Roast Statement on Umpires

[SaintsSeptember]

It's not just about the money though. The more people that can be attracted to umpiring, the more likely there are to be better umpires in the game.

It should become professional, as that in itself is then likely to attract more people.

Of course, without getting paid a decent amount, who would want to be an umpire? You'd get more love being a Parking Attendant.

Anyone else notice Leigh Fisher officiating in a game over the weekend? I can't remember which game it was.

Squiz noticed him the week before. Unfortunately.

 

[Sir Robert]

I think it is meant more as an indictment on the AFL administration and the fact they would attempt to make money out of umpires and foster a situation where the personality of an umpire was promoted. So much for a good umpire being one that is not noticed. I blame Billy Bowden.

This post gets respect! Bent finger Billy!

Unfortunately I can't add anything pro AFL umpires here. They are egotistical flogs. Noisemaker may actually be Geoff Gieschen btw.

 

[Plugger35]

The only merchandise for umpires should be effigies, the AFL would make a fortune out of them.

Trying to promote umpires like players is part of the problem and why they think they're bigger than the game. There was even an article on the AFL website recently about Razor Ray's comeback to umpiring, that stuff used to be reserved for players.

 

[Sir Robert]

The only merchandise for umpires should be effigies, the AFL would make a fortune out of them.

Trying to promote umpires like players is part of the problem and why they think they're bigger than the game. There was even an article on the AFL website recently about Razor Ray's comeback to umpiring, that stuff used to be reserved for players.

Imitation white maggots would sell well lol.

 

[goodie23]

Different week, same rubbish. Don't know where their hatred for Lenny has come from

 

[sauce_head]

Different week, same rubbish. Don't know where their hatred for Lenny has come from

maybe he smiled at Milney one day or something?

 

[Plugger35]

Screwed again as per usual when it counts, then the umpires tried to even it up in the last 5 mins when the game was over.

So sick of this charade.

 

[Squizz]

Whilst I don't watch alot of other games, I saw the Sylvia one. Shocking decision. Just can't get close to understanding how the umpire came to the conclusion to give Sylvia a free when everyone else saw one against him. I also should have mentioned the other Kosi one, as a player put his hands up and was only two metres from Kosi (the umpire had not called play on). A 50m penalty (and shot on goal) every day of the week, except when it involves Kosi, Milne and Blake.

These guys are in crisis for mine. Really horrible of late.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/mor...s-of-afl-round-5/story-e6frf9jf-1226630220650

VIDEO WIN FOR SWANS
New Zealanders got their first look at Aussie rules on Anzac Day, and they also had a first-hand introduction to the confusion of the video goal review system. St Kilda defender Jarryn Geary launched a long shot at goal which was appeared to clear the line before being marked by Swans defender Ted Richards.

KOSI'S KIWI NIGHTMARE
Justin Koschitzke will go down in history as the first player to kick a goal in a match overseas, but he didn't end the game in a blaze of glory. With the Saints surging in the last quarter, Kosi dumped his Sydney opponent after he kicked the ball on the wing, causing a down-field free kick to Adam Goodes on the Swans' 50m line. There wasn't much malice in the bump, but it didn't achieve anything either, so why bother? It wasn't a great minute or so for Kosi and the umpires - moments earlier he could have been having a shot at goal himself after a Sydney player encroached well within the "protected area" after the Saints veteran took a mark 90m from goal - an offence that has resulted in a 50m penalty several times this season.

CAT BURGLARS ROB THE DOGS
Mackie booted the ball out on the full deep in defence, and the free kick was promptly paid to goalsneak Pat Veszpremi. "Your kick, No. 8 (Veszpremi)," the field umpire clearly said. But, when Mackie picked up the ball and took the free kick, 'play on' was the call. It left Dogs fans - and players - in total disbelief in what was a bizarre moment. Why didn't the umpire stop, bring the ball back and give the Dogs a shot on goal? Instead the Cats went down the other end where Podsiadly booted a major.

SYLVIA SURFER
Sylvia went for a ride on former teammate Brent Moloney on the wing in the second term at the Gabba yesterday. He took off way too early and found himself upside-down on Moloney's shoulders with his arms around his face long before the ball arrived. The umpire's verdict? A free kick to Sylvia. The umpire ruled Moloney had illegally blocked his opponent, despite replays showing he was running backwards with his eyes on the ball and probably never saw Sylvia coming.

GOAL REVIEW ii) iii) iv) and v)
Following the confusion in New Zealand, another four controversial goal review - or lack of review - decisions marred Round 5. Two bizarre rulings just minutes apart in yesterday's Hawthorn-North Melbourne clash heightened the frustration, while Billie Smedt's "point" on Saturday night was another low for the second-year system. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Damien Hardwick remains adamant Matt White's shot was a goal.

 

[Rors]

KOSI'S KIWI NIGHTMARE
Justin Koschitzke will go down in history as the first player to kick a goal in a match overseas, but he didn't end the game in a blaze of glory. With the Saints surging in the last quarter, Kosi dumped his Sydney opponent after he kicked the ball on the wing, causing a down-field free kick to Adam Goodes on the Swans' 50m line. There wasn't much malice in the bump, but it didn't achieve anything either, so why bother? It wasn't a great minute or so for Kosi and the umpires - moments earlier he could have been having a shot at goal himself after a Sydney player encroached well within the "protected area" after the Saints veteran took a mark 90m from goal - an offence that has resulted in a 50m penalty several times this season.

I noticed this as it happened live... I was seething! How many times have we been pinged for that this year?! The Swans player even did the 'i'm guilty' hands-in-the-air gesture to make it even more noticable for the umpire & still we got nothing! Another inconsistency which does my head in week in week out!

 

[Tongue In Cheek]

The chorus is growing:

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/enough-just-get-it-right-20130428-2imsn.html

 

[Squizz]

Less of the crappy NQR Psy dance moves would be a good start.

 

[Plugger35]

I hope you're trying to be humorous with your constant tin foil hat notions that the umpires are against us, but honestly, it just get's so tiresome reading it in every thread. Any humour that once was in it is well and truly gone.

Just FYI pal here's the frees for and against ladder which might explain why I complain about the umpires so much.

St Kilda with the worst free kick differential of any club by a considerable margin, can anyone honestly say we deserve that? We aren't always 2nd to the ball and we aren't more undisciplined than other teams, it's crap.

If people are sick of me complaining about the umpires then tell the bloody umpires to start giving us a fair go, it's cause and effect and I'm just reacting to the shit umpiring I'm seeing us get each week. I don't do it to try and get attention or be humorous.

I'm absolutely sick of seeing umpires influence games in our oppositions favour. The umpiring in our game against Collingwood last year was nothing short of disgraceful, they virtually cheated to win the game for Collingwood.

It happens to us far too often to just be a coincidence, it's like the umpires have bought into the media's 'St Kilda sliding' theory and are doing their best to make sure it happens. Of course the media are quite happy to talk about St Kilda sliding but not one of them will mention the terrible umpiring we've copped since Watters took over. Yet people wonder why I believe in conspiracy theories?

 

[Tombowler]

Just FYI pal here's the frees for and against ladder which might explain why I complain about the umpires so much.

St Kilda with the worst free kick differential of any club by a considerable margin, can anyone honestly say we deserve that? We aren't always 2nd to the ball and we aren't more undisciplined than other teams, it's crap.

If people are sick of me complaining about the umpires then tell the bloody umpires to start giving us a fair go, it's cause and effect and I'm just reacting to the shit umpiring I'm seeing us get each week. I don't do it to try and get attention or be humorous.

I'm absolutely sick of seeing umpires influence games in our oppositions favour. The umpiring in our game against Collingwood last year was nothing short of disgraceful, they virtually cheated to win the game for Collingwood.

It happens to us far too often to just be a coincidence, it's like the umpires have bought into the media's 'St Kilda sliding' theory and are doing their best to make sure it happens. Of course the media are quite happy to talk about St Kilda sliding but not one of them will mention the terrible umpiring we've copped since Watters took over. Yet people wonder why I believe in conspiracy theories?

THAT GRAPHIC MUST BE REPOSTED.

Absolutely fantastic post plugger.

It really galls me to sound like a whinger, but I think all things considered, I think it's spoken about rarely when one considers the impact on games that it has. I mean that Tiges game saw, not only frees to Rich that were easily converted that, if the umpiring was consistent would have been answered at the other end or not awarded at all, but almost more importantly saw a stall everytime the saints built any momentum. It affected the game in a huge way.

What can be done about it? I don't know. But there should be some independent vision review mid-season of games involving the lowest, say, 5 teams and see if there is a detectable bias.

 

[Plugger35]

Yeah the umpires definitely helped win the game for Richmond, paying soft frees in front of goal to them but none to us. Not to mention a number of soft frees to Richmond in general play which helped snuff out our momentum.

It's not just poor umpiring, it's biased umpiring and is costing us wins. The free kick stats on that table don't lie, we're getting screwed almost every week and I'm expecting more of the same against Collingwood this week.

 

[Tombowler]

Yeah the umpires definitely helped win the game for Richmond, paying soft frees in front of goal to them but none to us. Not to mention a number of soft frees to Richmond in general play which helped snuff out our momentum.

It's not just poor umpiring, it's biased umpiring and is costing us wins. The free kick stats on that table don't lie, we're getting screwed almost every week and I'm expecting more of the same against Collingwood this week.

Could I suggest you start a running thread and upload that graphic weekly and we can track this shit over a season? If we've got a recurring thread then specific examples of how and where a free hurt us (i.e. goals against for frees, rebound etc) and for what they were given it might give a clearer picture

 

[sammm]

Could I suggest you start a running thread and upload that graphic weekly and we can track this shit over a season? If we've got a recurring thread then specific examples of how and where a free hurt us (i.e. goals against for frees, rebound etc) and for what they were given it might give a clearer picture

all very well to do this, but what can we as humble supporters do about it.

 

[Plugger35]

Could I suggest you start a running thread and upload that graphic weekly and we can track this shit over a season? If we've got a recurring thread then specific examples of how and where a free hurt us (i.e. goals against for frees, rebound etc) and for what they were given it might give a clearer picture

There's already an umpires pets ladder thread in Bay 13 which is where I got that graphic from.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/check-out-the-ladder-the-umpires-pet-ladder.996364/

Funny how they were all laughing at me after the Gold Coast game where we won the free kick count for the only time this season (I still thought we got screwed in that game), they aren't laughing at me now.

 

[Smoke_Me_AKipper]

Plugger35 - outstanding post mate. Perfect evidence to back up your argument which has a lot of merit.
However as much as I agree with you, (and I do ) maybe from time to time its good to play a different tune!

I wonder if its due to players mouthing off - Milney and Joey and the like? It is interesting with some players though. I've found that Kosi and Milney just have to be in the contest to have a free kick awarded against them. (I am exaggerating but still). You compare them to other players who do the same thing but don't get the free kick paid against them...

 

[Plugger35]

Plugger35 - outstanding post mate. Perfect evidence to back up your argument which has a lot of merit.
However as much as I agree with you, (and I do ) maybe from time to time its good to play a different tune!

I wonder if its due to players mouthing off - Milney and Joey and the like? It is interesting with some players though. I've found that Kosi and Milney just have to be in the contest to have a free kick awarded against them. (I am exaggerating but still). You compare them to other players who do the same thing but don't get the free kick paid against them...

I don't think our players mouth off at the umpires any more than other teams, Goddard was probably our worst offender and he's gone. Our discipline is actually quite good all things considered, if any teams players could be forgiven for mouthing off at the umpires it's ours. It's not just Kosi and Milney that get burnt either, even past umpires favourites like Riewoldt and Lenny get a rough deal now.

I really can't find any legit reason why we should have a significantly worse free kick differential to every other team, other than there seems to be some sort of bias at work.

 

[TommyJay]

St Kilda with the worst free kick differential of any club by a considerable margin, can anyone honestly say we deserve that?

Honestly, yes, I can say we do deserve it. Maybe once a game I'll see a umpiring decision against us which is truly bad, on a bad week, maybe two. Overall, however, I honestly think we're just sloppy and give away too many free kicks. If you could point out multiple specific instances where the umpires were wrong (and I'm talking above and beyond the ~1 that goes against us every week (and generally there is equally an incorrect decision going for us, by the way). If you look at all the instances in the game without worrying about what coloured jumper anyone is wearing, you'll notice that the free kicks are there. What frustrates me is why, as a team, we're giving them away. You're damn right it's not a coincidence as to why it happens every week. Because the team is sloppy when it comes to giving away free kicks, against whoever they play. It's poor football, not some grand conspiracy.

I know it's sometimes hard to take the rose coloured glasses off (I often get annoyed at decisions during a match), but 99% of the time if you look back at them objectively, they were the right call.

 

[Sheeza69]

Anybody going to fire an email off to the club, asking what the f..k is going on..?? Will the club take a stand against this injustice. We are seeing a MINIMUM of FIVE decisions a game that have significant influence not just on the scoreboard, but the momentum of our players. Each week we have to sit back & cop poor umpiring, that the power clubs would never endure. As we head into RD 6, i'm yet to see a game umpired this year where at least both sides copped similiar questionable decisions. Who can forget Gilbert getting "pinged" in the first minute against the Tigers in RD 2..!!

 

[Plugger35]

Honestly, yes, I can say we do deserve it. Maybe once a game I'll see a umpiring decision against us which is truly bad, on a bad week, maybe two. Overall, however, I honestly think we're just sloppy and give away too many free kicks. If you could point out multiple specific instances where the umpires were wrong (and I'm talking above and beyond the ~1 that goes against us every week (and generally there is equally an incorrect decision going for us, by the way). If you look at all the instances in the game without worrying about what coloured jumper anyone is wearing, you'll notice that the free kicks are there. What frustrates me is why, as a team, we're giving them away. You're damn right it's not a coincidence as to why it happens every week. Because the team is sloppy when it comes to giving away free kicks, against whoever they play. It's poor football, not some grand conspiracy.

I know it's sometimes hard to take the rose coloured glasses off (I often get annoyed at decisions during a match), but 99% of the time if you look back at them objectively, they were the right call.

You're being very generous if you think we have only one bad decision go us against us every week. Most weeks we have considerably more bad decisions go against us than go our way and often it results in goals against us. Just look at the Richmond game where they got at least 3 or 4 goals from ridiculously soft free kicks in their forward 50 while we got no frees in our forward 50. A similar thing happened against Gold Coast and Sydney.

We aren't more undisciplined or sloppy than other teams we just have more soft or 50/50 frees paid against us, the bias is obvious at times and not just to one eyed Saints supporters but to many neutral supporters as well. Questions need to be asked because it is getting beyond a joke.

 

[Kildonan]

You're being very generous if you think we have only one bad decision go us against us every week. Most weeks we have considerably more bad decisions go against us than go our way and often it results in goals against us. Just look at the Richmond game where they got at least 3 or 4 goals from ridiculously soft free kicks in their forward 50 while we got no frees in our forward 50. A similar thing happened against Gold Coast and Sydney.

We aren't more undisciplined or sloppy than other teams we just have more soft or 50/50 frees paid against us, the bias is obvious at times and not just to one eyed Saints supporters but to many neutral supporters as well. Questions need to be asked because it is getting beyond a joke.

You can review each decision by selecting the free kicks in the AFL site replay. When you do most of the decisions paid against us were fair (a few exceptions like Cotchin holding onto Dal Santo after Dal tackled him. We were clear and a score was inevitable for us but the umpire paid a free against Dal for holding Cotchin. It was obvious it was the other way round. That one decision cost us two goals.)

We are giving away too many free kicks

When you review a game like this (looking at the free kicks paid), what you don't see is the free kicks missed. You have to watch the whole match to find these.

We don't seem to be getting our fair share of the free kicks that are exactly equivalent to those paid against us.

 

[The Punter]

I think the free kick differential numbers can be deceiving. For me its more the impact, and the timing.

Dylan Roberton was clearly grabbed without the ball across half back late in the third quarter. Because the obvious free kick was not paid (and because he was prevented from getting the ball by the infringement), Gold Coast got the ball and kicked a goal, which swung momentum in a game we then went on to lose.

Same sort of thing with Rhys Stanley not getting free kicks against Hawthorn last year and Richmond this year, Nick Reiwoldt against Freo last year, and Dean Polo against Hawthorn last year. That's not to mention Milne v Collingwood last year.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

You can review each decision by selecting the free kicks in the AFL site replay. When you do most of the decisions paid against us were fair (a few exceptions like Cotchin holding onto Dal Santo after Dal tackled him. We were clear and a score was inevitable for us but the umpire paid a free against Dal for holding Cotchin. It was obvious it was the other way round. That one decision cost us two goals.)

We are giving away too many free kicks

When you review a game like this (looking at the free kicks paid), what you don't see is the free kicks missed. You have to watch the whole match to find these.

We don't seem to be getting our fair share of the free kicks that are exactly equivalent to those paid against us.

Exactly I dont worry about the stats becase they arent MEANT to be equal , they are meant to be paid in an equivalent manner.
But I see:
Milnely looks slightly perplexed.... phhhhht 50 metres.
Opponent punches riewoldt in the head...... nothing .
Opponent punches riewoldt in the head while other opponent has him in headlock. Phhht free kick, brings the ball back from the goal Saad has just kicked so that Riewoldt can have a free from 70 out.

Oh equal free kickes what are you worried about?