It's not often in aussie rules that there's a stark and definitive example of umpiring guesswork. Watching the Sydney-Geelong game last night, at one stage Mooney chased the ball along the boundary line.
The camera angle was such that the audience could not determine whether the ball was out of bounds or not. Unfortunately for the boundary umpire, the camera angle also showed him making a decision he could not see definitively.
The only way an out-of-bounds decision can be made definitively, is for the adjudicator to be positioned on the tangent to the boundary at the point where the ball may have crossed the line.
Suffice to say, the boundary ump was a long, long way from standing on the tangent and can thus only have guessed at whether the ball was in or out.
This is a long, long way from being good enough at the elite AFL level. Dare I say, Release the Giesch.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Umpiring guesswork
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Umpiring
It's not often in aussie rules that there's a stark and definitive example of umpiring guesswork. Watching the Sydney-Geelong game last night, at one stage Mooney chased the ball along the boundary line.The camera angle was such that the audience could not determine whether the ball was out of bounds or not. Unfortunately for the boundary umpire, the camera angle also showed him making a decision he could not see definitively.
The only way an out-of-bounds decision can be made definitively, is for the adjudicator to be positioned on the tangent to the boundary at the point where the ball may have crossed the line.
Suffice to say, the boundary ump was a long, long way from standing on the tangent and can thus only have guessed at whether the ball was in or out.
This is a long, long way from being good enough at the elite AFL level. Dare I say, Release the Giesch.
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7 comments:
it was clearly out
Be that as it may, Anon, the point is the umpire could not know that from where he was standing. Thefore, he was guessing.
Let me just emphasise that it's about the process, not the result. It simply doesn't matter whether the ball was in or out. The umpire who made the decision could not have done so with certainty.
More boundary umpires?
I wouldn't be against it personally.
**cough**Wayne Harms**cough**
Welcome to AussieRulesBlog Vish. On eht famous Wayne Harms incident, there was so much torn up paper around in those days it's be hard for anyone to be definitive, but I reckon the goalies helped out in those circumstances.
I'm not advocating more boundary umpires. I think 4 is exactly the right number. The point is that they should not make a decision if they're out of position. There's only two places where a boundary line decision can be made and that's the two arms of the tangent at that point. If you're not dead in line, don't guess!
Forgive my appalling checking of my own typing! Unforgiveable to press the post button without re-reading and checking!
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