are all umpires incompetent...

[bayman]

i was at elizabeth today & while there was the odd mistake by 'getting conned' i thought the umpiring was pretty good, although the poor old boundary umpire who did a throw in next to the point post was caught about 80 metres away from the ball with 2 quick kicks & the 2nd kick went out on the full & being that far behind called it for another throw in, can't blame him though as he isn't usain bolt

[eddie eagle]

I don't often claim that umpiring costs a team a game, but today was a case where it basically did.

what an ab-so-lute load of crap.

Your inept club simply had to win today to make the finals.
On you own (or port powers) deck, in front by 2 goals at half time. Insipid after.

If you truly thought that the tackle on lewis was not too high then you must have had your view obscured by all the teal inside the bowling clubroom. Where I stood right in front of the bowling clubroom it is a free every day of the week.

Warms the heart that the ethelton magpies missed the finals, again, and squealing like stuck pigs about the umpires.

That goes to show why you guys will continue to finish 6th at best

[MightyEagles]

I've seen a lot of carp umpiring in the juniors over the years with umpires who are too whistle happy and pay frees that weren't there.

[Mickyj]

I don't often claim that umpiring costs a team a game, but today was a case where it basically did.

what an ab-so-lute load of crap.

Your inept club simply had to win today to make the finals.
On you own (or port powers) deck, in front by 2 goals at half time. Insipid after.

If you truly thought that the tackle on lewis was not too high then you must have had your view obscured by all the teal inside the bowling clubroom. Where I stood right in front of the bowling clubroom it is a free every day of the week.

Warms the heart that the ethelton magpies missed the finals, again, and squealing like stuck pigs about the umpires.

That goes to show why you guys will continue to finish 6th at best

Well said Eddie

[Reddeer]

I don't often claim that umpiring costs a team a game, but today was a case where it basically did.

Oh thats sooo sad. Such bad luck

[SDK]

No one should be permitted to umpire a game they have never played.
They have no idea of the spirit of the game and continually ruin a good day out at the football. 90% of my sore throat after a game is due to umpiring .... weak liitle pricks too scared to play the game. Just protect the ball player and forget everything else ! Stop pranacing around like skinny gutted little wankers.
The game is about players NOT you blokes so stfu and blow the whistle as a last resort and let men play like men.

[cargo_art]

I wasn't at alberton but i saw highlights and i saw Lewis get a free kick for too high in front of goal which resulted in a goal int he last quarter. looked like an excellent tackle by the port player to me....absolute shit decision and that was the only 30 seconds of the game i saw.

Yep, and about 30 seconds prior Summerton was man in front when he took the ball overhead only for some egles clown to reach over his shoulder and also grab the ball. Whistle blows, and then the cheating white magoot who mut have ben on the eagles payroll paid it to the Hybrid.

The Summerton incident was in our forward line, the Lewis one was in theirs... the margin at the time was 6 pts.

I don't often claim that umpiring costs a team a game, but today was a case where it basically did.

it's rare but it happens ... the 96 prelim comes straight to mind..and im not referring to the final decision. and that was a final..

the eagles seem to get a good run with the umps (from the games i ahve seen them play in this year)

Probably time to move on from the 1996 prelim I fancy....

[cargo_art]

I don't often claim that umpiring costs a team a game, but today was a case where it basically did.

what an ab-so-lute load of crap.

Your inept club simply had to win today to make the finals.
On you own (or port powers) deck, in front by 2 goals at half time. Insipid after.

If you truly thought that the tackle on lewis was not too high then you must have had your view obscured by all the teal inside the bowling clubroom. Where I stood right in front of the bowling clubroom it is a free every day of the week.

Warms the heart that the ethelton magpies missed the finals, again, and squealing like stuck pigs about the umpires.

That goes to show why you guys will continue to finish 6th at best

edited

[nwdfanparade]

No one should be permitted to umpire a game they have never played.They have no idea of the spirit of the game and continually ruin a good day out at the football. 90% of my sore throat after a game is due to umpiring .... weak liitle pricks too scared to play the game. Just protect the ball player and forget everything else ! Stop pranacing around like skinny gutted little wankers.
The game is about players NOT you blokes so stfu and blow the whistle as a last resort and let men play like men.

By the same arguement, no-one should be permitted to criticize an umpire unless they have umpired themselves.

Umpires and weather. Many complain but few do anything about it.
Mark Twain.

[SDK]

Well I have umpired. That is what makes me say what I did.
To turn up to umpires training to see 12 year old kids running around with no idea what it is like to actually play the game is criminal.
Look at some of the really good umpires ...... former players who understood the game and spoke to the players like men not children ... umpired with their voice as much if not more than the whistle.

Des Foster
Ken Cunningham
Mark Coombe
Robin Bennet
Peter Mead
Name an umpire today who is a former player ?

[Doddy]

I think the real trouble is that the game has got so fast (yes, not just AFL, even SANFL), so the umpires need to be incredibly fit to do the job. And anyone who HAS played the game and is still that fit is probably STILL PLAYING the game.

Then from this pool of super-fit blokes, you need to be able to bounce the ball, with something like a 75% or better success rate. Have you tried to bounce a footy? It's tough, and nigh impossible to get right that often.

So now we have a small pool of super-fit, bounce-capable blokes, and we want them to be able to process a bunch of tough calls really quickly (eg. was the player retarded by the tackle, was it a legal tackle, did the ball carrier have prior opportunity to dispose, was any disposal legal, was the ball pinned, if so was he attempting to dispose if the ball, had he dived on the ball, etc. etc.).

It's amazing we find many that can do it at all, and I think the real problem is that the pool is just too shallow in Adelaide - there aren't ENOUGH blokes that are good at all of this simply because of our small city. Occasionally you get a bad umpire, I've shouted at lots of them myself, but I struggle to see how we can solve it without simplifying the rules (and the punters hate it when you mess with the rules), and by getting rid of the bounce (which the punters love). Both of these actions would give us better access to fit blokes who could keep up, and also be able to make better decisions quickly.

But we might not like the game it leaves us.

In particular I think we should shut up about any cheating, it's REALLY unlikely anyone is cheating. They often get it wrong, it seems not good enough, but I doubt there are many blokes queueing up to replace them.

[Big Phil]

Name an umpire today who is a former player ?

Richard Williams and Tony Dey played underage SANFL football for West and Port respectively, I think?

[holden78]

YES

[CK]

Last year, I interviewed Shane Harris in Sportsbeat and raised the issue of the lack of former players turning their hand to umpiring.

He correctly pointed out that, after many years of training many days a week, over long seasons/pre-seasons, and the body taking countless hits over that time, the last thing many ex-players then want to do, is start a new "football career" entirely from scratch, particularly if they retire at, say 29 or 30.

One thing that may be worth considering, in that respect, is to actively target that 20-23 year old age group of players who have spent time in the Under 18 system, then played Reserves and the occasional league game, but are not likely to progress to being a league regular or to the AFL. These players could then have plenty of time on their side to build the training necessary to become a long term umpiring prospect, and also, more importantly, have a very recent "feel" from playing the game at a reasonable level.

Jordan Bannister, former Essendon and Carlton player, is a good example of how this can work. About to turn 29, he moved into umpiring after his retirement at 26 and is now umpiring in the VFL.

[SDK]

Top post CK.
Also players who have chosen another sport like cricket or baseball over footy.

[whatever]

yeh all well and good, i dont know how much umpires get for a game but these guys can basically get $800 a game playing country football rather than turning their noses at playing, after all it is a great game to play

[bayman]

what amazes me with umpiring (as is happening in tonights afl match) that the umpiring tends to let the play go a lot more than in the minor round (which is the way too umpire imho)

[Jetters]

I am a player as well an Umpire's Coach in a local junior league and have spent a little bit of time in the SANFL umpiring ranks. In my opinion the number 1 issue football fans have with umpires is that they have no feel for the game and because most have only played a limited amount of football umpires can not put themselves in the situation of the players.

The best umpires are players, however you can not do both. If you choose to umpire in th SANFL ranks you can not play; 1) because they don't want you to get injured, 2) (and more significantly) there is obviously a clash of times.

The number 1 trait of an umpire desired by the SANFL is by far and away the ability to run. It frustrated me enourmously when I was out at the SANFL and now as an Umps Coach that a feel for the game is considered of such low value.

I am chosing to play over umpire, even though I am a much better ump than player (well I like to think so), but until footballers are attracted to umpire rather than play (only through $$$) football will always be stuck with umpires with no feel for the game. Also, the SANFL need to switch their approach and look for good decision makers with a feel for the game and teach them to run, rather than the other way round.

In umpires' defence, 99% of supporters can not distance themselves from their personal bias (but thats just sport) and do not themselves understand the rules properly and do not keep up to date with rule changes; the holding the ball rule is the obvious example.