Moved Thread Survey reveals West Coast's home ground umpiring advantage..

[Seadog]

Why are free kicks from an individual club being compared to the stats for 10 clubs collectively?
Surely comparing the free kicks of the big Melbourne clubs(Pies, Bombers) against interstate teams would give a more even handed analysis.

 

[Dazb86]

I like how the Darling GIF everyone posts as an example of diving clearly demonstrates that Darling got hit hard in the chin by his own fist.

So you are admitting that when an eagles player feels slight contact high he makes the most of it?

 

[Lach72]

Arm-chops are not height dependent. It's position dependent. You don't give away arm chop frees when you're in front.

That must be it.
Sandi never gets the front position

 

[Pat_Footy]

I like how the Darling GIF everyone posts as an example of diving clearly demonstrates that Darling got hit hard in the chin by his own fist.

There was also no free kick awarded.....

 

[PieNSauce]

Ummm, hello? The Giesh does it every Tuesday on afl.com.au

So clearly you've seen all of these statistics produced before on afl.com.au with a full and in depth analysis of each and every one of the decisions etc. every Tuesday. Pull the other one! Stop being so defensive. Like I said, it's about maintaining integrity and even if the evidence is only anecdotal, the AFL has to deal with public perceptions in the same way as international sport does. Even the remotest perception of integrity issues ought to be addressed.

 

[Goldfish]

Not sure about the mob down the road but WA umpire Dean Margetts sure as **** doesn't do us any favours.

Incompetent whichever game he is umpiring.

 

[Goldfish]

It's not so much the wrong free kicks at Subiaco though it's the inconsistency, West Coast seem to get a lot of soft free kicks at Subi that are technically correct but opposition clubs don't get the same soft free kicks paid their way. It's pretty obvious a lot of it has to do with the mainly West Coast crowd screaming for West Coast free kicks and the umpires being influenced by it whereas they are no such screams for opposition free kicks and any time an opposition club gets a free kick at Subi it is met with a chorus of boos even if it is a blatant free kick.

The ironic thing about this statement is *shock* *horror* the exact same thing happens when the Eagles play in Victoria... See the Collingwood game last week. Hell, a 50:50 decision won the Pies the game!

NEWSFLASH - Home side get more 50:50 decisions, always have, always will.

 

[Mateyman]

The vast majority of Victorians would much rather an interstate club do well than a Collingwood or Carlton

So, when Collingwood do well, we hear about how our draw is easy, even though we play almost exactly the same amount of interstate games as other clubs, and also play many top teams twice (e.g. Hawthorn, WC, Geelong, Essendon etc.)

 

[PieNSauce]

The ironic thing about this statement is *shock* *horror* the exact same thing happens when the Eagles play in Victoria... See the Collingwood game last week. Hell, a 50:50 decision won the Pies the game!

NEWSFLASH - Home side get more 50:50 decisions, always have, always will.

So many ways in which this is just plain wrong. Massive Facepalm!

 

[Shuey2Darling]

The media and opposition supporters are entitled to question it, it's not some conspiracy to cripple the all mighty West Coast Eagles we are just pointing out facts.

What has been provided is raw data with little or no analysis as to what it means. There are many legitimate reasons that could explain that free kick count but everyone jumps to the conclusion there is favouritism.

 

[TruBluEagle]

Just some truths:
12/18 clubs have a positive or even free kick differential at home against interstate sides in 2012.
West coast(5 games) and essendon(4 games) have both not lost a free kick count against an interstate side at home this year.
Port Adelaide have only lost one free kick count at home against an interstate side this year and that was by 1 free kick. In those other games they averaged 6.4 more frees than their opposition.
Freo, GWS, north and saints have also only lost one free kick count against an interstate sidewhen playing at home. In those games they have average 4.6,4.5,5.3 and 1 more free kick than their opposition side respectively.
Sydney has won 4/6 free kick counts against interstate side at home this year. In these games they have averaged 8.5 more frees than the interstate side.

What this all comes down to is that the crowd influences umpires and you tend to get more 50/50 calls going your way when you play at home against an interstate side. It happens in all sports around the world and nothing anyone can say or do is going to change that short of umpires wearing noise dampening headphones so all they can here is what the other umpires are saying.

 

[Mateyman]

There is no deliberate bias from the umpires and suggestions otherwise are rubbish. I would be willing to bet that if a more wide spread study was to be initiated that SA teams also have a favorable free kick count at home as would the Vic sides vs interstate sides at home. Bet Geelong has gets a pretty good run at Kardinia park to.

It all comes back to crowd noise IMO. If there is 50/50 call and the crowd shouts the umpire is likely to react to the crowd. If anything they are picking up free kicks they otherwise might have missed. Cox is normally one of the top receivers of free kicks in the league. At home when he's infringed on the crowd lets the umpires know about it which causes them to take notice. Against Collingwood on the weekend when playing forward Cox had his arms chopped at least 4 times that I saw and never received a free most likely because the umpire could not clearly see the contest. But I bet if the crowd was roaring for a free kick the whistle might of blown.

It's a tough job and the umpires are only human and have to make the calls they make in a split second. It's not right and it's not wrong that this happens it just is what it is.

I agree with your point - no umpire is deliberately biased, the differentials are due to incompetence (I'm not saying that in a bad way, I mean that all umpires will make more mistakes favouring the home side due to the crowd, and not bias). I think any bias would be subliminal. On the Cox point, he got HEAPS of ruck frees against us

 

[Xsess]

Dear Victoria, learn the rules or FTFU

We have big strong tall blokes who almost always take front position, and our rucks consistantly tap it down to little blokes who get hands on the footy first. In contested situations our entire team put their nuts over the footy and when we dont have the footy the we apply an outstanding tackling technique. When someone in our team gives away stupid free kick they book a date with the Wooshdog to explain why. The REAL mystery is how these free kick differentials aren't being replicated away, like last week when we won every stat except the free kick count?

P.S we also want our 4 points back robbed of us from the Brisbane game.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

The fear is palpable

 

[PieNSauce]

Dear Victoria, learn the rules or FTFU

We have big strong tall blokes who almost always take front position, and our rucks consistantly tap it down to little blokes who get hands on the footy first. In contested situations our entire team put their nuts over the footy and when we dont have the footy the we apply an outstanding tackling technique. When someone in our team gives away stupid free kick they book a date with the Wooshdog to explain why. The REAL mystery is how these free kick differentials aren't being replicated away, like last week when we won every stat except the free kick count?

P.S we also want our 4 points back robbed of us from the Brisbane game.

Oddly, I was under the impression that we won the final score stat!
Your post is ridiculous because every supporter of every club would claim exactly the same thing. Because you say it does not make it so.

 

[PieNSauce]

The fear is palpable

Settle down. I don't think you have too much need to be afraid!

 

[WC_Eagles]

Awesome, a friday funnys thread. We should have one of these every week. I can't stop laughing!!

 

[Goldfish]

So many ways in which this is just plain wrong. Massive Facepalm!

Which part? The part where Waters didn't get Beams in the back/high? Or the part where ever the commentators were scratching their hards? From where the umpire was it was a 50:50 decision, if he had of been on the other side of the pack, would have been play on imo.

I'm not saying the Pies didn't deserve to win, you were in front for 80%+ of the game and it would have been a steal.

 

[PieNSauce]

Which part? The part where Waters didn't get Beams in the back/high? Or the part where ever the commentators were scratching their hards? From where the umpire was it was a 50:50 decision, if he had of been on the other side of the pack, would have been play on imo.

I'm not saying the Pies didn't deserve to win, you were in front for 80%+ of the game and it would have been a steal.

If I could be bothered entering into a pre-pubescent discussion about which ridiculous decisions had more effect on the result I'm sure I could pick out plenty. You appear to have stolen a march on that so I'll leave you to have your little hissy.

 

[sherb]

I like how the Darling GIF everyone posts as an example of diving clearly demonstrates that Darling got hit hard in the chin by his own fist.

Hit? Yes.

Hit hard enough to elicit that reaction? Hmmm.....

And apparently Darling didn't get pinged for holding the ball in that incident. Probably a good example of what some people are trying to point out here.

 

[Goldfish]

If I could be bothered entering into a pre-pubescent discussion about which ridiculous decisions had more effect on the result I'm sure I could pick out plenty. You appear to have stolen a march on that so I'll leave you to have your little hissy.

So many ways in which this is just plain wrong. Massive Facepalm!

 

[Xsess]

Your post is ridiculous because every supporter of every club would claim exactly the same thing. Because you say it does not make it so.

The free kick count makes it so...

 

[TheWeapon]

Well done OP. Great to see the numbers which backs what 99% of non-WCE supporters thought anyway.

 

[byronstjames]

Through sheer weight of numbers the WC supporters will flood us with their incredibly insightful opinions until we all believe that there's nothing unusual going on.

What do they put in the water there? Whatever it is, it seems to have an effect on logic and reason.

 

[Shaymuhz]

I like how the Darling GIF everyone posts as an example of diving clearly demonstrates that Darling got hit hard in the chin by his own fist.

Pretty delayed reaction from Darling if that's actually the case...

Hit "hard" by his own fist...lol