u or ur kid obviously lost

Thankyou. I think most umpires in the AFL are control freaks and are footy players that never made it and are pissed off about it and now they are trying to get their revenge by umpiring. They try to be too involved in the game and are therefore ruining it. I know its not al their fault, a lot of the blame should go to demetrio or whoever controls the rules. But if i was an umpire, i would just let the game go.

my apologises to baller, i thought u ment u played at port adelaide, my mistake

and yea some of the decisions in the match werent the best, but i tipped hawks, so im not complaining

They are human, they make mistakes. This thing with umpires developing attitude etc, is a conspiracy. they are all out to get you....

bloody umpires

Id be more worried about the NBA umpires, after Kobe Bryant shot NINETY SIX (96) (!!!!) foul shots in 6 games vs Utah

According to Williams, they Choked.....

I'm of course complaining about professional umps. Junoir umps need to be given slack, cause they're learning. But professional umps (ie. AFL umps) are paid big bucks to do their jobs.

The RULES COMMITTEE and UMPIRING DEPARTMENT in the AFL are a laughable farce . The rules have been made to take away interpretation from the umpires who are not up to standard . What it has delivered are falsities in the game and now players and teams are manipulating this to full advantage .

How many soft cock free kicks do you see paid to players waving their arms in the air , Geelong and Hawthorn do it the best. Simple if the players are waving their arms they don't want the ball . If they don't want the ball do not give them a free kick , see how long they persist .

The hands in the back rule is a farking joke , the push in the back rule which allows players to drop to their knees and carry the tacklers momentum into the ground is just ludicrous , again this defies footballs golden rule , keep your feet son .

They have made the head sacrosant which has actually encouraged players to duck the head and go in low again breaking traditional skills and requirements and conversely bringing more head high contact and more dangerous situations for players . If they want to stamp out the head high casualty then simply do not reward ducking or players sliding in head first when attempting to win the ball . The rules committee obviously did not weigh up any consequences of these ridiculous rule changes .

The fifty for backchat is soft as shit and gives the little green maggots much too much power to exert their overly blown ego and defensive attitude .

The umpies get way too cute with players nicknames and quite frankly no one wants to hear them talikng during the game , shut the hell up and concentrate on getting the next decision right .

The play on to advantage rule is simply the most confusing and porrly executed piece of judgement of any rule i can see in professional sport at the minute .

Now we have an interchange check in with folks who should be checking out your groceries .

There is sooooo much more .......

CLOWNS of the AFL get your shite together before the game is ruined completely .

And so it should be. Footy is a more popular sport in Australia than what basketball is. But if they want to keep it this way, don't screw around with the rules. Basketball is better than footy in one aspect though becasue the rules haven't changed much from day 1, but the AFL keeps changing their rules every second year. IMO sports aren't made to have their rules/aim to be messed around with a lot. Sure, do it if it is necessary and doesn't take too much away from the game, but if it does, don't do it.

Nice broad brush 186771 .

I will not even respond to such a narrow minded response , obviously bed time or med time for u .

Rotate on this, I agree with your entire post. The hands in the back rule was introduced to the AFL to cover for the incompetence of the AFL umpiring roster and their complete inability to make a common sense judgement about when a hand in the back is or isn't an advantage.

The writing was on the wall with the AFL more than a decade ago when the league starting putting mics on the umpires during games. Umpires should be as inanimate as the grass on the oval. In modern day professional sport, they are not. It is the same in cricket.

The NBL has a handful of exceptional referees, guys like Butler, Mildenhall, Hunt, Aylon, and (IMO) Godden. These guys control a game, are consistent in their interpretation, and have built enough of a rapor with players and coaches that when they need to interject their personalities they are able to do it in an effective manner. The younger breed of NBL referees (all about 30, the same age as me), have very little idea of how to do this. The game can never be made great by the umpires, only ruined by them.

In my opinion, the rule in most sports which prevents public criticism of referees is counter-productive. If an official makes an ABSOLUTELY SHITHOUSE call and it has a massive impact on deciding a game, then he/she should be publically accountable. The Celtics had that situation yesterday, with that disgusting charge call in the final seconds. That call was flat out wrong, indefensible, and helped to cost Boston a game (scoring 69 points doesn't help either). Doc Rivers et al SHOULD be free to comment on that call without the posibility of league penalty. Referees are not Gods, the older ones seem to get this, but the younger ones don't.

Sympomatic of this, that AFL game in Tasmania where the siren malfunctioned and play continued after the end of full time was a shocker, but not because the siren wasn't loud enough, but because a certain field umpire was so arrogant that he ignored the fact that about 12 players around the ball where telling him that the siren had gone, and bounced the ball anyway. Unacceptable.

On the flip side, there is little incentive to become a referee, but I believe that is because the standard in most sports has plunged to such a dramatic low that there is now the presumption of failure, and it is this that stops people from entering the profession.

Thats another thing that gives me the shits. AFL players (not sure on the situation on other sports) aren't allowed to speak their own minds about the league or umps because if they do, they get fined something ridiculous. I remember when James Hird got fined $20000 just becasue he he said on the footy show that and ump had a shithouse of a game. Thats crap. Its a free country, is it not? What ever happened to freedom of speach. Watching the game on friday night, Scott Burns was interviewed after the game and asked about the new interchange rules/system. You could just tell that he wanted to tell everyone what he really thought about it, and it wasn't going to be positive. But he sweetened it up and said hardly anything becasue he knew he would be in trouble if he said something.

The AFL Umpiring department is a total joke and it's lose the plot ever since Jeff Geishen took over. It was pretty decent when Peter Schawb was in charge.

The AFL change the rules too much causing confusion.

Interatations are unknown

Hands in the back rule is soft and a joke.

There is a regular lack of consistency.

AFL Umpiring is the worst umpiring standards in the world.

Umpiring department require some ex players to clean up the competition.

bolks, I see your point about basketball rules not changing much, but to say that they are pretty much the same as day 1 is a bit much. You couldn't dribble back in the old days! They didn't have 3 in the key, a shot clock, a three point line, and have added lots of smaller things like handchecking, etc, etc.

As for AFL umpires, they are pretty good, IMO. I don't think they think they're bigger than the game themselves, and most communicate well with players. Even most of the times that you will see a dodgy free being paid, they are just enforcing the rules of the game.

Rotate said it pretty well, and if we didn't so may stupid rules in the AFL, there wouldn't be so many complaints.

rotate and mutley well said.

The only thing I would add is I think AFL umpires should stop explaining why EVERY SINGLE TIME they blow their whistle. Even when they call a ball up they have to explain why. This can further infuriate players and if it doesn't it leaves the decision completely open to criticism.

Just blow your whistle, use your hands to show what the call is, point a direction and bloody well get on with it. Not, "beep. My ball, my ball. Nah nah no prior Coxy, no prior. Nah mate he took 2 steps and then got tackled. No prior opportunity. Right boys clear out clear out. Hey! Let him go now. OK I'm going to ball it up right here. and ummph".

Maggots

Lockstock, is that too dissimilar to refs at ABL level? They will often reference players by name and explain calls which I think is good.

I did laugh at your "My ball, my ball. Nah nah no prior Coxy, no prior. Nah mate he took 2 steps and then got tackled" bit though - too accurate for you to have made that up!? Haha.

I think there is a difference. ABL refs will explain calls but only usually when asked and asked in a reasonable and respectable tone. AFL refs give it every time whether asked, prompted, forced to or otherwise..

Foxtel need a umpires mic yes/no option I think - now that would be a user-friendly option!

Geez now i am going to have to pot the tribunal as well . They have got their heads firmly entrenched in their batty holes if they think the Burgoyne on Mitchell incident warrants the same penalty as McGlynn on Cornes . I don't barrack for Port either .
FFS if there was one iota of common sense anywhere within the AFL i may just cry with joy . Put the tears away sunshine cause it ain't happening . Idiots , absolute idiots . No wonder Ben Buckley left his post to head up the A-League . He couldn't stand being shat on by the overgrown pigeon .

Unbelievable that Sean got 3 games for that. I didn't even think it deserved 1!


Tribunal is a joke.

I think the biggest problem with AFL is that the rules are the least developed and most open to interpretation of any sport anywhere in the world. Umpires have to determine whether:

1. a push was in the back rather than in the side;

2. the player spoiling chopped the arm or just merely caused a spill;

3. holding the ball - enough said;

4. ruck infringements where the rucks themselves have no idea as to the rules;

5. how long the kick travelled;

6. how long the player ran without bouncing etc etc etc.

Every rule in the sport is entirely subjective, it really is a farce. I love the sport, but it will never become accepted internationally as the rules are just not able to be explained or applied consistently.

Don't blame the umps, blame the development of a sport that encourages a hard bump on a person who is not watching where it comes from, except where the bump was more than 5 metres from the play, or in the back, or in the front, or too high, or too late on the play, or shepharding off the marking contest. Truly impossible to umpire consistently.

Name one other sport anywhere in the world that has such flexible rules?

Well said XY .

Indeed.

Well said XY Z

Name one other sport anywhere in the world that has such flexible rules?

1.2. Any player may declare a new rule at any point in the game (Figure 1.2). The player may do this audibly or silently depending on what zone (Refer to Rule 1.5) the player is in.