Cohiba wrote:The point was about umpires.......not players performances.....That said, based on your comment, if players mistakes are often attributed to the outcome of matches.....the same can be said of umpires........Your notion players making a "shitload" of mistakes is a bit lop sided. Your comparing the potential of 21 players making mistakes as opposed to one or two umpires....If the comparison was one on one....I'd be questioning your ability to guarantee anything on this point........
I'll always give due deference to umpires for what they do, good or otherwise....can't have a game without them...no argument.
As for respect...in my book.... got to be earned ... Based on thoughts in this forum alone and on personal observations, it could be said there is more than one "tool" running around with a whistle in his mouth, particularly at Club level depending on your point of view. It is what it is.....Nowadays, the Tribunal sees that they are more than reasonably insulated from the type of abuse and scrutiny levelled at them in the past on both sides of the fence.
To quote the League "they are sacrosanct" (notwithstanding their level of competence and bias).
So let's not get to precious when I stated IMO....."you don't reward mediocrity" even though you seem happy to do so.
I've played senior footy for a long time, and I would say the average umpire in my time would make maybe 5 or 6 100% wrong decisions per game.
If I had the same amount of possessions per game as they had decisions to make, I reckon I would f**k up way more than 5 or 6 of them. Be it by messing up the physical delivery of the ball, or the decision of where to give, shepherd, tackle, bump....yadda yadda. You get my point.
Also, they can only see things from one perspective, and then have multiple guys yelling at them who have seen the same incident from multiple angles between them, that highlights their mistake.
ALSO, when they make a mistake, usually play is stopped, letting everyone know that they have made a decision and it was wrong, now here's 20 seconds for everyone to take it in and get worked up over it. When a player makes a mistake, usually the ball is in play and most players on the field won't have time to think about it too much. Everyone pretty much moves on from it instantly.
I occasionally have a "word" to the umps, but afterwards I still usually respect them after the game. There has only been one umpire I thought blatantly cheated, and I got a 1 game suspension for calling him nasty names after a game a few years ago. He deserved it though. He was dismissed from club umpiring duties not long afterwards, I was told.