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Terry on Sport927
- Thread starter Rosy
- Start date
the claw said:
Completely disagree, most of the rule changes have been brought in to COMBAT the coaches attempts to gain an advantage to the detriment of the viewing spectacle. The coaches are constantly looking for an angle to find an advantage, which of course is their job, but often it can turn our beautiful game ugly with flooding, tagging, etc. all making the game less attractive for the spectator.
So the rules commitee make a new rule, like "you are not allowed to jump on the ball when it is on the ground without moving it on immediately" (excuse my interpretation). Straight away the matches with 30 odd ball ups every quarter disappear and the game begins to flow again. The small minded supporter, who hasn't got the brain space to see the improvement in the game, sees one application of the rule like in the St Kilda v Essendon match and suddenly the calls for the good old days begin again.
Well I for one think the game has never looked better! If I want to watch a bit of biffo I turn on the K1 or get a pay per view boxing match. If I want to watch some old dinosuars waddling around a mud pit, trying to handle a 5 kilo waterlogged sherrin, and thinking they're tuff because they run into each other at about the speed i wheel my shopping trolley, the I check out some old DVDs of footy in the 70s.
In fact when i was growing up in the 60s I genuinely thought the football players were playing kick to kick like we did in the back yard because the players so rarely hit targets and the ball came straight back at them so often.
The footy we watch now is so much faster, more skilled, and TOUGHER than it has ever been before. You only have to check out the spectacular marks taken by often second string players, in the pre season comp, that would have won mark of the year hands down most years in the 70s.
You can keep your old style footy, I have no real respect for the thugs that used to belt blokes behind the play or turn the match into a brawl at the drop of a hat. Give me the Foleys, who will gut run until they throw up, the thursfields, who will run backwards into a pack with a 100 kilo ball of muscle in fraser gehrig bearing down on him. These are the athletes I would like to watch.
linuscambridge said:
Interesting you quote Foley - He keeps getting pinged for holding the ball simply because he gets it before anyone else and they collapse on him and call a cab. I want umpires to actually umpire and not meekly follow directives from equally insipid superiors. Dive on the ball with no intent to move it on - holding the ball no problems. Push in the back (not incidental contact pursuant to a marking contest) - free kick no worries.
Getting a free paid against you simply because you outplay your opponent - ridiculous!!!
Having spent a bit of time around umpires who were trying to get into the AFL umpiring ranks a few years ago, unfortunately I came away feeling the game was in trouble :-[. I got the impression (warning this is an opinion based on feelings not a fact based upon rigorous scientific methods) that they really felt like the custodians of the Rules of Play - St Andrews style - rather than the necessary adjudicators whose functions was to step in only when things got bogged down.
It felt like they umpired with the notion that Footy was THEIR game and they LET the players play, but only by their rules
olice:. They imposed themselves on the game and spoke to the players in, an often, condescending manner. If you've heard the umpies when they are miked up you know what I'm talking about, if someone spoke to you like that you'd snot him fair dinkum. 
But back to the thread.......I reckon Richo's hanbdballs have improved out-of-sight and that he generally tries to centre the ball when kicking in to the forward line from up the ground. I don't mind him further up. I like Joel out of the backline, so long as it doesn't weaken us - is that possible? :hihi
It felt like they umpired with the notion that Footy was THEIR game and they LET the players play, but only by their rules
olice:. They imposed themselves on the game and spoke to the players in, an often, condescending manner. If you've heard the umpies when they are miked up you know what I'm talking about, if someone spoke to you like that you'd snot him fair dinkum. But back to the thread.......I reckon Richo's hanbdballs have improved out-of-sight and that he generally tries to centre the ball when kicking in to the forward line from up the ground. I don't mind him further up. I like Joel out of the backline, so long as it doesn't weaken us - is that possible? :hihi
KnightersRevenge said:It felt like they umpired with the notion that Footy was THEIR game and they LET the players play, but only by their rules
Well thats certainly the way umpires like Goldspink and Razor Ray appear to umpire.