Focus on Rules II: Advantage

If 2011 has been notable for anything, it has been the slow-motion car crash that is the revised Advantage law. Continuing our Focus on Rules series, AussieRulesBlog looks at the Advantage rule.

 

Once again, we’ve found new respect for the on-field officials after reading these laws carefully. We hope you’ll gain a new appreciation for the difficulties of their task and the complexities of the laws they are exercising during games.

 

Here is the Law as it has appeared over the past four years. The (colour) key is:

Black: from 2008 (earliest electronic Laws of Football we could locate).

Red: Inserted 2009.

Blue: Added 2011.

Strikethrough: removed 2011.

17.	Play On and the Advantage Rule
	17.1	FootballBall in play The football shall remain in play on each and every occasion when the field umpire calls and signals “Play On”.
	17.2	Circumstances — Play On The field umpire shall call and signal “Play On” or “Touched Play On” when:
		(a)	an umpire is struck by the football while it is in play;
		(b)	the field umpire is of the opinion that the football, having been kicked, was touched whilst in transit;
		(c)	the field umpire is of the opinion that the football, having been kicked, does not travel a distance of at least 15 metres;
		(d)	the field umpire cancels a free kick;
		(e)	the field umpire is of the opinion that a player, who has been awarded a free kick or a mark, runs, handballs or kicks or attempts to run, handball or kick otherwise than over the mark;
		(f)	where a player, awarded a mark or free kick, fails to dispose of the football when directed to do so by the field umpire;
		(g)	subject to law 11.3.6, in the instance of a poor bounce by a field umpire; or
		(h)	where a player fails to bring the ball back into play when kicking in from behind after being directed to do so by the field umpire.
		(i)	where the field umpire cancels a mark.
	17.3	The Advantage Rule Where the field umpire intends to or has signalled that they intend to award a free kick to a player, the field umpire may, instead of awarding the free kick, allow play to continue if the player of the team who receives the free kick has taken the advantage.
	17.3.1	Paying Advantage Where the field umpire intends to or has signalled that he or she intends to award a free kick to a player, the field umpire may, instead of awarding the free kick, allow play to continue if the field umpire is of the opinion that doing so will provide an advantage to that player’s team.
	17.3.2	Recalling the football
		(a)	Where the field umpire has allowed play to continue instead of awarding a free kick to a player, but having done so, it becomes apparent to the field umpire that allowing play to continue did not provide an advantage to the player’s team, the field umpire shall stop play and award the free kick to the player where the infringement occurred.
		(b)	This provision shall apply should the siren sound after an umpire has called advantage, but prior to the player disposing of the football.

 

The crucial changes, fairly obviously, are those made to Law 17.3. It’s worth noting that the change has removed the umpire’s discretion to call the ball back if advantage doesn’t eventuate — a provision that was available until the 2011 change.

 

AussieRulesBlog has noted on a number of occasions that “advantage” is quite unsuited to Australian Rules football. Our umpires are schooled, right from the beginning, to blow the whistle when they see an infringement. Players are schooled, right from the beginning, to stop on hearing the whistle. So fundamental has the notion to stop on the whistle been that umpires have been instructed, prior to 2011, to award fifty-metre penalties — based on the “time wasting” provision — against players continuing on with their actions after the whistle.

 

Into this long-standing tenet of the game, the AFL introduces player-initiated advantage. Players may now play on — as it were — after the whistle, provided they are sure their team is receiving the free kick. In a paradox, if the player continuing on with play gets it wrong, the fifty-metre “time wasting” penalty is still available to the umpire. For the most part, umpires have dealt with this paradox with admirable commonsense.

 

It’s also worth noting that explanations from The Giesch about controversial advantage decisions have prominently featured the notion that play must be continuous for player-initiated advantage to apply. It’s abundantly clear, reading the new Law 17.3 above, that this is not codified in the Law and is simply a matter of interpretation. The Giesch has been snowing us — again! Any number of advantage situations, especially inside forward 50s, have featured clearly stopped play with one opportunist taking a punt — clearly, to our mind, outside of the spirit of the game even if in sync with the Law as written.

 

We must note that in other football codes, referees hold the whistle in an advantage situation to see if the advantage plays out. If it doesn’t, the whistle is blown and play returns to the site of the penalty/foul.

 

The new law 17.3 is a dog and no-one will be surprised if it is euthanased at the conclusion of the season. AussieRulesBlog would go further and remove advantage from our game completely. The vagaries are too large and the penalties too harsh against the other team. Please Adrian and Rules Committee, put this abomination of a law out of our misery!