Sydney Swans and the umpires

[KirkysSocks]

KS, ROK was slam tackled by a Brisbane player.

Today watching on TV most decisions both ways were there. It are the ones that get missed that irk me.

Kennedy gets pinged for HTB in a standing tackle when the replay showed he had no prior opportunity. After that there were at least 6 the same or even more blatant where Freo were caught in standing tackles but none were paid.

2 deliberate OOB against Freo not paid. Duffield's was disgraceful.

Gary Rohan was hit head high and front on by Crowley and no free was given about 30 out from goal. Crowley will probably get cited by the MRP. Ball goes up the ground and Crowley kicks the goal.

3 slapping of the arms to Goodes in the first Q. Pavlich gets a little touch and it is paid.

I was reffering to the essendon and st kilda player (hayes and hille). And some others last weekend.

Goodes has been treated poorly. How many times has he used his strenth and pace to beat a defender for only to get pinged. Happened against North and i think it was the cats? Both times he took a good contested mark.

[mcs]

I can deal with the odd bad call, but its the inconsistency that kills me. What is a free at one end of the ground is a free at the other. Perfect example today was when someone (LRT or Kennedy maybe) got pinged for HTB in our defensive 50 because he tried to get posession, dragged it in than the Frockes player jumped on his back and held it in. FK which gave Freo an easy goal. About 90 seconds later, exact same thing (Except Swans player didn't jump on guys back but did hold it in)- no free given. its that sort of inconsistency that I am sure shorten's my life expectancy every time I watch us play.

There has been some awful umpiring this year- worst by far was the 1st quarter of the Kangas game, but there are a few other patches of dreadful umpiring as well. And the junk time free kick thing happens often across the AFL i find to try and line up the FK numbers.

[bodgie]

In the last few weeks there has been a pattern of overly officious inconsistent decisions in the first half, sucking out any momentum we were generating, then a second half of open umpiring when we're out of the game.

[KirkysSocks]

I can deal with the odd bad call, but its the inconsistency that kills me. What is a free at one end of the ground is a free at the other. Perfect example today was when someone (LRT or Kennedy maybe) got pinged for HTB in our defensive 50 because he tried to get posession, dragged it in than the Frockes player jumped on his back and held it in. FK which gave Freo an easy goal. About 90 seconds later, exact same thing (Except Swans player didn't jump on guys back but did hold it in)- no free given. its that sort of inconsistency that I am sure shorten's my life expectancy every time I watch us play.

There has been some awful umpiring this year- worst by far was the 1st quarter of the Kangas game, but there are a few other patches of dreadful umpiring as well. And the junk time free kick thing happens often across the AFL i find to try and line up the FK numbers.

The one that still gets my blood boiling is dawsons attack to the back of tadhgs head in rnd 1. At that stage had we got the 50 we would have goaled and the margin would have only been 2 points. Sure we could have lost but we had all the momentum at that stage. As it stood Tadhg was left seeing stars from a double hit to head (2nd blow when head hit the ground) we fluffed up the free outside 50 the saints get the ball and score a goal. Dawson did not even have too face up to the MRP.

The ROK tackle, which ironically enough has seen ROKs current form slump (he was at that stage of the game tearing it up) is another major one. Just because of the mumford suspension a week later.

[AnnieH]

I said a few times during the game that the umpires umpire the game like the Sydney crowd don't know the rules.

Personally, I think it's about time a formal complaint was made.

Cop the 20K fine (I swear to L Ron Hubbard I'll stand outside the ground with a bucket to collect it) - and maybe not get beaten by the maggots.

[Swanner]

i agree with the sentiments of th eoriginal post. I am seriously thinking it is a waste of time watching the afl. The umpiring got a lot worse when there was more gambling on games. Its not inconsistency trust me.

[bondy]

HTB was awful today. Baffling interpretations for die-hard AFL fans let alone those new to the game. Disgraceful.

[swansrule100]

i actually thought there were a few throws not called today

[SimonH]

Sure I was frustrated by the performance generally by late in Q4, but I just absolutely blew up after Rohan was collected head-high, front-on, in a reckless challenge by a player who never had possession of the ball and was going over the top.

Right. In. Front. Of. The. Umpire.

We are deprived of our #1 ruckman, who we desperately need because our #2 is out injured, for 2 of the most critical games of the season, because the AFL decrees that the head is so sacrosanct that you can't even tackle someone vigorously around their midriff if it may have any possible ill-effects for the noggin of the tacklee; yet when a young player of ours putting his head over the footy has his head removed, it's play on.

@@@@ this bunch of absolute @@@@ing moronic @@@@wits, was something like my immediate reaction.

[dimelb]

i actually thought there were a few throws not called today

Me too.

[dimelb]

Sure I was frustrated by the performance generally by late in Q4, but I just absolutely blew up after Rohan was collected head-high, front-on, in a reckless challenge by a player who never had possession of the ball and was going over the top.

Right. In. Front. Of. The. Umpire.

We are deprived of our #1 ruckman, who we desperately need because our #2 is out injured, for 2 of the most critical games of the season, because the AFL decrees that the head is so sacrosanct that you can't even tackle someone vigorously around their midriff if it may have any possible ill-effects for the noggin of the tacklee; yet when a young player of ours putting his head over the footy has his head removed, it's play on.

@@@@ this bunch of absolute @@@@ing moronic @@@@wits, was something like my immediate reaction.

The most outrageous inaction of the day.

[Jesse Richards]

I agree with the thrust of this thread.

What is going on re umpires not paying frees to Gary Rohan for high contact on him? It happened in the Geelong match, against the Dogs and then again today. I have photos from the Dogs match where the Dogs player has both arms wrapped around Rohan, above his shoulders. He didn't duck into it - previous frames show that he stood up, rather than ducked. No free paid. Has he offended an umpire or two in his previous incarnation? Or just the audacity to go to the Swans?

Re the free kicks, evening up etc. Has anyone else noticed occasions when umpires have not played advantage when it was definitely a disadvantage to us to be called back? Why call the free in the first place? Because in calling the free, they even up, but by not playing advantage they penalise us, stopping our run forward.

When will this be seen to be what it is? When does it become cheating? When does cheating become corruption? What do the Swans have to do to ensure that their players' heads will be protected by the umpires? Whatever is or isn't happening, I am heartily sick of it and so are the other people posting in this thread. And why isn't the AFL addressing the issue?

It's not about winning or losing, nor sour grapes - it's about fairness, consistency and our players being given the protection they need.

[goswannie14]

i actually thought there were a few throws not called today

We were commenting on that whilst watching it on TV. We thought there had been a rule change it was that bad.

[top40]

My issue is not so much a "we woz rob" mentality, (I leave that to the Round 1 game against St Kilda). In this instance the Dockers were overall the better side, and clearly so in the first half.

The problem I have is the obsession that some of the umpires have to blow their whistle every 90 seconds or so. Consequently, as a spectator you are bracing yourself, not to see some great footy, but to hear the constant blowing of the whistle. The game is losing its body contact impact, and becoming like basketball.

What really irritates me is when an umpire awards a free kick in a situation where clearly he is relying, not on what he saw on the balance of probabilities, but on pure speculation and guess work. The free kick against Paul Bevan in the third quarter that led to a Fremantle goal, (and they kicked at least 4 goals from free kicks), was a case in question. Besides the fact that there was no body contact, there was no prospect that umpire Michael Avon could have seen any such body contact. He just guessed. That free kick and resultant goal ended the Swans? momentum at that time effectively ending the game as a contest.

This fixated whistle blowing is an issue that the AFL can not put their heads in the sand. The metropolitan areas of Sydney represents a huge competitive environment for the three winter based football codes, AFL, NRL and Rugby Union. This competitive battle is particularly acute with the introduction in 2012 of a Greater Western Sydney AFL team, and the consequent need for the Swans to thereafter survive.

I was extremely disappointed by the way the Sydney-Fremantle games were administrated by the umpires. The umpires effectively dominated the game by relentless and often very very soft free kicks. Further critical decisions were made that had a significant impact on the game.

As someone who great up on Rugby League, at least you are not bombarded with constant free kicks, and where some appropriate and reasonable amount of body contact is permissible; witness a 2007 New South Wales-Queensland State of Origin game where the first free kick arose 14 minutes into the second half.

[Hartijon]

The Umpires come from Melbourne and have a subconscious hate for Sydney that goes back generations. I don't think they intentionally cheat except with say Barry hall who they wanted to have power over because the umpires are often frustrated alpha type men. The only games I ever remember where we got fair umpiring were the 3 Grand Finals and we were also lucky in the 2005 Geelong final that Kirky was not pinged for dropping the ball!