Most overtly biased umpiring I have seen

[ROK Lobster]

The umpiring ... be taken off him.

I think that booing umpires is fair game, especially after a performance like last night. Booing Lloyd is not - he did not umpire the game.

The umpiriing was atrocious, but so was Sydney's play. Poor umpiring is not something that the club can do anything about, or I am sure they would have done it by now. Poor play is. That's why I think that poor play cost us the game more than the umpiring.

So McPhee was out - who is to say that Essendon would not have scored from the boundary throw? Who is to say we would have scored agian if the ball did not go back to the centre? There is nothing to say that Sydney would have won if they played better either, but at least that is something they have some chance of remedying (I hope).

As for your comments on Hall - he is smashed, week in and week out by the umpires. Whoever taught him his anger management skills is a rare talent.

[cruiser]

Very well said M19. Your reaction and thoughts are identical to mine.

[monopoly19]

I think that booing umpires is fair game, especially after a performance like last night. Booing Lloyd is not - he did not umpire the game.

I actually don't think there was really a break between when people booed the umpires and when they were booing while Lloyd was speaking. People were just booing. They booed when Adam Spencer was speaking also. It's hardly an indictment against anything he did. He looked like he thought it was all a little amusing.

[ROK Lobster]

I actually don't think there was really a break between when people booed the umpires and when they were booing while Lloyd was speaking. People were just booing. They booed when Adam Spencer was speaking also. It's hardly an indictment against anything he did. He looked like he thought it was all a little amusing.

LOL. Adam Spencer is fair game.

I wasn't there, so cannot comment on the context, but I do not think that Lloyd should have been booed while speaking (when diving is different). It did come across very poorly on the tele, and not a good look for Sydney fans.

[monopoly19]

I understand that people think the booing of Lloyd was bad form, and I think I understand why. But in the context of last night, I also think it's unrealisatic to expect 26,000 people to stop booing just so that they could hear the words of wisdom spilling from Lloyd's mouth. I hope he thanked the umpires somewhere in there.

I'm not at all upset at the fact that people booed. But I am upset at the fact that what is generally a great occasion - 2 teams fighting for the Marn Grook trophy - was marred by the umpiring. There was a really large group of Aboriginal kids that were sitting near us last night (they're not usually there and looked like they were on some sort of excursion/trip) and I was disappointed that last night should have been about celebrating Aborginal involvement in the game but somewhere along the line that became secondary to the fact that the umpires were crap.

[Grant]

I was watching the game with an essenscum supporter and we came to some sort of conclusion about the 'in the back'incidents of the last 2 weeks(Richo and Hall) it seems it is Mal Michaels reaction when touched in back.All occasions if you watch closely he falls forward as soon as he feels any contact and then looks at the umps straight away.It seems he has been getting some pointers from his skipper.
Even worse when an essendon supporter agrees too

[CureTheSane]

Hall gets pinged for a push.
Hall gets pinged for a bump.
Hall gets pinged for HTB.
Michael gets tackled, incorrect disposal. -> Play on (last 5 mins of the game)


So this is no longer a contact sport.

No silly, it's AFS

Australian Rules Soccer

[CureTheSane]

Wow. I'm watching the post-match commentary and they made an interesting observation - why is the padding so high? It's 12 feet off the ground and Buchanan's final kick hit the post at 10 feet - they're saying it would have been a goal anywhere else.

That's crap, it would have hit the post regardless given the angle it was traveling at.

[CureTheSane]

How many frees did James Hird get? We only had to touch the bloke and he was given a free.

Pathetic.

Hird play the game very well.
He is very smart.
He knows how to get free kicks, much like Bolton does by throwing himself at the ball on the ground and getting a 'too high' decision.
I'm sure the umps are on to Hird, and Bolton etc etc but they do what they do within the rules and the umps are left with few options....

[CureTheSane]

If I were Barry Hall I think I might decide to retire after tonight and take up netball instead. I know he often gets the extremely raw end of the stick. (And often blows up when he legitimately gives away frees.) But tonight took things to a whole new level.

If he, alone amongst all players, is not allowed to make even a smidgeon of contact to an opponent he might as well take up a sport where it is non-contact for everyone.

My whole enjoyment of that game was ruined by the most appallingly over-umpired and incorrectly umpired game I think I've ever seen. I know the football both teams dished up was rubbish too but I almost can't focus on that for the appallingness, dreadfulness, woefulness of the maggots' performance.

Yep, in a nutshell, spot on.
Except for the maggot part, I can't go there anymore, it reminds me too much of supporters at the Western Oval or Victoria Park....

[CureTheSane]

I am embarrassed by the booing. Doesn't make us look like great sports, even if it was mostly caused by frustration.

I left immediately after the game ended so wasn't part of it - though admittedly I normally force myself to stay for those presentations, even when we lose.

I am VERY embarrassed by the booing.
I was sitting in another room and heard it on the TV from the lounge room.
Never a great look, and all it did was warm the hearts of Bombers supporters by letting them know how pissed off everyone was.
If that 30 seconds of venting helped those who booed live with the loss, then I find that sad.
I certainly won't be raising my children to boo the opposition players after the win.

[CureTheSane]

you just don't get it.

the booing was telling the afl world that we weren't happy with the umpiring. we have absolutely no other recourse to verbalise our displeasure.

the swans played like pure @@@@ in the first half and in all honesty, deserved the loss.

the umpiring was REALLY FREAKING BAD TONIGHT. worse than i've EVER, EVER seen the game umpired. even worse than bloody siren-gate last year.

once lloyd had finished speaking ... the swans were cheered. what more do they want ... standing ovations for the loss?? not today sweetheart.

Start a petition of something equally as useless as booing to let the AFL know you're pissed with the umpires.

[CureTheSane]

Goodes got booed the whole game against North by the grandma supporters.

Damn.

I was wrong.

Having read that post I realised that we have every right, nay, it was DEMANDED of us, to boo anyone and anything we wanted to.

No offense Nico, I was just usung your post for a bit of fun

[Zlatorog]

Reading through the media articles there was nothing too obvious against the umps, except for mentioning some controversy. Unless, media decides to start pressuring more the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute with rules tinkering, nothing will happen.

[CureTheSane]

In that one Hall used his hands. I thought it was in the side, but if you use your hands now, the umpires seem to be all over it (if you are near the back and they expect you to be pushing). Yet at the same time, Davis was clearly pushed in the side in the 3rd qtr while trying to mark, which should have been a free kick.

The bigger problem than the umpires is the new rules system - Anderson has stuffed the game!

Sopt on.