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Barracking is an essential part of the football fan experience.
Yelling all kinds of things from the stands, or the couch, especially ‘ball!’ is one of the many things that make our game so fun to enjoy.
Barracking doesn’t have to just consist of cheering on your own team, and there’s nothing like getting stuck into the opposition when the opportunity presents itself.
While fans often chastise Joel Selwood for being ‘soft’, many also quietly appreciate his wizardry with the ball in hand.
Where many take great pleasure in seeing Lance Franklin drop a mark or miss a shot at goal, many of those same people can’t help but applaud his ludicrous goals from well beyond 50m.
But while booing the umpires when decisions don’t go your way is just part and parcel of the AFL experience, an alarming number of fans continue this antagonism well after the final siren.
Right now, football fans have a problem with respecting umpires and recent events have shown it’s getting out of hand.
It was only three weeks ago everyone wanted Lindsay Thomas’ head for his incessant ducking, dropping of the knees and shrugging of the shoulders to win free kicks.
I wrote at the time that the laws of the game dictate the onus is on the tackler to counteract this by going lower.
And just three weeks later, the fans had come full circle. After an obvious high tackle on Thomas by Grant Birchall went uncalled, fans were outraged at the apparently biased treatment Lindsay had received from the umpires.
But North Melbourne coach Brad Scott added barrels of fuel to the fire after the game with an explosive but completely unfounded allegation that an umpire had told one of his players that they don’t pay high free kicks to Thomas because ‘he’s a ducker’.
Scott issued an unreserved apology in very quick fashion, and while many had already dismissed his allegations, many more on social media condemned the umpires for their supposedly unprofessional behaviour.
This disrespect came to an ugly head on Sunday afternoon, after umpire Matthew Nicholls, who also officiated in the North Melbourne v Hawthorn game, reported Mark Jamar of Essendon for umpire abuse.
Many media outlets labelled Nicholls as being ‘embroiled’ in the Lindsay Thomas ‘scandal’, and fan reaction to the report was almost universally negative.
One heavily-liked Facebook comment read:
“Matthew Nichols [sic] needs a bigger bake than the one Jamar gave him. Grow a set, stop being a quince and realise that you’re not bigger than the game. You’re a disgrace of an umpire and a w–ker on top of that.”
How is that called for?
While I’m not accusing him of doing so, what if Jamar had made derogatory remarks about Nicholls or, indirectly, his family?
It’s impossible to tell what Jamar said from the footage, so given nobody can accurately tell if what Jamar said was in fact not worth a report, why are fans so keen to spit vitriol about umpires with no reasonable basis for doing so?
To put last week’s umpiring performances into perspective, here are some interesting player statistics from last week.
More than one in four of Patrick Dangerfield’s disposals on Saturday Night were ineffective, Max Gawn lost 23 ruck contests on Sunday afternoon, and Lance Franklin has missed 39 per cent of the shots for goal he’s taken this season.
So naturally fans were pillorying those players all week, labelling them a disgrace to football and praying for the day they’re delisted?
No?
Of course not.
I may not have access to the great umpiring database, but I can tell you with certainty that Matthew Nicholls did not have more than one in four decisions incorrect over the weekend. ‘Razor’ Ray Chamberlain did not miss 23 free kicks on Saturday night, and there is no umpire in AFL history with an error rate of 39 per cent over a season.
Umpires strive for perfection, and as much as fans want them to get everything right, they want it even more. It’s natural for us to expect perfection from officiating’s elite, but is the way we react when this unattainable target is missed really fair?
Is making up baseless accusations about their integrity and then calling them ‘w–kers’ when they dare report verbal abuse directed at them really necessary?
No, it isn’t.
Footy fans will never stop yelling ‘ball!’ or booing when decisions don’t go their way. And they should never have to stop. It’s part of the game.
But before you cross the line and start attacking the integrity and personality of our umpires out of the misguided frustration that they cost your team the game, have a good look at the mistakes your team made.
It’s almost always more than the men in green.