The Four Umpire System = Debacle

[Rik E Boy]

We've had a lot of shit foisted upon us by AFL House over the past few seasons but the four umpire system takes the cake. I have many well known pet hates in modern footy but if I could change ONE thing it would be to abolish the four umpire system.

Australian Rules, and especially at the AFL level, would have to be one of the most difficult codes to officiate. The last thing we need is 9 extra umpires thinning out the talent pool. One of the sure signs of poor officiating is when the players are confused. How many times have seen confused players this season? The absolute height of comedy concerning the four umpiring system occurred in the Collingwood-St Kilda game. No one knew WTF was going on.

It's he said, she said umpiring by committee and a complete disaster for the game. There is already too much emphasis on umpires and it appears to me that some are making decisions simply to justify their existence. PISS THIS SHIT OFF. [/rant].

regards,

REB

[Jimmy_041]

We've had a lot of shit foisted upon us by AFL House over the past few seasons but the four umpire system takes the cake. I have many well known pet hates in modern footy but if I could change ONE thing it would be to abolish the four umpire system.

Australian Rules, and especially at the AFL level, would have to be one of the most difficult codes to officiate. The last thing we need is 9 extra umpires thinning out the talent pool. One of the sure signs of poor officiating is when the players are confused. How many times have seen confused players this season? The absolute height of comedy concerning the four umpiring system occurred in the Collingwood-St Kilda game. No one knew WTF was going on.

It's he said, she said umpiring by committee and a complete disaster for the game. There is already too much emphasis on umpires and it appears to me that some are making decisions simply to justify their existence. PISS THIS SHIT OFF. [/rant].

regards,

REB

Pi$$ the statue on the mark off as well
Made a difference for 5 minutes. Now its just another reason for these idiots to make themselves look important

[Columbo]

We've had a lot of shit foisted upon us by AFL House over the past few seasons but the four umpire system takes the cake. I have many well known pet hates in modern footy but if I could change ONE thing it would be to abolish the four umpire system.

Australian Rules, and especially at the AFL level, would have to be one of the most difficult codes to officiate. The last thing we need is 9 extra umpires thinning out the talent pool. One of the sure signs of poor officiating is when the players are confused. How many times have seen confused players this season? The absolute height of comedy concerning the four umpiring system occurred in the Collingwood-St Kilda game. No one knew WTF was going on.

It's he said, she said umpiring by committee and a complete disaster for the game. There is already too much emphasis on umpires and it appears to me that some are making decisions simply to justify their existence. PISS THIS SHIT OFF. [/rant].

regards,

REB

This topic was raised with Stephen Hocking at the Q & A session after Geelong's training session at Woodville on Saturday as it was something that was trialled during in his days at the AFL.
According to Hocking the theory behind it was a to reduce the distance covered by the umpires during a game and ultimately keep them in the game longer. From memory it was mentioned that umpires could run upwards of 15km a game with the 3 umpire system, with the introduction of the 4th it could drop to 8 - 9 km, as a result last weekend a couple of the umpires who did the Thursday night game also did another game on Sunday. He also mentioned that 4 or 5 years ago there were 30 umpires and around a third were over 40 years old, there are now just over 40 umpires and they have been able to bring in some younger ones but also retain the experience to support them by reducing the workload.

[Booney]

I've noticed a real change. It's gone from shit with 3 umpires to shit with 4 umpires.

[gadj1976]

We've had a lot of shit foisted upon us by AFL House over the past few seasons but the four umpire system takes the cake. I have many well known pet hates in modern footy but if I could change ONE thing it would be to abolish the four umpire system.

Australian Rules, and especially at the AFL level, would have to be one of the most difficult codes to officiate. The last thing we need is 9 extra umpires thinning out the talent pool. One of the sure signs of poor officiating is when the players are confused. How many times have seen confused players this season? The absolute height of comedy concerning the four umpiring system occurred in the Collingwood-St Kilda game. No one knew WTF was going on.

It's he said, she said umpiring by committee and a complete disaster for the game. There is already too much emphasis on umpires and it appears to me that some are making decisions simply to justify their existence. PISS THIS SHIT OFF. [/rant].

regards,

REB

This topic was raised with Stephen Hocking at the Q & A session after Geelong's training session at Woodville on Saturday as it was something that was trialled during in his days at the AFL.
According to Hocking the theory behind it was a to reduce the distance covered by the umpires during a game and ultimately keep them in the game longer. From memory it was mentioned that umpires could run upwards of 15km a game with the 3 umpire system, with the introduction of the 4th it could drop to 8 - 9 km, as a result last weekend a couple of the umpires who did the Thursday night game also did another game on Sunday. He also mentioned that 4 or 5 years ago there were 30 umpires and around a third were over 40 years old, there are now just over 40 umpires and they have been able to bring in some younger ones but also retain the experience to support them by reducing the workload.

Again, it's the rules that are the issue, not the umpires.