Polo Mark That Wasn't

[Plugger35]

Easy to be diplomatic when your club constantly gets the rub of the green in both fixturing and umpiring.

I'm not whinging either, just stating facts. Cold hard facts.

 

[Scham]

Was nearly as bad as the mark that was paid to him last week that was clearly NOT a mark (in the pack when Goddard got knocked out).

There's bad umpiring decisions in every game every week. That's the game.

 

[poulsman]

Plugger, I'm not sure you stated any facts whatsoever. Just made a few limp accusations.

Look, I get extremely frustrated when I notice Collingwood being on the wrong end of a few dodgy decisions and the TV commentators choose to ignore it. I'm confident that happens to Collingwood as often as it happens to your mob.

It's just the tone of this thread that surprises me. I'm sure there have been very similar threads fueled by Pies supporters in the past - passionate fans of all clubs get themselves worked up over umpiring. It's just the ridiculous accusations of bias and corruption that are annoying me at the moment. These are all remarks I'd expect to hear one minute after a bad decision is made, but hours later, after you've had time to (presumably) think about what you have to say on the matter, I find it absurd some of you trolls think that such factors are possibly at play.

Bad umpiring happens. In this case, it boosted our percentage by maybe 0.5 points. It did absolutely nothing to change the result of the match. We are playing football that is far, far superior to what your team is playing at the moment.
Bad umpiring also happens to Collingwood. See the Geelong game a few weeks ago.
Was I frustrated? Hell yes. Then i sat back and realised that Geelong deserved to win that game anyhow, and are probably slightly ahead of where we're at in general.
Did I accuse the AFL of harbouring some bias towards the Cats, or get myself publicly worked up over how the drop kicks in the commentary box reported on the issue? I surely hope not.

Lame.

 

[Damon_3388]

You'll be happy to know he has not being getting them this year.

I think the fact that Riewoldt is averaging more frees for this year than he has since 2007 indicates one of two things:

• Riewoldt is still getting "cheap" frees, or
• Riewoldt never got "cheap" frees in the first place

I'm going with the latter myself.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Poor decision, and the Swan dive was weak, but kicking 2 goals to 10 in the second half is the reason Saints lost. You know you are clutching at straws when you start resorting to blaming umpiring decisions that affect 'momentum'.

Especially "momentum" 30 seconds before you are about to go into the rooms for half time.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I think the fact that Riewoldt is averaging more frees for this year than he has since 2007 indicates one of two things:

• Riewoldt is still getting "cheap" frees, or
• Riewoldt never got "cheap" frees in the first place

I'm going with the latter myself.

It probably means in the past he was first to the ball and left his opponent not close enough to give a free kick away.

 

[Lestat]

i can understand the polo non mark. first time i saw it i wasnt sure. the decision i hated was the swan dive. those are the kind of soft free kicks that are ruining the sport for me.

Ironic, given that you probably wouldn't of even made last years GF if not for an identical decision against Geelong.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Ironic, given that you probably wouldn't of even made last years GF if not for an identical decision against Geelong.

 

[Lestat]

Yep agree. Swan's 3 goals from the goal square in the last quarter when the game was stitched up and he was now running free were huge!

Thats 3 more goals then that 'umm' champion Riewoldt could achieve.

Perhaps more time training and less time having team mates help him with condoms for losing bets, and maybe you might win another premiership this century.

 

[piesaregreat]

Umpires are raping St Kilda at the moment.

payback for Milne?

 

[Justcruzin]

Eddie pays the umpires to give all benefit-of-doubts in Collingwood's favour, it's nothing new.

And that would explain why the Pies are sitting 12th on the ladder for frees for, yeah coz Eddie pays the umps to be give them everything

 

[Didaics]

No Marko Polo?

Yeah nah I lolled.

 

[caitsith01]

Polos mark should have been paid.

Had it been paid, stkildas confidence would not have been dented going into the second half.

The mark not being paid resulted in a goal to collingwood. It was a momentum shifting incident created by the umpires for the benefit of collingwood.

It happened numerous times when the game was a contest, always favouring collingwood.

Yes we didn't turn up for the second half. Too many umpiring decisions had shifted momentum to the pies.

This. This is what people miss. It's not just that Collingwood get horrible, horrible free kicks paid to them every single time they play at home, it's when they are paid and the effect.

Yes, they are a very good team. Yes, as you would expect they make the most of opportunities, including ones given to them unfairly by the umpires. Any team would do the same.

But it does have the potential to ruin games, and even change results. You just cannot tell - sure, the Pies were likely to win anyway. But if the Saints got that goal, then maybe snagged one or two more, you cannot be sure that the momentum and psychology wouldn't be completely different. On the flipside, the negative psychological impact on the Saints would have been huge.

When one team is better on paper but the other is having a red hot go then these types of errors at critical points are absolute game-killers. Turning a Saints attack into a Pies attack is potentially a 12 point turnaround in a game which the Saints would never have won by more than a couple of goals if they did manage to get up.

It happens every week. I agree with whoever said that it makes Pies games unwatchable for a neutral fan.

 

[caitsith01]

But are all these accusations of umpire bias for real? Are you people serious? I don't think I've ever read a thread on BF full of so much crying and whining. You really are embarrassing yourselves.

Yes. There is definitely, without any shadow of a doubt, pro-Collingwood bias in umpiring at the MCG.

My belief is that the umpires are intimidated by the crowd. The bias is usually worse when the umpires have paid some legitimate frees to the other side in the first half and the Collingwood crowd gets it into its head that its team is being ripped off. The umpires usually reappear after getting a bake at quarter or half time and (a) stop paying obvious frees to the opposition and (b) start conjuring outrageous frees for the Pies.

If it was somehow possible to computer edit footage to remove team colours I believe you would see it too. Unfortunately the beneficiaries are wearing black and white and so Pies fans are never going to be able to see it.

 

[Lockyer24]

Smart play by Swan. With St Kilda playing 5 taggers last night sitting on our gun players like parasites rather than trying to win the game, he felt contact and let momentum do the rest.

Polo mark might have been paid if he actually held it.

Chin up looney Saints fans

 

[Didaics]

It happens every week. I agree with whoever said that it makes Pies games unwatchable for a neutral fan.

Maybe you shoud start a petition to have us kicked out of the comp?

Or maybe yu should get super fit, become an umpire, make your umpiring debut in a Pies game, not pay us ANY free kicks for the whole match, then run to camera, look down the barrel and say MWA-HA-HAAAAAA with all the Colling wood players looking sad in the background.

That'll learn em all!

 

[Jonno_]

Yes. There is definitely, without any shadow of a doubt, pro-Collingwood bias in umpiring at the MCG.

My belief is that the umpires are intimidated by the crowd. The bias is usually worse when the umpires have paid some legitimate frees to the other side in the first half and the Collingwood crowd gets it into its head that its team is being ripped off. The umpires usually reappear after getting a bake at quarter or half time and (a) stop paying obvious frees to the opposition and (b) start conjuring outrageous frees for the Pies.

If it was somehow possible to computer edit footage to remove team colours I believe you would see it too. Unfortunately the beneficiaries are wearing black and white and so Pies fans are never going to be able to see it.

You are a complete clown. Just because you can put things eloquently, does not make the actual substance of what you are saying correct. It is funny that you sit and cheer the team that plays Collingwood every week - and then claim we have a bias and are as such unable to comment. Just because you don't go for St Kilda every week, does not mean you weren't last night, and therefore weren't as biased the other way. Your thinking is absolutely insane, and hypocritical to the point of lunacy.

I am actually bemused that you support the team that indisputably plays for free kicks more than any other, and have the gall to claim that another team is systematically favoured. I'm genuinely glad that you get so worked up about it - I love that your quality of life is lowered by something that just plain doesn't exist - and that you make yourself angry and frustrated over this...

 

[caitsith01]

Your thinking is absolutely insane, and hypocritical to the point of lunacy.

Who is getting worked up about what now?

I am actually bemused that you support the team that indisputably plays for free kicks more than any other, and have the gall to claim that another team is systematically favoured.

Geelong 2011:

Frees for: 196
Frees against: 244

Interested in how this fits in to your theory. Incidentally the Pies have had more frees paid to them than against them.

I'm genuinely glad that you get so worked up about it - I love that your quality of life is lowered by something that just plain doesn't exist - and that you make yourself angry and frustrated over this...

I'm alright mate. Although thanks for sharing the fact that your belief that others are unhappy makes you happy, you must be a top bloke.

On balance, I think the Pies are deserved favourite this year and probably would even without the sweet run they get in terms of home ground games and umpiring. But I would much rather see a professional sporting league run with a random draw and genuinely neutral umpiring.

Believe it or not I get annoyed when the Cats get unfair free kicks. I like my team to win on merit.

 

[galindez]

Plugger, I'm not sure you stated any facts whatsoever. Just made a few limp accusations.

Look, I get extremely frustrated when I notice Collingwood being on the wrong end of a few dodgy decisions and the TV commentators choose to ignore it. I'm confident that happens to Collingwood as often as it happens to your mob.

It's just the tone of this thread that surprises me. I'm sure there have been very similar threads fueled by Pies supporters in the past - passionate fans of all clubs get themselves worked up over umpiring. It's just the ridiculous accusations of bias and corruption that are annoying me at the moment. These are all remarks I'd expect to hear one minute after a bad decision is made, but hours later, after you've had time to (presumably) think about what you have to say on the matter, I find it absurd some of you trolls think that such factors are possibly at play.

Bad umpiring happens. In this case, it boosted our percentage by maybe 0.5 points. It did absolutely nothing to change the result of the match. We are playing football that is far, far superior to what your team is playing at the moment.

Bad umpiring also happens to Collingwood. See the Geelong game a few weeks ago.

Was I frustrated? Hell yes. Then i sat back and realised that Geelong deserved to win that game anyhow, and are probably slightly ahead of where we're at in general. Did I accuse the AFL of harbouring some bias towards the Cats, or get myself publicly worked up over how the drop kicks in the commentary box reported on the issue? I surely hope not.

Lame.

fair post

 

[Winthorpe]

Thought I'd look up the team averages for "Free Kicks For" over the past four years to confirm or deny the accusation that Collingwood is favoured / the umpires are paid off by Eddie:

Collingwood's position in the rankings (Average Free Kicks For Per Game):

2011 - 12th
2010 - 15th
2009 - 16th
2008 - 16th

Yep, some real biased umpiring there!

Looks like Eddie's going to have to pay them a lot more.

Before anyone claims, "those statistics don't mean anything," imagine those same statistics had put Collingwood in 1st place for the past four years. Of course you'd cite the stats as undeniable PROOF that Collingwood gets an armchair ride from the umpires.

The fact that some St. Kilda supporters are trying blame the umpires for last night's 57-point loss is beyond laughable.

"The Polo decision killed our momentum!" "We were psychologically set back!" "Blah, blah, blah." What a load of CRAP. If your team's so mentally weak and pathetic that it can't overcome a couple of bad umpiring decisions, then it absolutely deserves to lose by 57 points.

Deal with it.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

There is no doubt that this thread only exists because the commentators decided to make a bit of an issue of it on the telly. It wasnt a blatant umpiring mistake. Mistake, maybe, but not blatant.

It was a 50-50 decision -it was probably a mark but only because Dawes knocked it out of Polos hands. If the umpire was unsighted on Dawes doing that, then its reasonable for him to call play on because it he thought Polo hadnt controlled the ball for long enough.

In terms of umpiring decisions it wasnt a big deal. If Baker hadnt gone to ground he may have been able to tackle Krakouer or at least put enough pressure on him to miss his shot. But StKilda supporters dont want ever to point blame at their own club. They want to blame everything else - the umpires, the draw, injuries, travel, the girl, and the shape of the ball.

 

[TradeDraft]

How can the umpire get it sooooooooooooo wrong

A clear mark in the dying stages of the last quarter isn't paid and Collingwood end up with a goal

Diabolical decision - 3 umpires and not one saw it???

Like to see Gieschen explain that one

Happens in Every Game Mate.

Suck it up

 

[Bozo]

Believe it or not I get annoyed when the Cats get unfair free kicks. I like my team to win on merit.

How many boxes of tissues have you gone through watching Selwood headbutt opponents and now you wonder why the Cats frees for is down this year? Not saying that Collingwood players didn't go looking for head high contact but Selwood was the notorious proponent of this as he was in the best team in the comp and they didn't need anymore favours in their advantage.

With the Swan dive, there was a thread about this last week or the week before with SJohnson diving over the boundary - I hated it then and still dislike Swan doing it, maybe it is my "supporter" blindness but i still think SJ's was worse than Swan's. Maybe SJ's dive halted a late charge by the Suns that would have seen them surge past a confused and bewildered Geelong who couldn't explain or correct the change in momentum ... or maybe neither incidents had an impact on the end result other than allowing supporters of both players to say "Look at the amount of goals they kicked"

In the end, Leigh Matthews summed it up after Malthouse's "cheat" comment against the Melbourne player. It is all gamesmanship as there is no rule against playing for a free kick. It may appear to be cheating when the call goes against your team but you still rejoice in your team getting the four points/victory if the decision goes in your team's favour (this is my paraphrasing of what I took from Leigh Matthews' article).

 

[Conan Troutman]

That free kick to Swan is paid at least once per weekend in the eight matches and everyone just accepts it (even if it is soft), but now because it's Collingwood it's an outrage.

Happens EVERY week. Nobody starts a thread about it because it's so common. Talk about making mountains out of molehills.

Lol. Coming from you, who started the Steve Johnson's Dive thread last week....

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=830583

and the Chapman "feigning for free kicks" thread only 18 minutes earlier than the SJ one...

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=830573

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Lol. Coming from you, who started the Steve Johnson's Dive thread last week....

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=830583

and the Chapman "feigning for free kicks" thread only 18 minutes earlier than the SJ one...

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=830573

What's your point?

Johnson jumped through the air before any contact was made, AKA a dive. Swan made the most of minimal contact in the back that was there. That's the difference. Put it this way, I'd expect someone to rightfully start a thread about it if Didak was the player instead of Johnson in that situation.

The Chapman thread was just an observation from watching the game and games in the past where things don't go his way.