Deliberate deliberations

Friday night’s Round 20 WCE-Geelong game was remarkable for the glut of decisions penalising players for putting the ball out of bounds deliberately.

 

This rule has always been a bone of contention, relying as it does on the umpire’s ability to discern the player’s intent.

 

15.6 Free kicks — relating to out of bounds
15.6.1 When awarded
A free kick shall be awarded against a player who:
(c)  intentionally kicks, handballs or forces the football over the boundary line without the football being touched by another player;

 

So, the problem here is the umpire’s divination of intent. And the problem on Friday night related to some new, parallel universe version of intent that appeared mysteriously without regular precedent.

 

AussieRulesBlog is currently on leave, enjoying balmy sunshine in the Aussie Rules virtual media blackout that is south-east Queensland, so we’ve only seen snippets of the Suns and Lions games since the Friday night debacle. The mysterious interpretations of deliberate out of bounds don’t appear to have escaped the rabbit-proof fence as far as we can discern.

 

We have long championed the notion that the interpretation of the laws of the game should be the same in the first minute of pre-season as in the last minute of the Grand Final. Now, let’s add an extra demand: interpretations should be the same in every State in which the game is played.

 

Release The Giesch!