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The Collingwood cheer squad berate the boundary umpire during the AFL Round 15 match between the Geelong Cats and Colingwood Magpies at the MCG. Slattery Images
The AFL’s umpiring department claim they made just 6 mistakes from 10,000 scoring shots last year, yet in the sport’s showcase event, the Grand Final, there was a glaring error for Tom Hawkins’ 2nd quarter ‘goal’. It begs the question does the AFL need video replays?
You often hear people say, “this or that could one day cost a team a Grand Final!”
Well, last Saturday, Geelong forward Hawkins quickly snapped a goal which gave the Cats a handy lead in the second term of the 2009 Grand Final. The thing was replays showed the goal was actually a point, as the ball had brushed the post on its way through.
In the grand scheme of things, Hawkins’ goal probably didn’t cost St Kilda the Grand Final, but it was influential on the flow of the game.
And as it would happen, the karma gods seemed to even things out with St Kilda’s double-goal just before the half-time siren after Darren Milburn spent too long debating with the goal umpire, whether or not he’d touched Justin Koschitzke’s soccered six-pointer.
In hindsight, video replays would’ve cleared up both problems. Hawkins’ poster would’ve been found out and Milburn wouldn’t have needed to argue so much, as he could’ve simply appealed for a video replay, which I doubt he would have because he clearly didn’t touch the ball.
Nevertheless, it would have resolved an ugly incident which saw Milburn punished way too harshly for the crime he committed. There’s no doubt nobody wants to see these nonsense double-goals in Grand Finals.
So with all that in mind, why not employ video replays for AFL matches, especially the important finals games?
Indeed, the use of technology is something the AFL has considered in the past.
A similar incident to Hawkins’ ‘goal’ occurred in Round 2 of this year, when Brisbane’s Jonathon Brown had a shot which seemed to brush the post against Carlton awarded as a six-pointer by the goal umpire.
After the game and after some pressure from the angry Blues (who incidentally won the game anyway), AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said, “We are always open to looking at any technological advances that may assist umpires in their role or create greater interest for our fans.
“At the moment you can see in tennis how Hawk-Eye can adapt to that. We remain open-minded to any technological enhancements that are put forward.”
But that’s just the problem for the introduction of technology. There simply hasn’t been an ideal proposal put forward for its use in AFL.
The argument is video replays would interrupt the game and slow it down. And as the Brown incident showed too, the video replays don’t always come up with a solution.
As well, there’s the question of how it would work? Indeed, in the heat of the battle Hawkins’ goal seemed a goal. The goal umpire didn’t seem to have much hesitation in whipping out the twin fingers.
So if the goal umpire had little doubt, who decides to call for a video replay? The opposition, the field umpires, Hawkins?
It’s all a bit confusing but the problem is these situations do happen, albeit rarely.
A North Melbourne-Sydney clash in April 2008 ended up a draw after Brett Kirk was denied a late match-winning goal by a dubious decision where the goal umpire claimed the ball was touched on the line. Replays showed it was touched behind the line.
So, despite the umpiring department claiming these errors are rare, which they are, they do occur and they can be crucial. Sure, the goal umpires are human like the players and coaches, so they make mistakes. But when there’s a more accurate alternative, why not use it?
Again, it’s all about finding an ideal system whereby technology doesn’t interrupt the game and that’s a difficult problem to find a solution for.
So if technology isn’t on the cards just yet, perhaps the AFL should seriously look into employing two more goal umpires to improve the accuracy of decisions.
A goal umpire on each post would have avoided the situation with Hawkins’ goal. And as that situation shows, a quick switch of play or interception can catch the goal umpire out.
Incredibly in the past, the idea of introducing two more goal umpires has been baulked at by the AFL and clubs due to cost.
So with costs and the rarity of the event in mind, perhaps simply employing 4 goal umpires during the finals, when the stakes are high, would be an apt solution.
After all, one day a goal umpiring mistake could cost a team a Grand Final and we’d hate to see that happen.
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