Supporters of every team think they are hard done by. It's the nature of the interpretation system of the rules of our game. So many grey areas mean that one set of supporters will see it one way, another set the opposite.
While I agree that we have been on the receiving end of some absolute shockers, I’m sure all clubs can say the same. Weaker teams that lose often are generally worse off when it comes to umpiring. Some Blitzers have suggested this is due to the umpires subconsciously deciding that the better teams will have better skills and therefore get the benefit of the doubt on some occasions. I tend to agree that is more probable that some sort of conspiracy theory against any particular team.
I do however, think that umpires square the ledger in the second half or close to the end of quarters. It’s fairly common for a team to be 20-10 up in free kicks only to finish 25-20 by the end of the match. Usually the ledger is squared after the game is out of reach and the frees seem to be paid in positions that will least affect the outcome of the match. I watch a bit of footy (less than in previous years) but this seems to be a common tend among all teams, not just EFC. It hurts more when its us because of the emotion involved but generally I do not believe we are on the receiving end of some umpire driven vendetta.
Umpires are using the Daytona 500 method. If you crashed in the game you always seemed to catch up even if you were doing the same speed as the guy in front.
Get rid of rules that need to be interpreted. It should be black and white what is allowed and what isn’t allowed.
Have one or two umpires max. If you have four umpires you have four people who could interpret one rule four different ways. Thus leading to frustrating frees.
Feel free to actually compile and report and study each game. I for one would like to see your results (we all know it’s bad, but by how much) and you can have my signature.
You can’t write reports to a dictatorship and expect it will make any difference.
I think one way to hold the umpires and the AFL to account is if someone is able to produce a weekly show where they dispassionately and objectively show just how bad it is for ALL teams. It would have to be a really slick production with a really good presenter and state of the art graphics.
Obviously the AFL would never let such a show go to air so it’s something that would have to be on YouTube.
If it’s done well I think there would be a decent audience for such content. Everyone is completely disillusioned with the umpires. I know I’d watch it.
Feel free to actually compile and report and study each game. I for one would like to see your results (we all know it's bad, but by how much) and you can have my signature.
Good to hear! At this stage it is a work in progress but gaining legs slowly.
As far as a hashtag goes that is another thing to decide on.
Very much open to suggestions on that!
My two bobs worth is to say that any assessment of suspected umpire bias would need to be statistically based, and , preferably cover all teams and all matches, and over several years. If there is a bias against Essendon, in any one year, compared to that years average, or several years average, for aspect being analysed, this would stand out. Thus if the maggots tend to even up the free kick count towards the end of qtrs or games , this should be statistically verifiable, similarly for favouring home teams, or teams higher on the ladder, or maybe, in front at that time. There may well be sound game based reasons for some outcomes, eg, team in front, has better skills etc, but the point about bias, is that such reasons won’t, of themselves explain the anomoly.If you had access to a spreadsheet of time in game free kick given, teams relative scores, relative position on the ladder, home or away, I reckon you’d come up with some statistically interesting findings, and perhaps evidence that Essendon has been getting a bad run with the maggots in 2016.
I have stats friend who was involved in a court case involving alleged referee bias in a major rival football code in Australia, he helped the defence win, but he reckoned , if he’d been on the other side, he could have proven that the bias was there.
Any statistical analysis you can do should make for interesting reading.
Of course the other variant to measure would be which maggot paid the free. Individual umpire bias against specific teams should be statistically verifiable if it occurs. One could imagine , if you had the data , a weekly YouTube segment outlining the examples of bias from the previous round, and what to expect in the next week, it would do the AWFLs head in(if it had one).
Of course the other variant to measure would be which maggot paid the free. Individual umpire bias against specific teams should be statistically verifiable if it occurs. One could imagine , if you had the data , a weekly YouTube segment outlining the examples of bias from the previous round, and what to expect in the next week, it would do the AWFLs head in(if it had one).
Now that would be gold. Imagine recorded evidence of dudes disdainfully calling exactly what happens the following week. We all do it to degrees in the match thread, but to call out specific umps, teams, players would be hilarious.
If you had the skills, the best weapon is a humour based video splicing similar scenarios with different results.
Eg, put the 14 tummy taps in a video followed by Zaharakis one, add a cool hashtag, and even if the AFL don’t notice you’d have plenty of followers and a bunch of new troll friends.
People need to remember that umpires are human. They have feelings and will make mistakes, just like the rest of us. One poor decision does not change the result of the game, no matter how much people in this place believe that it does.
I can understand that people get frustrated when an umpire pays a free kick which makes little sense and is obviously not a free kick and then the umpire boss comes out and says that it was the correct decision, which is sort of annoying because there was nothing wrong with the tackle, but is the umpire really to blame, well yes, because any ■■■■■■■ idiot that has watched a game of footy would know that it was a perfectly acceptable tackle and the fact that these ■■■■■■■ idiots get paid to do a job, but can’t can’t tell the ■■■■■■■ difference between a fair tackle and a dangerous tackle really ■■■■■■ me the ■■■■ off…I don’t want to harp on this because they are human and they make mistakes…who the ■■■■ am I kidding, these ■■■■■■■ morons shouldn’t be allowed to umpire…no, should not be allowed to set foot on a footy ground, as they are a ■■■■■■■ embarrassment who are put on this earth do do nothing more than ■■■■ with the minds of supporters of this great club.
Look you wouldn’t get anywhere with it, but it would be a very interesting read. Especially across all teams with all umpires. I’d be keen to look into it.
My proposal.
Get rid of specific boundary umpires.
Train all umpires to take the field or do the boundary. Allow the ones doing the boundary to make limited calls, eg deliberate oob, incorrect disposal (where vision for the field umpire may be obstructed), reports.
Two field umps per game.
Four running the boundary.
Being the boundary ump is a bit like getting a run in the twos. You make mistakes, you run the boundary next week.
Incentive to improve, incentive to perform.
Won’t happen, I know, but 3 field umpires isn’t as bad as 4.