Umpires

[Lightning McQueen]

Without too much sh!tcanning, what's expected of umpires, in particular "club" umpires.
I did it for a few years and I didn't encounter too many that I thought were blatantly favouring their side. I'm not saying it didn't happen though as there were a few poor efforts.
It does make it hard when you do encounter one as you don't want to stoop to that level but you know you are going to cop criticism from your own over a few bevvies later that night.
Not a day goes by where an umpire doesn't cop a roasting on here, I took things to heart when players had a whinge about a decision I made, I'd try to get near them when the play was a mile away and explain how I seen it, I don't know if it made a difference but I felt better letting them know why I infringed them.

[Choccies]

I think you're about spot on there LM. If I gave away a free, I didn't mind being told why but I also didn't mind the ump every now and again saying "Hey maybe I was wrong on that one" rather than proclaiming to be correct 100% of the time. That "I'm the umpire, I'm always right and don't u dare question me" attitude sucks ass and is the type of umpire I have no time for. Having umpired social sport for many years I always found the reception much better if I admitted that maybe I got a call wrong rather than pretending I was god...

[Lightning McQueen]

Some players take it on board some tell me to **** off, I know it's a game of emotions so I leave it at that, I think the best umpires are the ones that go un-noticed, I've been through games where I haven't paid a free til the 3rd quarter, whether it's right or wrong, it's just how it panned out.

[Lightning McQueen]

Some of the better ones I've worked with in the SAAFL are:
Beetle from NH seemed to be on the same wave-length and the players were getting awarded/ penalized the same up each end.
Did a game with Lee Swiderski from BOS and thought he did a great job.
Terry Jeffreys from Rosies last season was good to partner with.
Like i said in the initial post, most are out there to do the right thing, I'd find it harder to cheat than to just find a line in the sand and stick by it, I'd feel stupid and embarassed.

[BenchedEagle]

I agree but really frustrates me is not umpiring missing decisions, getting a couple wrong, you expect that. But the ones that give blatantly wrong decisions favouring their own side. That i cant stomach. Ill quote Kilburns water lady from the weekend

'We cop bad umpiring every week why cant we get some decisions back?'

Absolutly disgraceful attitude especially when our umpire at the other end Shane Ryan is one of their fairest you could ask for when he does get roped into umpiring.

I have maintained a lot of disipline in my 100+ games of amatuer footy, only ever giving away 1 25m penalty and never been reported, but the umpires we have been exposed to in Div C4 has really killed my love of the game. I am finding myself abusing them which i dont like to do.

Gah, just very frustrating when all you want is a fair contest

[Lightning McQueen]

I agree but really frustrates me is not umpiring missing decisions, getting a couple wrong, you expect that. But the ones that give blatantly wrong decisions favouring their own side. That i cant stomach. Ill quote Kilburns water lady from the weekend

'We cop bad umpiring every week why cant we get some decisions back?'

Absolutly disgraceful attitude especially when our umpire at the other end Shane Ryan is one of their fairest you could ask for when he does get roped into umpiring.

I have maintained a lot of disipline in my 100+ games of amatuer footy, only ever giving away 1 25m penalty and never been reported, but the umpires we have been exposed to in Div C4 has really killed my love of the game. I am finding myself abusing them which i dont like to do.

Gah, just very frustrating when all you want is a fair contest

Good that you can accept that, I had one player go nuts at me for missing a throw, he screamed at me "you are ****** hopeless, how can you **** that up" I replied, you'ved turned the ball over 3 times and I'm not bagging you.

Yeah, Shane goes alright.

[SATCHEL]

The Good:

The C3 GG club Ump. Cant remember his name (sh!ts me coz he was a great bloke only ump ive had a drink with after a game)
Mcinnerny C3. used to coach our A grade a few years back. Direct, unrelenting but fair and let play go on.

Well;;;?
Div3r: Our club ump. Tries his hardest to not look biast in anyway which makes us even more angry tahn when an opposition club ump blatantly cheats.
Div 3r: Para Hills club ump.
Div 3r: SMOSH club ump (the old guy) not going to say anymore there otherwise ill get banned and I like Shimma
C3: SMOSH fill in ump last week, was a player that couldnt get a game. Should never have happened
Div 3: The red haired bloke from last week. Comes up on here every week.

I do agree with you LM. If tehy would just swallow their pride to just say that they have got it wrong. As tghe replies to some of m,y comments to not having umpires officiate their own club matches but send them elsewhere. Logistically might be a nightmare but i still feel it would clamp out some of the issues we are having. Or they MUST attend regular sessions with the Ump Coach or whatever they have. Atleast attend some sort of qualifcation to be able to officiate and put some accountability back on the umps and/or their clubs to make sure the right way is adopted.

[Lightning McQueen]

Umpire reports should be mandatory where club supplied umpires are concerned, this way the SAAFL can identify trends.
Manbag, blokes wont want to go to seminars etc. they need their own to tell them that they are disgracing their club.

[Choccies]

The Good:

The C3 GG club Ump. Cant remember his name (sh!ts me coz he was a great bloke only ump ive had a drink with after a game)
Mcinnerny C3. used to coach our A grade a few years back. Direct, unrelenting but fair and let play go on.

Well;;;?
Div3r: Our club ump. Tries his hardest to not look biast in anyway which makes us even more angry tahn when an opposition club ump blatantly cheats.
Div 3r: Para Hills club ump.
Div 3r: SMOSH club ump (the old guy) not going to say anymore there otherwise ill get banned and I like Shimma
C3: SMOSH fill in ump last week, was a player that couldnt get a game. Should never have happened
Div 3: The red haired bloke from last week. Comes up on here every week.

I do agree with you LM. If tehy would just swallow their pride to just say that they have got it wrong. As tghe replies to some of m,y comments to not having umpires officiate their own club matches but send them elsewhere. Logistically might be a nightmare but i still feel it would clamp out some of the issues we are having. Or they MUST attend regular sessions with the Ump Coach or whatever they have. Atleast attend some sort of qualifcation to be able to officiate and put some accountability back on the umps and/or their clubs to make sure the right way is adopted.

GG c grade ump is Ashley Mitchell the former A grade coach. Does a great job Mitch and gives as good as he gets if its warranted which can be amusing at times !! Paid a holding the ball against me earlier in the year cos he told me the game was getting boring !!

[SATCHEL]

The Good:

The C3 GG club Ump. Cant remember his name (sh!ts me coz he was a great bloke only ump ive had a drink with after a game)
Mcinnerny C3. used to coach our A grade a few years back. Direct, unrelenting but fair and let play go on.

Well;;;?
Div3r: Our club ump. Tries his hardest to not look biast in anyway which makes us even more angry tahn when an opposition club ump blatantly cheats.
Div 3r: Para Hills club ump.
Div 3r: SMOSH club ump (the old guy) not going to say anymore there otherwise ill get banned and I like Shimma
C3: SMOSH fill in ump last week, was a player that couldnt get a game. Should never have happened
Div 3: The red haired bloke from last week. Comes up on here every week.

I do agree with you LM. If tehy would just swallow their pride to just say that they have got it wrong. As tghe replies to some of m,y comments to not having umpires officiate their own club matches but send them elsewhere. Logistically might be a nightmare but i still feel it would clamp out some of the issues we are having. Or they MUST attend regular sessions with the Ump Coach or whatever they have. Atleast attend some sort of qualifcation to be able to officiate and put some accountability back on the umps and/or their clubs to make sure the right way is adopted.

Is this not what i was trying to put as a second option. Keep pumping the manbag thing mate i love it.

[Push in the Back]

Former players usually are bloody sound. I know years back that Para Hills had a former player trotting around who was very good. Same with Rosies. I reckon Tony Fiore at Kennilworth too was a good ref. I found the more they didnt look like an umpire the better they were!

[mickey]

The worst time to be a player is when a club umpire makes a dodgy call early on in the game favouring his own side.. (intentional or not)
Then the other club umpire pays a dodgy 1 to his side to even it up..
and so on and so forth for the rest of the game until there is an all in just before half time because depending on whos umpire has control at the time u can either get away with blue murder, going to get your head taken off or cant go within 3 meters without giving a free away

[Lightning McQueen]

The worst time to be a player is when a club umpire makes a dodgy call early on in the game favouring his own side.. (intentional or not)
Then the other club umpire pays a dodgy 1 to his side to even it up..
and so on and so forth for the rest of the game until there is an all in just before half time because depending on whos umpire has control at the time u can either get away with blue murder, going to get your head taken off or cant go within 3 meters without giving a free away

You are correct mate, unfortunately the games are usually highly intense for the first 10 minutes which makes it hard, ball-ups early are the norm.

[Lightning McQueen]

Former players usually are bloody sound. I know years back that Para Hills had a former player trotting around who was very good. Same with Rosies. I reckon Tony Fiore at Kennilworth too was a good ref. I found the more they didnt look like an umpire the better they were!

I don't know what he was like as a ref but he umpires well.

[Lightning McQueen]

The Good:

The C3 GG club Ump. Cant remember his name (sh!ts me coz he was a great bloke only ump ive had a drink with after a game)
Mcinnerny C3. used to coach our A grade a few years back. Direct, unrelenting but fair and let play go on.

Well;;;?
Div3r: Our club ump. Tries his hardest to not look biast in anyway which makes us even more angry tahn when an opposition club ump blatantly cheats.
Div 3r: Para Hills club ump.
Div 3r: SMOSH club ump (the old guy) not going to say anymore there otherwise ill get banned and I like Shimma
C3: SMOSH fill in ump last week, was a player that couldnt get a game. Should never have happened
Div 3: The red haired bloke from last week. Comes up on here every week.

I do agree with you LM. If tehy would just swallow their pride to just say that they have got it wrong. As tghe replies to some of m,y comments to not having umpires officiate their own club matches but send them elsewhere. Logistically might be a nightmare but i still feel it would clamp out some of the issues we are having. Or they MUST attend regular sessions with the Ump Coach or whatever they have. Atleast attend some sort of qualifcation to be able to officiate and put some accountability back on the umps and/or their clubs to make sure the right way is adopted.

Is this not what i was trying to put as a second option. Keep pumping the manbag thing mate i love it.

Sorry manbag, I didn't see the fine print, don't lose yuor skittles

[Lightning McQueen]

GG c grade ump is Ashley Mitchell the former A grade coach. Does a great job Mitch and gives as good as he gets if its warranted which can be amusing at times !! Paid a holding the ball against me earlier in the year cos he told me the game was getting boring !!

That's all good when it's your own club, sometimes you just have to pluck a free out though to get the ball cleared, I've had to do at least 10 ball-ups within 3 minutes on many occasions, it frustrates everyone and that's when something untoward is likely to happen.

[Jabber]

Umpire reports should be mandatory where club supplied umpires are concerned, this way the SAAFL can identify trends.
Manbag, blokes wont want to go to seminars etc. they need their own to tell them that they are disgracing their club.

I've been saying this for years and years that it should be compulsory for umpires reports to be submitted, that way any blatant cheats (and they cheat every week, not just every now and then!) could be found out and the club can be questioned, or an observer be appointed to go out and watch and make a judgement.

The best umpires are the ones that put thier hands up and admit when they make mistakes on the field. I can remember a handful of times when i've apologised for blowing the whistle too early, or if i made a decision and then it occured to me that i might have buggered it up.

But the umps out there that make a clear mistake and know they've done it, and then look blankly back at you as if to say "ive blown the whistle so it doesnt matter whether i'm right or wrong", they are the umps that aren't helping themselves, or the umpiring group as a whole.

Is all about communication, and the umps with the best communication are generally the best umps. If everyone on the ground knows what your doing and why you've done it then generally you'll be classed at the end of the game as doing an ok job.

There are some umps out there that just blow the whistle and walk over to the players pointing in the direction of the free kick, they dont even bother signalling what the free was for! Players have every right to get frustrated when that happens, thats just lazy and then confusion reigns!

[Lightning McQueen]

Spot on Jab, you tend to not cop crap from the crowd when you clearly signal what you've called and chat as you go along.
It's the way you handle yourself after an error which is critical, you can't see everything so there's no point in guessing what has happened, ball-up if in doubt.

[Jabber]

Spot on Jab, you tend to not cop crap from the crowd when you clearly signal what you've called and chat as you go along.
It's the way you handle yourself after an error which is critical, you can't see everything so there's no point in guessing what has happened, ball-up if in doubt.

Did we ever umpire together LM? I know i copped a spray from a smithfield lady on the sidelines once she advised me to "open your **** eyes you big fat ******* jaffa", i had a little giggle at that.

[Push in the Back]

Former players usually are bloody sound. I know years back that Para Hills had a former player trotting around who was very good. Same with Rosies. I reckon Tony Fiore at Kennilworth too was a good ref. I found the more they didnt look like an umpire the better they were!

I don't know what he was like as a ref but he umpires well.

Sorry LM - ref aka nerd, white maggot, blind man, sh$t bloke, cheat, wan%er oh and on a good day - umpire.