Former Hawthorn head coach Peter Schwab has been dumped as head of the AFL umpiring department after less than a year in the position.
New AFL general manager of football operations Steve Hocking announced on Tuesday that Schwab had finished up in his role.
“Whilst I have enjoyed my year being the national head of umpiring and I thank the AFL for the opportunity, I have come to realise my passion and skill set lie more with football than they do with umpiring,” Schwab said in a statement.
Hocking will now undertake a wide-ranging review of the development and coaching program for umpires.
“Attracting and supporting umpires at every level of our game remains a considerable challenge, and building increased capacity in our umpiring department is a critical task for me as the new GM Football,” Hocking said.
Schwab replaced Wayne Campbell as the AFL umpires boss in December 2016 after the latter was appointed general manager of football at Greater Western Sydney.
Schwab, 57, coached Hawthorn for five years from 2000-04, having previously played 171 games for the Hawks.
Cat
Roar Guru
There is no chance of it remaining. It's only a matter of time. The bounce has already been scrapped at lower levels. Won't be any up and coming umpires with the skill in a couple of years. You want some randomness at the centre toss up, umpires don't have to throw it up at the maximum height they can every time. There only need to be an instruction to vary it to add back in some randomness.
Stephen
Guest
Its tradition versus evolution Cat. And the game lives within that tension constantly. Those of my generation perhaps tend to often lean toward tradition - but certainly not always. I think the bounce adds a rare uniqueness to our game. It was interesting to hear former ruckman - Jeff White and Corey McKernan describe how the bounce added an 'art over science' dimension. They would both observe the umpires practice their individual bounces pre-game as a gauge for height etc. Around the ground stoppages is okay for no bounce. I only hope the centre bounce remains. I'm not confident.
Cat
Roar Guru
Should have been out years ago. It's too inconsistent. Nearly impossible to do as the game progresses and the centre square gets churned up. Other than 'it's always been done' what does it actually add to the game? Nothing.
Stephen
Guest
Managing a bunch of precious primadonna's - would be a delicate and thankless task. Now it appears the centre bounce is on the way out - for health & safety reasons. What next?
Paul
Guest
Should never had got the job Perception was poor when given it His father shouldn't have been umpiring the hawks first flag That's another story Fall far from the tree nup Funny how when the hawks couldn't get 4 flags like the machine , there all gone from afl Lol
Birdman
Guest
a little like the Gaudry exit recently - who initiated the departure is unclear but I doubt Schwabby walked away from a 2 year contracted unless heavily incentivised to do so.
Hungry Jack
Guest
Was he really 'dumped'? Or did he resign? Very unclear from what is stated here.