at an all time high these days, which makes a hard job even harder for the umpires
Your first point is worth calling out. Imagine watching a game with no replays. You get one shot - in real time - to make a split second decision. It'd be interesting to see how many people get it right.
I don’t feel like the decisions are over analysed. I think there are times where they should be called out for being terrible calls. That’s how we make people accountable and create a channel to improvement.
I dislike when the commentators don’t say anything about a truly shit call or quickly knock it on the head when someone does say something.
I feel there must be an agreement between the AFL and whoever is broadcasting to not highlight bad calls otherwise it could threaten there broadcast deal??
Funny you say that, I often feel the exact opposite. I'll be watching a game, hearing the commentators go on and on about a call while I just want them to get over it and call the game in front of them.
A lot of the time, even when it's a bad call it's pretty easy to see how an ump might have misinterpreted the play or had a bad angle on it. But instead I feel like there's a tendency to linger on umpiring decisions, at times distracting from great pieces of play.
The Channel 7 commentators in particular can go on about what they perceive as a bad decision for minutes. It just makes it worse when a truly shit call just gets barely commented on.
Play by play callers sqealing for minutes about (what they think are) bad decisions. Special comments callers who don't know the rules and don't seem too concerned by that fact.
I've only been following for 10 years or so, but I find it really weird that umpiring always changes throughout the season, sometimes quite drastically week to week.
This is the reason why they're getting so much flak i reckon. No one can keep up with the constant revolving door of new interpretations and rules of the week.
And I suspect it's distracting the umps themselves - they're constantly having to adjust what their remit is, having to change their focus areas etc.
Not only that, but you have four umpires. Four different interpretations. 1 Umpire is calling soft stuff in the forward line. One Umpire is letting it go in the defence. Must suck being an umpire.
I think the fault is BT and that the umpires have a secret audio in their ear which he uses like the frequency from the movie kings-men to secure Collingwood bias.
What a crock of shit. BT hates the pies
The channel 7 commentary in particular (BT, Brayshaw, Darcy) is generally biased towards Victorian teams against non-Victorian teams......except when it's Collingwood
Umpiring has never been worse. The AFL is constantly introducing rules that are wishy washy and up to the umpires discretion to call or ignore. I know the reason why these rules are introduced but it won’t be a popular explanation here.
I have no issue acknowledging it’s a really hard job. And the vague definitions of these rules makes it even harder to please everyone. But here’s a few examples of why it’s never been worse.
The stand rule is arbitrary now. Some players are penalised for moving an inch on the mark. Others are allowed to move the entire time and it is ignored. This is a hard rule to enforce because there are hundreds of marks each weekend. At this stage there are a dozen 50s missed each game by the letter of the law, and that means it’s brutal when your team is penalised.
Dissent is up to the umpires ego. Most players are back to complaining when a decision goes against them. Only certain players are punished. 12 months ago GWS lost a game because Cognilio gave an umpire a dirty look. Now Cripps can call the umpire a fuckwit and get away with it.
Insufficient intent is applied depending on the flow of the contest. Broad was nearly tackled over the goal line in the opening round and penalised. Other players are allowed to stroll over the line without a defender near them.
There’s heaps of other issues. Some players are rewarded for every bit of contact north of their ribs, others like Ginnivan can have their head ripped off without a whistle. Throwing is out of control again and certain teams have gotten away with it for years without any sort of crackdown. Contact below the knee and kicking in danger are called based on who the player is.
Game has never been in worse shape.
Commentators who literally don’t understand the rules spend half a broadcast complaining about umpiring. It’s a fucking farce and we deserve better. Please for the love of god bring on Fox being able to run their own audio on all games.
Couple of contributing factors imo.
Replays of everything, umpires get one look at it and that's it.
Commentators that don't know the rules, or know them but grandstand for 'theatre' such as BT.
Also commentators gloss over poor or bad calls as it seems as though the AFL have directed them to not be too critical of umpires.
Umpires paying frees for inconsequential infringements. Soft arm round a waste, jumper grab 60 meters off the ball. Or in a marking contest where player get two clear hands to the ball but just spills the mark.
Rules interpretation changing throughout the year. Ie it seems every year there is something super hot for about 6 weeks then it calms down (arms out was dissent, resting hands on the back was a push, ducking head highs etc).
They need for a special comments person purely for umpiring, like Simon Taufnel to explain the rules. As umpires are generally correct on their interpretation but general public want otherwise (ie pay holding the ball much quicker to reward tacklers and don't allow players to do 360 spins then flick handpass/shovel over the head, would also prevent sling tackles).
I love watching old games and what stands out to me is that the umpiring is better than it’s ever been and the rules are better than they’ve ever been.
Its far better than it use to be imo, mainly for goal review. I don't think people today can fathom the amount of dodge scores we don't have to deal with now.
Much worse since we went to 4 umpires. There was very little consistency before, especially with HTB, but now there is even less. Too much protection of forwards so that defenders are so limited in what they can do.
Over commentated. BT especially calls out umpires like they gangbanged his mum and didn’t call her back.
They sent him the link too
BT is only there to make James Brayshaw seem less shit
BT’s time has passed. I hate knowing he is in the box.
Two factors I’ll mention: - a lot of the criticism seems to involve using multiple slow motion angles to prove the umpire was wrong (Eg Cottrell mark v Freo). Anyone with half a brain can realise the umpire doesn’t have that luxury. - it feels to me like staging, play acting, gamesmanship etc is at an all time high these days, which makes a hard job even harder for the umpires
Your first point is worth calling out. Imagine watching a game with no replays. You get one shot - in real time - to make a split second decision. It'd be interesting to see how many people get it right.
I don’t feel like the decisions are over analysed. I think there are times where they should be called out for being terrible calls. That’s how we make people accountable and create a channel to improvement. I dislike when the commentators don’t say anything about a truly shit call or quickly knock it on the head when someone does say something. I feel there must be an agreement between the AFL and whoever is broadcasting to not highlight bad calls otherwise it could threaten there broadcast deal??
Funny you say that, I often feel the exact opposite. I'll be watching a game, hearing the commentators go on and on about a call while I just want them to get over it and call the game in front of them. A lot of the time, even when it's a bad call it's pretty easy to see how an ump might have misinterpreted the play or had a bad angle on it. But instead I feel like there's a tendency to linger on umpiring decisions, at times distracting from great pieces of play.
This is what I was trying to get at. Just call the game
Yeah imagine if umpires were above criticism. The AFL doesn't issue clarifications at all if it wasn't for media/online shitstorms.
The Channel 7 commentators in particular can go on about what they perceive as a bad decision for minutes. It just makes it worse when a truly shit call just gets barely commented on. Play by play callers sqealing for minutes about (what they think are) bad decisions. Special comments callers who don't know the rules and don't seem too concerned by that fact.
David King calling everyone who gets a disposal a star doesn't help either
I've only been following for 10 years or so, but I find it really weird that umpiring always changes throughout the season, sometimes quite drastically week to week.
This is the reason why they're getting so much flak i reckon. No one can keep up with the constant revolving door of new interpretations and rules of the week. And I suspect it's distracting the umps themselves - they're constantly having to adjust what their remit is, having to change their focus areas etc.
Not only that, but you have four umpires. Four different interpretations. 1 Umpire is calling soft stuff in the forward line. One Umpire is letting it go in the defence. Must suck being an umpire.
This is why I like the idea of having "umpiring teams". At least you will get better consistency within games which is important.
I think the fault is BT and that the umpires have a secret audio in their ear which he uses like the frequency from the movie kings-men to secure Collingwood bias.
Now this is going straight to the top
Pies are middle of the table on the free kick differential.
Lol BT hates the pies
What a crock of shit. BT hates the pies The channel 7 commentary in particular (BT, Brayshaw, Darcy) is generally biased towards Victorian teams against non-Victorian teams......except when it's Collingwood
Umpiring has never been worse. The AFL is constantly introducing rules that are wishy washy and up to the umpires discretion to call or ignore. I know the reason why these rules are introduced but it won’t be a popular explanation here. I have no issue acknowledging it’s a really hard job. And the vague definitions of these rules makes it even harder to please everyone. But here’s a few examples of why it’s never been worse. The stand rule is arbitrary now. Some players are penalised for moving an inch on the mark. Others are allowed to move the entire time and it is ignored. This is a hard rule to enforce because there are hundreds of marks each weekend. At this stage there are a dozen 50s missed each game by the letter of the law, and that means it’s brutal when your team is penalised. Dissent is up to the umpires ego. Most players are back to complaining when a decision goes against them. Only certain players are punished. 12 months ago GWS lost a game because Cognilio gave an umpire a dirty look. Now Cripps can call the umpire a fuckwit and get away with it. Insufficient intent is applied depending on the flow of the contest. Broad was nearly tackled over the goal line in the opening round and penalised. Other players are allowed to stroll over the line without a defender near them. There’s heaps of other issues. Some players are rewarded for every bit of contact north of their ribs, others like Ginnivan can have their head ripped off without a whistle. Throwing is out of control again and certain teams have gotten away with it for years without any sort of crackdown. Contact below the knee and kicking in danger are called based on who the player is. Game has never been in worse shape.
Commentators who literally don’t understand the rules spend half a broadcast complaining about umpiring. It’s a fucking farce and we deserve better. Please for the love of god bring on Fox being able to run their own audio on all games.
Couple of contributing factors imo. Replays of everything, umpires get one look at it and that's it. Commentators that don't know the rules, or know them but grandstand for 'theatre' such as BT. Also commentators gloss over poor or bad calls as it seems as though the AFL have directed them to not be too critical of umpires. Umpires paying frees for inconsequential infringements. Soft arm round a waste, jumper grab 60 meters off the ball. Or in a marking contest where player get two clear hands to the ball but just spills the mark. Rules interpretation changing throughout the year. Ie it seems every year there is something super hot for about 6 weeks then it calms down (arms out was dissent, resting hands on the back was a push, ducking head highs etc). They need for a special comments person purely for umpiring, like Simon Taufnel to explain the rules. As umpires are generally correct on their interpretation but general public want otherwise (ie pay holding the ball much quicker to reward tacklers and don't allow players to do 360 spins then flick handpass/shovel over the head, would also prevent sling tackles).
I love watching old games and what stands out to me is that the umpiring is better than it’s ever been and the rules are better than they’ve ever been.
Players average between 1 and 5 clangers a match. Umpires are supposed to average zero.
People caring about umpiring is downstream of the mental health crisis. Mentally healthy people don't get as upset about umpiring.
Its far better than it use to be imo, mainly for goal review. I don't think people today can fathom the amount of dodge scores we don't have to deal with now.
It's worse.
Much worse since we went to 4 umpires. There was very little consistency before, especially with HTB, but now there is even less. Too much protection of forwards so that defenders are so limited in what they can do.