Sunday, October 19, 2008

Disquieting indications on rule changes

A report in The Age on possible rule changes is most disquieting.

While there is considerable argument on the necessity for a change in relation to intentionally rushing behinds, some of the solutions being touted are definitely worse than the disease.

Other proposals include:
  • the provision of two substitutes on the bench in pre-season games
    do we really want to make Aussie Rules more like gridiron?
  • Awarding a free kick and 50-metre penalty for players who put down, tackle or unreasonably retard an opponent who has disposed of the ball, which prevents them from reaching the next act of play or next contest
    I can already see the umpires getting stooged on this one
  • Introducing a fourth field umpire to provide greater scrutiny at stoppages
    and yet another interpretation of rules on the ground — JUST what we need
  • Increasing the legal kicking distance from 15 metres to 20 metres and possibly as much as 30 metres
    Huh? Where on earth does this come from?
  • Making the goal line level with the back of padding around the goal posts
    clearly one of the most important issues in the game! This is a nonsense run up the flagpole to take scrutiny away from things that are important.
The only sensible proposal is to reduce the penalty for interchange infractions. I'd suggest making it zero! There's already a perfectly good system for managing the number of players on the park. This was a massive over-reaction in the first place. Reducing it to merely an over-reaction is not necessarily the best solution.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

and it just goes to prove about the idiots we have in charge of the AFL. just leave the rules alone.....

Anonymous said...

The AFL head honchos seem hell bent on changing the rules to make the game perfect. I think one of the things true supporters of the game like is the imperfections within our game - so an errant bounce by an umpire makes us groan but if we want perfection they will bring in a rule change to make the ball round. Hey maybe that's why they have brought back the International series - to let us watch the Aussie boys play with the round ball. It's a conspiracy!!!!

Disquieting indications on rule changes

A report in The Age on possible rule changes is most disquieting.

While there is considerable argument on the necessity for a change in relation to intentionally rushing behinds, some of the solutions being touted are definitely worse than the disease.

Other proposals include:

  • the provision of two substitutes on the bench in pre-season games
    do we really want to make Aussie Rules more like gridiron?
  • Awarding a free kick and 50-metre penalty for players who put down, tackle or unreasonably retard an opponent who has disposed of the ball, which prevents them from reaching the next act of play or next contest
    I can already see the umpires getting stooged on this one
  • Introducing a fourth field umpire to provide greater scrutiny at stoppages
    and yet another interpretation of rules on the ground — JUST what we need
  • Increasing the legal kicking distance from 15 metres to 20 metres and possibly as much as 30 metres
    Huh? Where on earth does this come from?
  • Making the goal line level with the back of padding around the goal posts
    clearly one of the most important issues in the game! This is a nonsense run up the flagpole to take scrutiny away from things that are important.
The only sensible proposal is to reduce the penalty for interchange infractions. I'd suggest making it zero! There's already a perfectly good system for managing the number of players on the park. This was a massive over-reaction in the first place. Reducing it to merely an over-reaction is not necessarily the best solution.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

and it just goes to prove about the idiots we have in charge of the AFL. just leave the rules alone.....

Anonymous said...

The AFL head honchos seem hell bent on changing the rules to make the game perfect. I think one of the things true supporters of the game like is the imperfections within our game - so an errant bounce by an umpire makes us groan but if we want perfection they will bring in a rule change to make the ball round. Hey maybe that's why they have brought back the International series - to let us watch the Aussie boys play with the round ball. It's a conspiracy!!!!