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Two things in sport always seem to be brought up in relation to umpires. Good teams beat bad umpires, and if your team loses it was likely the umpire’s fault. And sporting bodies wonder why they are having issues getting people to volunteer to do this?
In a previous article, I wrote in defence of referees.
I didn’t watch the Waratahs-Highlanders semi-final, but the distinct impression I got was that it wasn’t the fact the Highlanders scored more points, but that the governing body and the referee had already decided the result.
Going back to my opening line, good teams find a way to beat bad umpires. The game is 80 minutes long, and even if the ref does have a bias against a team, there should be enough chances so that one or two calls don’t matter.
I will reel around again back to personal experience, as an umpire in field hockey. We have two umpires per game, and normally we are generally club appointed (exception first and second grade).
These umpires are normally volunteers, and in some instances are players that have been handed a whistle and sent on their way. The standard of umpiring can range from really well to outright why are you even out here? We can do this without you.
But as I always instruct my players when I am captaining them, while they have the whistle they are in charge. You may not like them but you need to respect them.
Respect being key, as I have had many a player come up in my face and dispute my calls when I am umpiring. I have been coached now (as part of getting Level 1 Certification) that if players do, then just politely send them away and say you will only speak to one (normally the captain) and do it nicely.
If they don’t want to play nicely, send them off. One thing that will get you sent off really fast – don’t accuse an umpire of cheating or blatant bias. If a player does that to me, I not only get offended at the idea but I will send them off, possibly a straight red and a tribunal visit. But it will also be in my head for the rest of the game and make me doubt some decisions.
The reason I bring up the respect is that at professional level, especially noticing it at AFL and NRL level, a lot of players, not just captains, are getting in the umpire or referee’s face and telling them why they are wrong.
They say various other things that are just outright out of order to say to a match official. The problem with this is that in AFL the maximum penalty for it is maybe a 50-metre penalty, which is rarely used. In league, perhaps a report and a send-off, but that seems to have gone by the wayside unless you’re a Bulldogs player.
My point, you do not have to like the ref and don’t have to agree with his decisions. But you do need to respect them as both match officials and as humans. They will make mistakes, they are human after all, and the media is ready to pounce on them if they do.
But how many mistakes does a front rower make in a game of league, or the midfielder in AFL. Do we march every football goalkeeper out to face the media every time they don’t keep a clean sheet? No, because sometimes players have a bad game, or sometimes there is a moment’s lapse.
The other point is a challenge for the average keyboard warrior to go run on on a treadmill while watching POV footage from a referee and make all the decisions correctly. It’s not that easy to do when you have to try and get in a position where you can see, while also running a few kilometres and make the decision in a split second.
Then do the same exercise on the couch, with five ‘expert’ commentators providing audio and the host broadcaster giving you multiple replays from different angles. I would be very interested to see how the decisions change between the two.
So what do you think, Roarers? Do I need to get off my high horse of defending the whistle blowers? Or do we, the collective sporting community need to respect our match officials a little bit more.
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