“Arms out, that’s 50,” says the umpire to Harris Andrews.
And certainly without realising in the moment, as he back pedals quickly down the field, sets off what is going to be one of the most difficult bombs to defuse that has now landed in the AFL’s lap that they’ve had for some time.
This issue, about how players are allowed to interact with umpires, and why this is suddenly an issue, intersects with a huge amount of red lines on all sides of the debate.
And it’s going to be quite difficult now for the AFL to get themselves out of this any time in a hurry without either the urgent cooperation and good will from the players or some sort of embarrassing climbdown from the AFL.
Depending on when and how it happens, that could be a minor stain or a rip right through the fabric of the game.
But otherwise, now that it’s been started, I don’t see how the AFL has any other option but to see this one out and back their umpires in.
Arms out is 50, that’s now where we are at. Maybe this isn’t an issue after all – maybe the players go away this week and retrain their brains and it never happens again for the rest of the season. They’re professionals, right?
I don’t think it will happen though. Umpires being human will make mistakes and a player caught up in the moment in the trip of a game going down to the wire and he’s right out in the middle of it will scream in desperation and frustration, for certain.
Will they pay it to decide a game? I’d think they’d have to.
(Photo by Steve Bell/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)
I look back in 2017 when the umps paid the Luke Shuey free kick against Port and there were enough players with their arms out for him to march them into the Karrawirra-parri. It’s going to happen again.
So what do the AFL do now? Let’s assume they don’t back down on this. The onus then lies on the players as professionals to behave themselves or the umpires will keep blowing the whistle.
This is where the AFL, if it is not already, needs to be doing everything it can to get them on side with what this new reality is and they need to do it as quickly as they can.
Because what the AFL doesn’t realise or acknowledge much of the time is that while it’s true the actions on an AFL field can and do have a positive influence, that pendulum sure as hell swings both ways, and it’s swinging back hard right now into negative territory off the field.
Pundits on TV, news articles, memes, jokes, fan sites, socials – everyone, everywhere is piling into the umpires. And the more often it happens, when a player is marched 50 for dissent, the more people are going to scream and howl.
A big part of the problem is the 50-metre penalty – the ‘one size fits all’ solution to a discretion on an AFL field. It can be at different times an insufficient, ideal, ridiculous, severe, fair or pointless penalty for the incident that it’s for.
If I was the AFL and I was looking for a way out of this, I’d quickly introduce something more surreptitious and individual for dissent that didn’t have the visibility of a 50-metre penalty for the crowd or the impact on the team, such as a five-minute sin bin where the player has to go to the bench and be substituted and can’t return to the field, but no 50-metre penalty.
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Team structure is less of a convenient scapegoat for spectators. But while players keep throwing their arms out and it keeps being 50, this issue is going to become uglier and uglier.
We haven’t even got to why we’re in this mess. It’s because the AFL recently realised that one of the things affecting the overall health of the game in Australia is a shortage of umps at grassroots level: some 6000, to be precise.
Some would argue it’s more – former umpire Darren Goldspink certainly thought so when asked his opinion by The Age.
“I’ve been involved at the grassroots level the last ten years, I haven’t been the last couple of years, but umpiring is bleeding in the suburbs and that number of 6000 is grossly under exaggerated from what I’ve seen.”
But regardless of what the number actually is, there’s a big shortage of umpires. Lots of umpires are getting on in years and are doing multiple games in a row. Not many people are putting their hand up to umpire at grassroots level.
You know why? Because a lot of people at that level who attend those games think it is actually perfectly okay to yell at them and throw their arms out at the umpires.
It would seem the art of complaining about the decision to the umpire has made it a long established cultural tradition in the annals of sport in this country, from the reactions this weekend, for better or worse, and it would seem the AFL has once again got ahead of its target market in launching this new initiative.
So now we have a situation where an initiative designed to improve support for umpires at grassroots level has resulted in support for umpires at elite levels plummeting, while presumably support for grassroots umpiring remains unchanged at this point.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
It strikes me the AFL isn’t prepared at all for how much vitriol this is going to set off. Hence my suggestion above for either a far less visible penalty that affects the player in question, not the team as a whole, or some kind of deal with the players involving a reward as a collective for minimising incidents throughout a season.
Something, anything, so we don’t see players getting marched down the field 50 metres for dissent in key moments for showing frustration.
I personally back in the umpires on this. Umpiring is a thankless task and anyone who criticises them doesn’t know anything about how hard it is.
My issue is chiefly with the penalty they have on hand to use. It’s the wrong tool for the job – but if the AFL is going to see this out, they have got to police the line on this for years and years.
They will have to stick this one out and cop all the brickbats every time this happens and either is or is not called. Because I assure you now, “arms out, that’s 50” or some variation of that has already firmly lodged in the nation’s collective AFL consciousness after this week.
As for how to fix the problem off the field, that’s beyond the AFL’s ability to achieve, no matter how well the players treat the officials, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to see zero dissent on the TV screens.
The AFL’s ability to influence the attitudes of ordinary people watching or playing footy at suburban ovals is limited and issues where the umpire is mistreated or abused stems a lot more from people’s inherent cynicism of authority (a problem that’s only going to get worse in future) rather than anything the AFL has said or done.
Against that pleasant backdrop, I do wish the AFL all the best. It’s going to be an interesting and perhaps a bit traumatic season.
Again, so much now is going to depend on the players, and their coaches, and the will and the ability of the AFL to encourage them through whatever means as professionals to change habits of a lifetime to quickly get the umpires out of the headlines, which is the one place above all else they never should be.
bernie
Guest
What is the story for abuse say 20 metres away from an incident and you know which team said it - do they let that slide so it then becomes open season for abuse from afar.
Nick
Roar Guru
No it isn't Don't break the rules and you have nothing to fear. People who complain about the severity of punishments generally tend to come from people incapable of getting a handle on their emotions and intuitions properly. Don't wave your arms. Easy.
Angela
Roar Rookie
Good point. It will be interesting to see what happens. Hopefully, it may adjust before players' morales are sorely tested, which will affect the game negatively. It also seems to me that there are way too many free kicks overall. I haven't been watching AFL for that long (16 years) and have never played so don't really know but is the free kick rate rising? Another negative if it is (in my humble opinion). Other footie codes aren't based on 'free' kicks for good reason.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Until your team loses a prelim over a 50 because someone accidentally went through a space,bor put their arms out. The rules aren't the problem, the severity of the punishment is the problem
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
You're 100% correct, it's the penalty that's the issue, a 50m penalty from anywhere outside the back 50 is almost a goal, it's the biggest penalty that I can think of for minor indiscretions in world sport and it plain old just sucks. I'd get rid of the 50, make it a 25, or yeah bench time. It's only a matter of time now that umpires will regularly decide major games, Ganesh forbid an Elim, prelim or GF. It's too easy to manipulate games with such a huge penalty as well, some crooked bookie gets into an umps ear, not that hard to imagine when they aren't a professional unit. Who's to say that's not already happening or has happened, I've seen some doozies over the years, but gee, giving out a 50m penalty certainly seems a great way to swing a result the way you want it. The game in general is so changed to what it was 10 years ago, the 50m penalty, once rarely used is being called multiple times every game now, if I was a crooked bookie, just saying.
Angela
Roar Rookie
Being a courteous witch I've never liked the booing that goes on at AFL matches when the opposition is kicking a goal, at players who've changed clubs or at umpiring decisions and, until recently, have never indulged. I even clap when the opposition scores a clever goal. Nevertheless, my good manners were sorely tested at the last match at the SCG (against North Melbourne) re the arms out dissent/abuse rule free kicks, which seemed to be skewed against Sydney. To my horror by the end of the match I found myself booing loudly at the umpire along with everyone else. Swans fans are not as demonstrative as many - indeed are almost genteel compared to some - but the anger that day at the umpiring had the SCG rocking. So I do hope we get some consistency and that the players can adjust to bottling up their emotions (rather than throwing out their arms) otherwise umpire abuse by players will be replaced by umpire abuse by fans which, as we've seen in the case of Adam Goodes, can get very ugly.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
You gotta be joking. $10k a week for half the year in one of the world's richest comps, and copping 100% abuse from minute one to the last minute of the season. Lets face it, its a sadists job, and anyone who does it needs maximum protection.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
More likely who could cop the gross abuse. It seems you've never ventured to an AFL game. Enlighten yourself and attend.
Bludger
Guest
Quite right sir. The time with Gill going for a revolution down at AFL House is ripe.
Goalsonly
Roar Rookie
it was a long time.... maybe it was more of a who you know in those days...
Jim Prideaux
Roar Rookie
Having played a fair bit of rugby I’d say it’s been relaxed a lot. Still, it’s mostly respectful, although some of the coaching scrum halves do is borderline. The problem is, the Hawthorn example was respectful, and to the non officiating umpire. No swearing, no getting exasperated. It’s the kind of thing that gets asked plenty of times during a rugby game and is rightfully allowed.
Maxy
Roar Rookie
Yeah.Its a combative sport,played with courage and alot of adrenalin .I remember rolling up on saturdays at about the start of the B grade game before playing,watch a half all relaxed and having a laugh then the coach would call us in to have our pregame chat and get ready,the nerves start to kick in.Once we left the rooms and crossed that white line the adrenlin kicks in . You could imagine what AFL players feel like, they run out in front of 50-000 to 100,000 people millions of people watch liveon tv or at the game,very hard to contain emotions in an enviroment like that.2 fold come finals time
Matt
Guest
My query is the apparent dissent when players are appealing the non decisions, like holding the ball, deliberate out of bounds etc, not quite sure why these actions are not penalised ? The new rule is fine if applied to serious dissent, e.g verbal abuse or demonstrative actions but not simply exasperation at a poor decision and raising your arms. What do these umpires do if the make a mistake at their fulltime employment ?
Virgil
Roar Rookie
Only the captain is supposed to speak to a referee but that law is sometimes relaxed. Dissent is never tolerated.
Roger of Sydney
Roar Rookie
So we want players with passion and to win the hard ball , but we want you to smile when you have won the hard ball and got ripped off by a poor decision. Big difference in showing disapproval and showing disrespect. So you want to remove the ability to question authority in a respectful way, that’s dangerous
Knackaz
Roar Rookie
If they stopped paying 10 or less metres for a mark, instead of the required 15, and actually paid holding the ball and in the back, that would be a massive improvement ...
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
The AFL seems to forgotten that this isn’t about AFL players; it’s about local footy. Bringing ridiculous rules like this into the AFL do not make umpiring easier in local footy, it actually makes it harder as it just increases frustration. The only way the AFL can actually improve this situation is to loosen their control over the rules; simplify the rules, get rid of the grey areas, be less pedantic. Of course, the AFL won’t do that so this problem will only get worse.
Nick
Roar Guru
Well, read books and learn a bit about behavioural modification.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
I'd say your mates is telling porky pies. Maybe he wasn't good enough. Lots of state school educated AFL umpires.
dab
Roar Rookie
Predicting how humans will behave in the future? A brave move sir!