The Roar
The Roar

AFL
Advertisement

Why are AFL umpires so disrespected by fans?

Roar Rookie
7th September, 2014
Advertisement
The AFL needs more rules, about the rules. (Photo: Andrew White/AFL Media)
Roar Rookie
7th September, 2014
45
1881 Reads

No sporting umpires get as much criticism as those in the AFL. Talkback radio shows are often flooded with criticism for their decisions during a game.

‘My team was robbed. That player gets more free kicks than any other player in the AFL. That bloke could not buy a free kick. That decision during the last quarter cost us the game. The umpires just want to be the centre of attention.’

Yet in reality a lot of this blame is often unwarranted. If you attend a live match as a neutral supporter and watch passionate fans in the crowd bad mouth umpiring decisions, you can often take pleasure in sitting back and chuckling at their irrationality.

If you were to compare everyone on the field by their ratio of mistakes to correct decisions, the umpires would emerge with a better scorecard than many of the players. Especially when you consider the amount of times they blow the whistle around the ground outside of awarding free kicks.

Yet a survey conducted at the beginning of the AFL season found that umpires believed they were respected by just one in four fans. Even during May, some fans booed AFL umpire Troy Pannell when he was stretchered from the ground after what was a sickening clash with Swans player Nick Malceski.

So where does this disrespect stem from?

The structural, unpredictable and ever-changing nature of our national game makes it perhaps harder to officiate than any sport on the planet. Nearly every week in the AFL, there is a coach or player who comes out and questions the consistency of umpiring decisions and highlights the contentious nature of the rules.

However, take a moment to think about how the AFL umpiring body has in fact been forced to introduce these new rules because of the changes to the way the game is played and coached.

Advertisement

For example, the onset of flooding in the late 1990s, where you can have up to 36 players with in one 50-metre arc, drastically increased congestion. The sheer number of tackles has made it harder for an umpire to see a contest.

Ultimately, the umpiring body was forced to look how players disposed of the ball when tackled more frequently and needed to introduce the often-hazy ‘prior opportunity’ rule to ensure the game flowed.

Since turning professional, players have become stronger, faster and fitter. This has increased the severity of injuries and clashes between bodies and rule changes have ensued to ensure the overall safety of players.

The game has developed so quickly that since 2009 there have been 16 changes to the laws of the game, probably more alterations than any other professional sport. Yet fans fail to understand how difficult adapting to such changes must be for umpires and are abused for their lack of consistency and knowledge of the rules.

How can this culture of disrespect be addressed?

When looking to other sports, the manner in which rugby players refer to the referee as ‘sir’ has always fascinated me. Being identified as a sir demands respect. In addition, if there are any questions or qualms regarding a decision made against an opposition team, they speak only to the captain during a stoppage in play. In these ways there is an aura of respect that revolves around the decisions rugby officials make.

However, it is hardly plausible that only an AFL captain be able to speak to the umpire given the pace of the game and how it is structured. The non-linear nature of our national game is part of what makes such a fantastic spectacle.

Advertisement

When telling new AFL fans or converts that there is no such thing as a sin bin or yellow card, some wonder how players can be disciplined during a game. These discipline instruments are designed to minimise risk and ultimately keep players safe. In ice hockey power plays have become an intrinsic and exciting aspect of the game.

Will there ever be room in the game of AFL for yellow or red cards, or a sin bin as seen in country or junior footy? Would this increase respect for AFL umpires by the way of control and discipline?

While an anomaly, when Reece Conca from the Richmond Tigers chased down Devon Smith to elbow him in the back of the head, perhaps that warranted 10 or 15 minutes off the ground. Maybe, Brian Lake should have been sent off after choking Drew Petrie earlier this season.

However, if such measures were introduced in the AFL it would create further stoppages and certain unique characteristics of our game such as the bump could be phased out even further.

You only have to listen to the discontent and boos from the crowd when the recently introduced score review system stops a game for a short period. The introduction of such mechanisms would only infuriate fans further.

Perhaps it is time that AFL umpiring becomes a full-time job. This could fix issues associated with consistency and quicken their adaptation to changes in the rules and gameplay. In addition, it would give umpires the opportunity for extended post-match analysis as well as in-depth consultation with club officials.

Yet if the game continues to develop and rules change at the rate they are, it is hard to know if a day will ever come when AFL umpires are given the amount of respect they really deserve from fans.

Advertisement

Further change is not needed. What is required is regularity from year to year. Otherwise umpires will only continue to be those ‘little green maggots’ that run around among the players.

close