AussieRulesBlog apologises

Regular AussieRulesBlog readers will know that our most fervent wish is for consistency of application of the rules of the game from the first bounce of pre-season to the final siren in the Grand Final.

 

Over recent weeks we’ve posted a series of articles focusing on particular rules in a bid to assist people to a better understanding of the rules and consequently better-informed criticism of on-field officiating.

 

We watched only three games over the weekend just past, but it would be hard to imagine three more different umpiring performances.

 

Friday night saw the spellbinding clash between the Cats and the Weagles. We didn’t get to the end of the game thinking that the umpires had had any real influence on the game and there weren’t any umpiring clangers that stuck in our mind.

 

Fast forward to Saturday night and perhaps the most puzzling and inconsistent umpiring performance of the year in the first half. Now, it’s fair to say that the Bombers–Cats game of the previous weekend was champagne football befitting Moet & Chandon. We don’t think we’d get much argument that the first half of the Bombers–Tigers game only merited used dishwashing water by comparison. And it wasn’t helped by three umpires with three seemingly different and interchangeable interpretations of everything from marking to holding the ball.

 

To round out the weekend, we took in the Bulldogs–Blues game on Foxtel. A great win for the Doggies against a Carlton seemingly believing all the hype about themselves. A great game marred by appalling umpiring. We can only recall one holding the man free kick, quite late in the game, despite countless significant holds after disposal. It’s like these three umpires had ripped the rule book to shreds and just picked up a few randomly selected pages to use for this particular game.

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, two goals directly from maniacally over-zealous fifty-metre penalties made Carlton’s effort look a lot better than it actually was.

 

AussieRulesBlog understands that the umpires at AFL level have an extremely difficult job. We understand that having run kilometers while making many often finely-nuanced judgements isn’t an easy gig. But when, as happened in the third quarter of the Bulldogs–Carlton game, a player is held for around two seconds after disposing of the ball and the umpire is clearly looking directly at this happening, but does not award a free kick, we think the way the game is being umpired has become a joke.

 

This game of ours is too important for there to be, no matter how much The Giesch may deny it, a “rule of the week”. Our game is too important to the fabric of our society for the emphasis and interpretation of the laws of the game to vary in the way that they do.

 

If Andrew Demetriou and Adrian Anderson seriously believe that Jeff Gieschen and Rowan Sawers are doing a competent job of running the umpiring department, then they need to come and spend some time in the stands with the fans who keep the game alive. Better educating fans to understand the rules is a waste of time when there is such blatant inconsistency.

 

AussieRulesBlog apologises for running our series of posts focussing on the rules. We’ve mislead our readers badly. An understanding of the rules is a waste of time, because the umpiring department changes, adds and discards rules and interpretations on a whim.

 

Andrew? Adrian? This situation has to be dealt with. Gieschen has to go. And if you won’t see him on his way, then you have to go.