A report today that a third goal umpire with access to television coverage and a comms link to on-field umpires will scrutinise goal umpiring decisions through the 2010 pre-season competition raises many questions.
As is the AFL’s modus operandi, this proposal is using a sledgehammer to crack a wheat grain. Footy operations boss Adrian Anderson says only three goal umpiring decisions across 2009 were later assessed as incorrect. Three of how many? Had one of those incorrect decisions not occurred during a close Grand Final, you can be assured we wouldn’t be having this experiment in 2010.
The biggest, but by no means the only, problem with this proposal relates to timing. Anderson says the third umpire will be able to assess TV coverage of replays, but if the ball has been bounced, or play has otherwise restarted, there would be no redress.
Let’s think for second Adrian. One team is awarded a goal in error, so the third umpire has all of the time until the ball is returned to the central field umpire and it is bounced to assess whether or not the decision was correct. The other team scores a goal that is adjudged a behind by the goal umpire, but the full-back grabs a ball from the bucket and has kicked out again — restarting play — within a few seconds. For the second team there’s no chance of the decision being overturned because play has restarted.
Next we need to ask whether the third umpire will have the capacity to ‘order up’ specific footage or angles to help in making a judgement, or will they be subject to the director’s whims? You don’t need to be a ‘rocket surgeon’ to see there’s room for some spurious activity here.
Look, Anderson has condemned his proposal out of his own mouth. Three incorrect decisions in a season! For crying out loud!!
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