Umpire farce - Getting worse by the minute!

[Quickdraw]

Mate of mine called me earlier today and opened the conversation with "Gee your blokes got a rough go the other night".

I advised him that we are so used to the constant reaming that it barely hurts now.

My enjoyment in AFL has waned so much that I'm genuinely close to not bothering to watch any games, including Richmond.

 

[BrisTiger24]

So I got a response from the club -

"Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us and share your concerns regarding recent events involving our players and the inconsistencies in umpiring decisions. We appreciate your loyalty as a proud member of our club, and we understand your frustration.

We want to assure you that we share your concerns and have been actively engaging with the league and its officials regarding these issues. While we empathize with your disappointment, it is important to note that umpiring decisions are ultimately out of our control as a club. The AFL strives to maintain a fair and consistent system, but we acknowledge that mistakes and perceived biases can occur.

We understand your desire for transparency and accountability from the league and its rule makers. We have been vocal about our concerns and have sought clarification on various decisions. However, it is a complex process, and change takes time. We are actively working behind the scenes to address these issues, but unfortunately, there is not much more we can do in terms of immediate action.

We genuinely appreciate your ongoing support and loyalty as a member of our club. Your passion for the Tigers is important to us, and we want you to know that your voice is heard. While we cannot guarantee the outcome of every match or control external factors, we remain committed to striving for success on and off the field.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We value your feedback and will continue to do our best to represent the interests of our members and supporters.

Thank you once again for your understanding and unwavering support."


and my reply -

"Thanks for your prompt reply.

This has been going on for long enough and needs to stop. There are no perceived biases, make no mistake - it's as clear as the reason the AFL and Hocking brought in the stand rule. I understand it's out of the clubs control and you have asked for clarification in the background, however all you'll get from the AFL is lip service - nothing surer.

What I and many supporters are asking is the club leaders call out the obvious bias publicly in press conferences and in the general media. This needs to get traction so people see what's going on. I'm confident the majority of the membership base will help the club out with any fines they were to sanction us with. There is no way a club like Collingwood would tolerate and play nice if they were treated like this.

We've had enough."

Thanks Harry and your response is spot on.

It's great that the club has diplomatically raised concerns with the AFL on this. But diplomacy is not working. It's time to up the ante and go nuclear if we need to. Cop the fines but publicly name and shame the umpiring for what it is and those specific umpires that are perennial offenders.

 

[tigersnake]

Watched a bit of the West Coast Giants Game, the incompetence was next level. Watched a Q and a bit, a succession of confused 'what happened then?" and WTH do we do now?" moments. Ump, Goal ump, boundary ump conferences, commentators were ridiculing and laughing at the whole fiasco.

Apart from the bias against us issue, I reckon it all seems very shoddy so far this season in general, the basics. Goal umpiring, boundary umpiring, blood rule, setting and policing the mark, incredibly has gotten worse. General umpire confusion is up.

 

[Brodders17]

You being rhetorical Brodders?

I'm not sure rhetorical is quite what I am being!

 

[CarnTheTiges]

Thanks Harry and your response is spot on.

It's great that the club has diplomatically raised concerns with the AFL on this. But diplomacy is not working. It's time to up the ante and go nuclear if we need to. Cop the fines but publicly name and shame the umpiring for what it is and those specific umpires that are perennial offenders.

You don’t have to publicly name or shame the umpiring, that’s counter productive, but the club can be vocal about it without risking fines. They tell Harry that they’re speaking with the umpiring department, but if he hadn’t written in no one would have known about. They can make some noise and be very public that they’re disappointed with the officiating and that they are lodging a formal complaint, and keep doing it until they get a response. Refuse to do any media until the issue is brought up. That’ll get their attention quick bloody smart.

 

[Brodders17]

Good job. Be nice to know if the club has done any work to prove if there is any bias or would like to crowd source it out to passionate fans who want to watch and clip hours of video.

It is quite hard to prove. We get the occasional dodgy free, and get away with a throw or 2, maybe the odd high tackle. So do our opponents. Just their occasional dodgy frees are a bit more occasional than ours as are the throws and high tackles they get away with.

 

[bigwow]

You don’t have to publicly name or shame the umpiring, that’s counter productive, but the club can be vocal about it without risking fines. They tell Harry that they’re speaking with the umpiring department, but if he hadn’t written in no one would have known about. They can make some noise and be very public that they’re disappointed with the officiating and that they are lodging a formal complaint, and keep doing it until they get a response. Refuse to do any media until the issue is brought up. That’ll get their attention quick bloody smart.

The AFL would just fine the club, take away draft picks for non compliance with requirements to do mandatory media.
They would love the chance to take away draft access, in a year we've stockpiled a few decent picks.
The AFL makes the IOC and FIFA look like the Girl Guides.

 

[CarnTheTiges]

The AFL would just fine the club, take away draft picks for non compliance with requirements to do mandatory media.
They would love the chance to take away draft access, in a year we've stockpiled a few decent picks.
The AFL makes the IOC and FIFA look like the Girl Guides.

They probably would, but we can’t just let this keep happening. I don’t know how, but some really loud noises in the media need to be made about it.

 

[YeOldeTiger]

I'm not going to bother watching it again, but didn't Bolton place the ball on his palm to let the Port player grab it, but for the sake of it, the Port player just ran away from Bolton intentionally bumping his hand so the ball could drop off causing the 50?

Like you I'm past caring going back and watching it again but Bolton gives away a lot of 50s as does Pickett and Nank. I think the umps have a few of our players papers stamped. They never seem to get free kicks their way despite having their heads pulled off sometimes and they only have to be in the area or lay a finger on an oppo and it's a free. Richmond are definitely adjudicated differently by any measure, the stats bear that out.

 

[Brodders17]

You don’t have to publicly name or shame the umpiring, that’s counter productive, but the club can be vocal about it without risking fines. They tell Harry that they’re speaking with the umpiring department, but if he hadn’t written in no one would have known about. They can make some noise and be very public that they’re disappointed with the officiating and that they are lodging a formal complaint, and keep doing it until they get a response. Refuse to do any media until the issue is brought up. That’ll get their attention quick bloody smart.

Maybe rather than not doing media, we could subtly mention instances in press conferences.
Yze could start by running through any injuries-
Mansell received a heavy knock after taking a mark- he got a 50 I think, what he didn't? Anyway. We think he is ok.
Pickett is div a delayed concussion test from that high tackle he got a free for early- what, no free? Anyway, hopefully that is clear.
Treziseis a bit sore in the ribs and neck area, from the tackle he applied when his opponent tried to fend him off, and when that was unsuccessful headlocked him. Fortunately there was a ball up so James could get his breath back. If he had of been paid holding the ball or to high, he would not had that chance to rest.

I reckon that tactic could get us through about 10mins. Then he can say times up and leave. After he praises our opponents, and their amazingly quick hands- some of their handballs almost look like throws- and their ability to never push us in the back, or tackle high, or show insufficient intent, or creep over the mark etc.

 

[WesternTiger]

I'm not sure rhetorical is quite what I am being!

Ok. But the cannoning into Mansell's back after he took a mark in the third term didnt result in a 50...

 

[YeOldeTiger]

Mate of mine called me earlier today and opened the conversation with "Gee your blokes got a rough go the other night".

I advised him that we are so used to the constant reaming that it barely hurts now.

My enjoyment in AFL has waned so much that I'm genuinely close to not bothering to watch any games, including Richmond.

Same. I find it hard to watch when you don't think you're getting a fair go.

 

[CarnTheTiges]

Maybe rather than not doing media, we could subtly mention instances in press conferences.
Yze could start by running through any injuries-
Mansell received a heavy knock after taking a mark- he got a 50 I think, what he didn't? Anyway. We think he is ok.
Pickett is div a delayed concussion test from that high tackle he got a free for early- what, no free? Anyway, hopefully that is clear.
Treziseis a bit sore in the ribs and neck area, from the tackle he applied when his opponent tried to fend him off, and when that was unsuccessful headlocked him. Fortunately there was a ball up so James could get his breath back. If he had of been paid holding the ball or to high, he would not had that chance to rest.

I reckon that tactic could get us through about 10mins. Then he can say times up and leave. After he praises our opponents, and their amazingly quick hands- some of their handballs almost look like throws- and their ability to never push us in the back, or tackle high, or show insufficient intent, or creep over the mark etc.

He’d more than likely get a please explain. The umpires are above criticism. However I’d like to see them try something like this. It may get people talking. I notice no one’s had a go about that campaigner Papley’s comments about Wright getting a holiday. Yeah, fair enough Tom, he will and he deserves it, but players used to get warned and fined for stuff like that. You can bet if it was one of ours they’d be ringing up the cash register.

 

[RoarEmotion]

Watched a bit of the West Coast Giants Game, the incompetence was next level. Watched a Q and a bit, a succession of confused 'what happened then?" and WTH do we do now?" moments. Ump, Goal ump, boundary ump conferences, commentators were ridiculing and laughing at the whole fiasco.

Apart from the bias against us issue, I reckon it all seems very shoddy so far this season in general, the basics. Goal umpiring, boundary umpiring, blood rule, setting and policing the mark, incredibly has gotten worse. General umpire confusion is up.

Natural outcome of adding an umpire.

The AFL commission would do well to read this book.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Subtract-Untapped-Science-Leidy-Klotz/dp/1250249864

Would have got far better outcomes going back to 1 or 2 umpires. Consistency improves massively. Quality improves massively. Accountability improves massively - nowhere to hide. Pay double and get the best. Up the video stuff for behind the play shenanigans and biffo is all you would need to do.

 

[YeOldeTiger]

Watched a bit of the West Coast Giants Game, the incompetence was next level. Watched a Q and a bit, a succession of confused 'what happened then?" and WTH do we do now?" moments. Ump, Goal ump, boundary ump conferences, commentators were ridiculing and laughing at the whole fiasco.

Apart from the bias against us issue, I reckon it all seems very shoddy so far this season in general, the basics. Goal umpiring, boundary umpiring, blood rule, setting and policing the mark, incredibly has gotten worse. General umpire confusion is up.

Exactly. It used to be two teams playing each other. Now there's a third team. It's clear they love the attention whilst very few of them appear to have actually played the game and lack any understanding of the game. The amount of times they're hoodwinked into giving free kicks because a player dived or ducked or shrugged and faked it I'd appalling.

It's made the game almost unwatchable.

When you add in the ridiculous rule changes (how anyone thinks they have made the game a better spectacle is just a dumb joke) and the so called changes to protect the head (there seem to be more collision incidents causing knockouts, now seemingly a weekly occurrence) the game has been altered radically for the worse.

Keep it simple. Pay only the OBVIOUS free kicks that actually infringe on a players ability to fairly possess the ball. Two players holding onto each other is play on ! For some reason the finals are adjudicated differently each year and everyone agrees how great it is, let the game flow unless their is an obvious to everyone free kick.

Pay free kicks against players staging - do that for two weeks and it will rub it out of the game once and for all.

Nominating ruckman is positively ridiculous and schoolkid stuff. The third man up was a skill and actually opened the game up !

Finally get rid of the ridiculous stand rule. More schoolkid stuff. The greatest blight on the game seen in the last 25 years.

The AFL has fallen into the trap of allowing or encouraging the game to be over officiated (by semi professional umpires no less !) On top of that they don't allow any criticisms of the umpiring so everyone feels gagged and more and more annoyed. It's immature and frankly pathetic. These are supposed to be grown men and women.

Leave the game alone. Keep your grubby fingers off it. Let it flow. Let the players play. Please !

 

[eZyT]

So I got a response from the club -

"Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us and share your concerns regarding recent events involving our players and the inconsistencies in umpiring decisions. We appreciate your loyalty as a proud member of our club, and we understand your frustration.

We want to assure you that we share your concerns and have been actively engaging with the league and its officials regarding these issues. While we empathize with your disappointment, it is important to note that umpiring decisions are ultimately out of our control as a club. The AFL strives to maintain a fair and consistent system, but we acknowledge that mistakes and perceived biases can occur.

We understand your desire for transparency and accountability from the league and its rule makers. We have been vocal about our concerns and have sought clarification on various decisions. However, it is a complex process, and change takes time. We are actively working behind the scenes to address these issues, but unfortunately, there is not much more we can do in terms of immediate action.

We genuinely appreciate your ongoing support and loyalty as a member of our club. Your passion for the Tigers is important to us, and we want you to know that your voice is heard. While we cannot guarantee the outcome of every match or control external factors, we remain committed to striving for success on and off the field.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We value your feedback and will continue to do our best to represent the interests of our members and supporters.

Thank you once again for your understanding and unwavering support."


and my reply -

"Thanks for your prompt reply.

This has been going on for long enough and needs to stop. There are no perceived biases, make no mistake - it's as clear as the reason the AFL and Hocking brought in the stand rule. I understand it's out of the clubs control and you have asked for clarification in the background, however all you'll get from the AFL is lip service - nothing surer.

What I and many supporters are asking is the club leaders call out the obvious bias publicly in press conferences and in the general media. This needs to get traction so people see what's going on. I'm confident the majority of the membership base will help the club out with any fines they were to sanction us with. There is no way a club like Collingwood would tolerate and play nice if they were treated like this.

We've had enough."

really good sign that you got a reply.

I fired off a few to RFC, Peggy and the AFL through the dynasty and never ever got anything back. nothing. ever.

I was a bit pissed off at Peggy because she included her email address in the membership pack and said 'my email box is always open'

but we were winning flags, so I didn't really care.

 

[larabee]

would have thought that a 13-23 free kick tally, at home, against an interstate team, would be a bit of an outlier?

Nup. just another day at the office for our never-get-it-wrong umps

Home Games - Free Kick Differential - 2017-2023

Team	# Games	Frees For	Frees Against	Differential
Adelaide	79​	1661​	1387​	274​
Collingwood	81​	1587​	1342​	245​
Western Bulldogs	75​	1499​	1254​	245​
West Coast	80​	1551​	1360​	191​
Carlton	75​	1541​	1391​	150​
Port Adelaide	82​	1613​	1486​	127​
St Kilda	76​	1425​	1300​	125​
Fremantle	78​	1499​	1375​	124​
Brisbane	84​	1660​	1543​	117​
Geelong	84​	1673​	1561​	112​
North Melbourne	74​	1497​	1390​	107​
Essendon	75​	1415​	1318​	97​
Melbourne	82​	1584​	1489​	95​
Sydney	77​	1520​	1490​	30​
Hawthorn	74​	1294​	1273​	21​
Gold Coast	76​	1447​	1445​	2​
Greater Western Sydney	77​	1446​	1471​	-25​
Richmond	82​	1445​	1644​	-199​

 

[artball]

far out..

the table above should be sent to the appropriate authorities

 

[seven]

They want us brought down a peg we were too successful for AFL liking
2024 is the year the AFL is desperate for either a Queensland or NSW team to win

I think during one of the pre season training sessions with the umpires on rule interpretations for season. Big Neil Balme ripped the umpires a new one in front of everyone.
Since then we’ve been on the receiving end of many dodgy calls by the umpires.

 

[rioli82]

Having a disgruntled ex-employee Dan Richardson as the head of umpiring doesn’t help.