Senor Moto Gadili wrote:zedman wrote:The Ash Man wrote:I don't usually complain about umpires on here but is anyone else finding them getting worse lately?
The 14yo girl that umpired my U6s yesterday had more of an idea than the 2 that rocked up Saturday.
Can we ban umpires from watching Friday night footy?!
i want to know what happened to the holding the ball rule?
players are given far to long to dispose now or be judged as having prior opportunity..
where is the reward for tackling?
i think the umpires might be as confused as us with interpreting it..
do the league understand that giving the free removes congestion?
we laid over 52 tackles saturday and got one holding the ball..thats not normal..
I can tell you it's no different in Div1. There were a total of 3 holding the ball decisions paid in the TTG v Goodwood Saints game on Saturday and one of those was when the TTG ruckman grabbed the ball out of a ruck contest and was deemed to have had prior opportunity. I would say the average number of holding the ball decisions per game would be less than 5. The umpires are pretty consistent, but it is easy to be consistent when you continually give the guy in possession the benefit of the doubt. It is definitely leading to congestion and a certain amount of frustration with players. Players know they won't be penalised, so they just take the tackle and go for a ball up if there isn't a clear option to kick or handball to a team mate. I'm not saying we should umpire our games to the same standard as AFL, but reducing the time on prior opportunity, rewarding the tackler and paying a few more holding the ball decisions would definitely open the game up a lot more.
bingo..