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.
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.
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.
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.
Kevin
Guest
Because most never played the game, have little or no understanding of ther game, are subjected to a patched up rules system open to interpretation and finally there is simply all but three umpires are Victorian based
Lyndon gray
Guest
Best money can bye I'll never bet on a game again after this weekend rr a plain biast cheat
Davo
Guest
Because they wear their pants too high? Some people have suggested that rugby refs command more respect, but in rugby it's actually fear rather than respect. There is more subjectivity in rugby officiating and bad decisions have a far greater impact on the result of the game. So savvy rugby players learn to actively suck up to refs. This should not be mistaken for additional respect.
Bobbo7
Guest
You should read the rugby forums. Little respect there, with one exception being the ABs v SA last year, which was a great game with many congratulating the ref.
Peter Baudinette
Roar Guru
When you are at the game, sitting between 10-160m from the action at any given time, it is amazing how we all become experts. Everyone goes nuts when a free isn't paid, or is paid, and then we all go nuts again when we see a replay on the big screen. At home in the arm chair, the same thing happens. There are 36 players running around, on an oval with a back drop of thousands of colourful screaming faces. There is noise, there is rain, there is wind, there is blinding sunlight. We see what we see, thanks to cameras. No amount of camera work offers an umpire the same vision. Even the best vantage point near the fence, is still a different view to what the umpire sees looking back at you. Break something down. Do umpires know the rules? To suggest they don't is pretty bold. Do they know how to interpret the rules? Perhaps here is a grey area. Do they interpret the rules to the best of their ability under the conditions they work in? I would suggest unless you have played or umpired at AFL level, you couldn't answer that question. I certainly can't. With the speed of which the game is played, I would suggest a lot of it comes down to the umpires positioning, as to whether he interprets what just happened the way we saw it on TV. All three of them can be out of position, or in fact be in position, but the play can change direction, and all of a sudden they miss what we see. So who are we to judge them? In fact who are we to even question a dubious free kick or one that was missed unless we saw it from a camera placed on top of the umpires head? Even then, it wouldn't track where his eyes are looking. We are a fickle bunch. I wouldn't want to do their job. I respect them for that.
mattyb
Guest
I remember being at a game once and the goal umpires were in the centre square warming up before the game.how did they warm up?by signalling make believe goals and points into thin air.it took me years to have any respect for goal umpires again,it was just ridiculous.
mattyb
Guest
Totally agree Pete.for me the nick name thing is way over the top.calling players simply by their number Wil suffice and is a lot more professional.
chris
Guest
If I'm not mistaken, freo had the worst free kick differential during the home and away... So them losing the free kick count is not concerning.... I have a theory about Aussie rules... And umpire abuse, and it echoes the thoughts of another roar commenter above, namely that afl fans are the most parochial of any fans, most supporters ive known (this is entirely subjective..but don't discount it) care only about their team... And they have a lot of animosity towards all other teams, hence the umpire is always wrong if there is ANY doubt at all... Hence during every game those same supporters always feel robbed. I feel it... I know its not wrong but i cant stop .. Even as i watched the swans lose 26 games in a row over the space of two seasons i still yelled abuse at the umpires during every home game.. that's the phenomena i believe at work here... The why is interesting ... But i have another theory .. i believe it is rooted in the same reason that afl will always be the number 1 football code and statistically gets bigger every year 800000+ members a 43k average ... The top team with 80k+ those numbers are enormous and are only rivaled by specific football teams in europe and the nfl... Which have something in common with the afl... That is history... Something that no amount of money can buy, real culture in this world of artificial culture... More and more humanity is yearning for something that is real... Each week half of the teams that run out in the afl have existed for 100+ years, it has generated a culture of "patriotic" support that is at the heart of the one eyed nature of your average afl supporter... A one eyed nature that has children growing up we all learn. I for one love it... Afl supporters care.. freekicks do influence the results therefore afl supporters have genuine emotions about that... That's what makes it the greatest game on earth, i will never stop supporting the swannies no matter what happens they are one of the the few real things i know of in my life.. Childhood to now. i love this game and if the afl was smart they would stop changing anything at all about it or risk destroying that fundamental nature. swans for the 2014 premiership! and ps to the umpires, you get 100k+ per year to do a part time job that keeps you fit and healthy... Harden up.. Continue the disrespect... Embrace the history of the greatest game on earth...
Jezza
Guest
Since the three umpires they hardly get noticed compared to one umpire in the old days but one rule I would like to see changed is twenty meters for a mark
Ian Montgomery
Roar Pro
People are too quick to blame others for their own short comings. It's much easier to blame the umpires for a teams inconsistency then point the finger at bad coaching or players who won't put in. Umpires for the most part are doing a decent job and the ongoing scrutiny is affecting numbers at grass roots levels. All fans, players and coaches should be made to umpire at least one match per season of junior/grass roots level footy to highlight how difficult a job it is. Might bring some improved perspective on the job they do. Is good to see the point made on umpires making fewer mistakes than players. Forwards miss at least 1 in 4 or 1 in 3 shots at goal yet an umpire makes one or two mistakes in a match and is blamed for the result,
conchie
Roar Rookie
1) ......Historically umpires have always been disrespected, would it be drawing a long bow to suggest that it is a Australian tradition to disrespect authority. 2) .......There are plenty of rules that can be interpreted a wide range of ways, in one sense this makes the game exciting but also frustrating a strength and a weakness.
Blah
Guest
Biased Victorian umpiring that gets covered up week after week. I didn't genuinely think umpires cheated really until this year. You would always think that when you turned up to the MCG with a hostile crowd, the umpires would just buckle under the pressure when you got a poor run. Alternatively when you're a port supporter and about 20 people turn up to home games it is easy to write off a lack of favouritism to them not being under pressure. But this year, consistently the theme has been, if you play a Non-Victorian club you get an okay game, if you play a rubbish (aka Melbourne) Victorian club, you probably get an okay game. But if you play a top 8 or popular Victorian club there is a good chance you will get robbed. These are things that can't be written off as a bad night, or an aberration, or a week to week change in the rules. They simply happen too often, and are inconsistent in the same game. I actually respect umpires in every code other than AFL, as bad decisions generally even themselves out. They just don't in the AFL, and the media let them get away with it. It doesn't matter that Schultz and Lobbe carried a player on their backs all night against Essendon because hey look Monfries didn't get pinged for holding the ball with 2mins to go. Hey Adelaide got lucky with 'siren gate' not withstanding that the most blatant in the back was not paid about 30 seconds earlier. Hey Melbourne were robbed against Port Adelaide for a front on hit to the face by Watts, not withstanding about 3 of their first 5 goals were from rubbish free kicks. The question that I would ask is, what sport would allow every field umpire come from the same place? What would we think if all cricket matches were umpired by poms?
c
Guest
it is not the umpires fault it is the nature of the game, that is why they keep "modifying" the rules
AR
Guest
That's right Rick. The article isn't about "which sport has the perfect referees"...it's about the culture of respect that is afforded to officials from various sports. Rugby has long led the way on this front, and Australian footy lags.
Momentbymoment
Guest
The biggest shock for me when switching to AFL was the conspiracy theories. Feels like the American Tea Party at times.
Momentbymoment
Guest
I think the laws have something to do with it. There are so many 'technical' frees that annoy the hell out of everyone. A stiff arm to the head and an accidental arm over the shoulder are two very different things. If the same laws were at play in rugby there would be a hundred frees a game.
Paul D
Roar Guru
"These days the first thing you worry about is will the officials give your team a fair go or not and what impact that will have on the game." I call BS, you really go to the game and that's the thing that's most playing on your mind and the minds of those around you? Games are never decided because of one umpiring mistake that everyone notices. They're decided by the numerous mistakes & less than optimal errors of judgment players make every single week that no-one notices.
stevedeanski
Roar Pro
You don't seem to want to take my poin but that's fine I'll give it one more shot... I recommend that you take your own advice and go back and watch some old games because it is most over the top now compared to back then. Yes, all we want is a correct decision and they have a tough job with the subjectivity of the rules - this is my point - if the correct decision is all the umpire has to think about then I put to you that the correct decision will be easier to make if they don't have to worry about their coached mannerisms. I think umpires would get a lot more support if they stop carrying on in this way - we are not there to watch the umpires so why make a spectacle of them? I never even notice football (soccer) or Rugby Union referees (until, indeed, they make a crap call).
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
You learn from a very young in Rugby that refs say is final, not only is any backchat almost immediately penalised with yardage, but it is also frowned upon within most teams. This is so ingrained and so consistent, it holds even when the ref is a complete fool.
HarryHP
Guest
Rightio, so when they pay a free kick, what action should they use to signify whether it was holding the ball, the man, push in the back etc?) Its not a recent development - watch a game from the 70's and notice the goal umpires parading around and then get back to me. All we want is a correct decision (which is hard enough to get 100% right due to all the different rule interpretations). They can flap their arms and try to fly like a bird for all I care - just police the rules of the game. Maybe if people supported and encouraged the umpires just a little bit more we'd get more of them coming through the junior ranks which would be a benefit to everyone.