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Attending an AFL match at Patersons Stadium as a supporter of a visiting team is an intimidating experience. When either the Dockers or Eagles steal momentum from your team, you feel helpless.
The home supporters stand up in unison, like a menacing tidal wave, making plenty of noise. Your barracking from the outer becomes invalid as you’re drowned out by the army of passionate fans.
Supporters aren’t the only visitors who become overwhelmed by the aptly title ‘House of Pain’.
Players with little interstate experience become intimidated by the thunderous attendance and make uncharacteristic turnovers, leaving the Eagles or Dockers to feast on the carcass.
But have you ever thought about the umpires? Are they influenced by the Subiaco faithful?
You have to be thick-skinned to be an AFL umpire, but you have to skin like steal to umpire at Patersons Stadium. When umpires pay a questionable decision against the Dockers or Eagles during a match in Perth, they are crucified by biased fans, even if the free kick was there.
Subiaco isn’t the only exception. It’s the same when the two South Australian teams play matches at AAMI Stadium and when Collingwood hosts a match at the MCG.
If you’re an umpire, pay a free kick at your own peril.
So how much influence does a passionate home crowd have on umpires at venues like Patersons Stadium? At the fear of copping a hammering from the crowd, do they favour the home team when there’s a lineball decision to be made?
Last weekend, West Coast defeated Essendon in two important statistics: the scoreboard (134-77) and the free kick count (25-17).
It was the fifth time in nine games the Eagles had won the free kick count at Patersons Stadium. Fremantle has had an even more successful run with the umpires this season, winning the free kick count in seven of its nine home matches.
There were a couple of dubious decisions that fell the Eagles’ way.
Late in the second term, Ashton Hams clearly threw the ball to a teammate, but the umpire said play on. In the third quarter, Josh Kennedy unknowingly ran out of bounds with the footy inside forward 50, but the boundary umpire didn’t blow his whistle in front of the Eagles’ members, despite having a clear view of the incident from a few metres away.
Former St Kilda coach Stan Alves watched the game and went as far as saying there’s a systemic umpiring bias towards the Eagles and Dockers in Western Australian games.
‘They [umpires] can say what they like, but they are influenced by the crowd. They were so lopsided and the decisions that went West Coast’s way in that game infuriated me,’ Alves told ABC Radio on Sunday.
‘There is no doubt that when that crowd gets going [the umpires are swayed]. I’m a bit biased here because it takes me back to when I coached. It fair dinkum got into your head over there [in Perth] that if you didn’t get a good start … the umpires just go with the flow and it’s worth four or five goals to them.’
While Alves’ claim seems a tad farfetched, the stats do suggest both the Eagles and the Dockers have had a good run with the umpires in recent times.
In 2011, West Coast has won 20 more frees than it has conceded (195-174) from nine games, while the Dockers have won 52 more frees (207-155) from their nine games. Barring the derby matches, the two Western Australian teams have won 72 more free kicks than their opponents (402-330). From the 18 games played at Subiaco, the home teams have won the free kick count 12 times, lost it on five occasions and drawn it once.
While not blatantly admitting it, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick believed the umpires may have been influenced by the Perth crowd during the Tigers’ loss to the Eagles in Round 20.
’You’ve got to give credit to the West Coast crowd,’ he said. ‘They make a big noise at certain stages of the game and there’s no doubt the influence they have over the people out there is significant.’
But were Hardwick and Alves’ comments an overreaction? Were they making silly generalisations?
When the Eagles played the Bombers in Round 7 earlier this season at Etihad Stadium, the free kick count was 35 to 20 – in West Coast’s favour. In fact the Eagles have won an extra 27 free kicks (192-165) in matches away from home this season.
West Coast has had a dominant midfield in 2011, hence why it’s received more free kicks than it’s conceded (439-374). Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui have given their midfielders first use of the footy, meaning the likes of Daniel Kerr, Scott Selwood and Matt Priddis have been been taken high or pushed in the back more often than not.
We mustn’t forget the Eagles have an array of dominant tall forwards, led by Josh Kennedy, Quinten Lynch and Jack Darling. All three men take great overhead marks and have received pinpoint delivery from the midfield this season. Therefore defenders have been more likely to give away free kicks for chopping their opponents’ arms or illegally grabbing the jumper.
Or perhaps vocal crowds only have an influence over specific types of frees.
Holding the ball and deliberate out of bounds are two decisions that take time to interpret. The more time it takes for an umpire to finalise his decision, the more time the crowd gets to voice their opinion. Whereas rules such as a push in the back or a high tackle are sudden incidents, therefore the umpire can’t be influenced by a decision.
So what’s your take? Are umpires influenced by partisan home crowds? Or have the Eagles earned all those free kicks?
At the end of the day, if a free kick is there, it needs to be paid, irrespective of the total count during a game.
Irrespective of the home crowd.
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