Just to make it hurt that little bit more...

[stellation]

Sorry if this is already posted somewhere.

Stenglein reignites ump decision furore

"I knew there was space on the outside of me and I thought Leo Barry was trying to run into the space so I stepped back a bit to block his run so he didn't get past me," Stenglein said

[Go Swannies]

He apparently also said that, when he heard the whistle, he first thought he'd had a 50 metres penalty awarded against him.

Swans 9 points ahead and into attack then 3 points ahead and the tide had turned. Who seriously believes the AFL want the Swans to ever win a premiership? They may like the idea of the boost and the money - but thought of an AFL/VFL premiership being held by a NSW team is more than Victoria can bear.

If we manage to win the premiership, it's because we are at least two umpires' goals better every week than whoever we are playing.

I just flew back from Perth last night. Bitter? Very.

[Thunder Shaker]

If you want to boo him, he wears number 5.

[Xie Shan]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
He apparently also said that, when he heard the whistle, he first thought he'd had a 50 metres penalty awarded against him.

So basically he has admitted to cheating by accepting the free kick. Reminds me of the David King incident last year where the Kangaroos got the free kick after he pushed Nick Davis into the centre square at the centre bounce.

This raises an interesting question. There's no precedent for this (and I'm not about to suggest one!), but could we ever see a situation where an umpire gets a decision so badly wrong, that a player will do the 'right' thing and refuse a free kick that he knows he didn't deserve? Basically, the football equivalent of walking. Unlikely to ever happen - this ain't cricket, the only time I could see it happening would be if a player admits the ball hit the ground before 'marking' it.

[stellation]

Originally posted by sydfan83
So basically he has admitted to cheating by accepting the free kick.

I don't think he has.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by stellation
I don't think he has.

Yeah, Accepting the umpires decision is not exactly cheating. He would of been laugh out of the AFL if he had turned around and said, "no it was my fault" and give the ball to Leo.

[Xie Shan]

Probably hasn't admitted to it, but that's really what it is, isn't it? When you accept a free kick to which you know you aren't entitled (shown by the fact that he said he expected to give away 50m).

Simple analogy - when you do your tax return and claim a deduction to which you know you aren't entitled, it is called tax evasion. Cheating, basically, and illegal.

The trouble with taking the moral high ground here is that if you do it once, you're settiing a standard for yourself to live up to, a bit like Gilchrist choosing to walk. But I don't think you can apply the same standard to footballers as to cricketers, partly because of the many grey areas that exist when giving free kicks - I bet a lot of players like Stenglein don't really know what they're for, so they take the good with the bad, as we all should.

On balance then, it's probably harsh to accuse Stenglein of cheating.

Yeah, Accepting the umpires decision is not exactly cheating. He would of been laugh out of the AFL if he had turned around and said, "no it was my fault" and give the ball to Leo.

Yeah, that would have been pretty silly I guess!

[ScottH]

Originally posted by sydfan83
Simple analogy - when you do your tax return and claim a deduction to which you know you aren't entitled, it is called tax evasion. Cheating, basically, and illegal.

Don't like your analogy much, while it is cheating, if the Tax Commissioner said that is perfectly OK, then would it still be cheating, you'd have to accept the Tax experts advice, wouldn't you?

[Xie Shan]

Originally posted by ScottH
Don't like your analogy much, while it is cheating, if the Tax Commissioner said that is perfectly OK, then would it still be cheating, you'd have to accept the Tax experts advice, wouldn't you?

Fair enough. But only until you get audited!

Difference is, the umps can't go back and 'audit' games though!

[OldE]

Also, I think every player believes they are hard done by at some point, so accepting dodgy calls in your favour is some sort of cosmic evening-out of poor umpiring decisions.

If the umpires give us a couple of soft calls on Friday, how would you react if they boys said "well, actually, no". I think most of us would assume that we deserve those soft calls after the ones we had this weekend.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by sydfan83
Fair enough. But only until you get audited!

Difference is, the umps can't go back and 'audit' games though!

They do get audited, and say "Oops sorry" or if it is bad enough, end up umpiring country footy for a few weeks.

[Guzzitza]

hey dude. if we got paid a dubious free kick in fornt of the sticks, and it was the grand final, last 5 mins, and we could effectively seal a victory would u say .."hmm sorry ump, bad decision, ill be the better man and not take it"
a player who did that would be crucified by its club, fellow players, AND supporters. as eirinn said, people believe in a jsut world, if something goes ur way its cos you got jibbed in the past.
besides, i dont want a bunching of high and mighty adam gilchrist's running around the paddock. nothing lamer than seeing a guy trying to be the hero and the better man when he himself gets it wrong! costing his team an opportunity!

[Xie Shan]

Like I said, players take the good with the bad. Was just raising the question, is all.

[Xie Shan]

Originally posted by Guzzitza
hey dude. if we got paid a dubious free kick in fornt of the sticks, and it was the grand final, last 5 mins, and we could effectively seal a victory would u say .."hmm sorry ump, bad decision, ill be the better man and not take it"
a player who did that would be crucified by its club, fellow players, AND supporters.

I was going to use that example to come to the same conclusion, but you said it better than I could

[Diego]

How about we all just let go of what happened on Friday and just move on.

We have a far more important game this friday.