over inflated balls

[yandb]

i rang up wlf yerterday to ask derrick humphry-smith who is in charge of the inflation of the game day footballs. he said that the umpires trainer was responsible to ensure that the balls were correctly inflated. i have umpired football in the country matches where the ball supplied was over inflated and the players could not kick the ball properly and the game was terrible skill wise. both captains requested a ball change so a new ball was sent out and the skills improved streight away. i have also seen some umpires over inflate the game ball to improve the bounce with no concern for the affect it has on the skills of the game .

afl umpires are very consious that they are always being judged on the height of their bounces, the easiest way to improve your bounce is to over inflate the ball and it goes up a mile. i belive that one of the problems this season is because some game balls are getting over inflated and the players are struggling to kick properly because the balls are so hard

in the essendon/ richmond game both teams kicked a total of 1 goal 17points in the second 1/4. and in other games teams have struggled to hit targets and kick goals. during an interview on sat before the game a current player being interviewed commented that some of the balls were hard, this adds more evidence to the possibility of balls being over inflated.

we all love a highly skilled game of football and i hope that the umpires are not putting the bounce of the ball ahead of the skills of the game

 

[JPM]

Interesting point, but with the amount of balls rotated through a game with the new kick in rule I wouldn't have thought that this would be an issue. I doubt very much that someone would over inflate all 6 balls used in the rotation after a behind is kicked, but you just never know!

 

[yandb]

sorry fellow posters i have posted this on the wrong page it should have been under dyer tribe. rosy if you read this could you please transfer it over to dyer tribe.

 

[kb7882]

I believe struggletown is the expert on this problem ;D

 

[Phar Ace]

When I saw the heading I thought it was about Claw's posting habits again....sorry ;D

 

[JPM]

I believe struggletown is the expert on this problem ;D

He now has the situation in hand :hihi

 

[Phar Ace]

I believe struggletown is the expert on this problem   ;D

He now has the situation in hand  :hihi

But was hoping to get a breast of it..............

 

[RoyceHart]

Interesting point, but with the amount of balls rotated through a game with the new kick in rule I wouldn't have thought that this would be an issue. I doubt very much that someone would over inflate all 6 balls used in the rotation after a behind is kicked, but you just never know!

I noticed that Joel Bowden swapped balls with the attendant behind the goals before a kick in on the weekend so maybe this is something that the players are taking notice of.

 

[Phar Ace]

Interesting point, but with the amount of balls rotated through a game with the new kick in rule I wouldn't have thought that this would be an issue. I doubt very much that someone would over inflate all 6 balls used in the rotation after a behind is kicked, but you just never know!

I noticed that Joel Bowden swapped balls with the attendant behind the goals before a kick in on the weekend so maybe this is something that the players are taking notice of.

An overinflated Sherrin does tend to balloon (become rounded) and thus more difficult to kick accurately, whereas a Ross Faulkner tends to keep its correct shape better no matter the inflation. Sherrin is the favoured ball however, so I can imagine there are issues.

 

[scarecrow]

This was brought up by someone, possibly BT, on 9's sunday telecast. He mentioned that with the amount of balls being used per game, most were very firm and new, and ultimtaely wasted, and it became quite confusing as players would be used to a ball in the past and stick with it for large parts of the game, but now it is changing after each behind