I have been
playing and watching Australian football (Aussie rules or now more widely known
as AFL) for 65 years and I’ve recently come to accept that I just don’t enjoy
the game as much as I used to. Frequent rule changes, and constant meddling
from AFL house have turned the game into a farce. I recently attended an AFL
game at Adelaide Oval where more than 70 free kicks were awarded!!!
Some of the
rule changes in recent times have been good ones – only 6 players in the centre
square when the ball is thrown up is working well. The last touch or lasso rule
is a vast improvement on the ludicrous and clumsily worded ‘insufficient
intent’ rule; which was itself an attempt to update the deliberate out of
bounds free kick.
The rule that’s
driving everybody crazy at the moment is the stand rule and I will return to
that but there are several new rules or interpretations that have slowed the
game down and are ruining the game as a spectacle. They are of the so-called
tiggy touchwood variety. For example,
- If I hold your guernsey for even 1 second or less it’s a free kick against me.
- If I touch you anywhere on the arms or the head or shoulders in a marking contest it’s a free kick against me
- If I make any front on contact with you, even the slightest touch, in a marking contest – free kick.
The absurd
part of this is that often if these infringements happen at the other end of
the ground when a forward interferes with a defender in the same fashion it’s
play on!
When I
played the game the key word in understanding the holding the man rule was retard.
If a player was retarded when they did not have the ball it was a free
kick. You could in theory run 20 metres with someone holding on to your
guernsey and it was play on because you were not being retarded.
Years back
you were only penalised in a marking contest if you made significant impact with
a player’s head. Incidental contact was play on.
It’s a sad
fact that so many marking contests in the forward fifty result in a free kick
and the game stops. (A friend from Germany watching their first game of AFL
commented after about 5 minutes – “this game stops a lot.” It really surprised
me, but compared to soccer they’re right. It does.) There are way too many free
kicks paid where the game stops, and the 30 second rule when shooting for goal
is also dead time for spectators (but money-making time for TV sponsors).
Players in the past on average took about 10 seconds to shoot for goal. And
guess what? They were just as accurate as modern day players who take up to 30
seconds with their ridiculous routines.
THE
STAND RULE
The stand
rule was brought in to try and make the game faster. In the past players could
move around on the mark left or right but could not advance towards the player
taking the free kick until play on was called. Now the player on the mark has
to stand dead still until the umpire calls play on. If you don’t stand dead
still, OR if no one stands the mark it is a 50 metre penalty. This is another
example of over officiating. If a team chooses not to stand the mark that is
their prerogative – it is in fact an advantage to your opposition as you are effectively
letting that player run free. For a team to be penalised 50 metres for not standing
the mark is insane. Same applies for the
player that encroaches on the ‘protected zone’. The game was doing fine for 150
years without a protected zone around the player taking a free kick – scrap it!
In nearly
every game goals are scored because of these crazy 50 metre penalties, and
given the number of games that get decided by a goal or less in a mostly very
even competition, this means teams are winning games because they were awarded
freebies by over officiating umpires, not because they were the better team.
Too many games are being decided by intrusive and pointless umpiring decisions.
And there’s nothing more ridiculous than seeing a player wildly celebrating the
fact they’ve just kicked a goal because they were gifted a 50 metre freebie by
the umpire – not because they did anything special.
Someone
recently commented that fans don’t get angry at these dumb rules anymore – they
just shake their heads in bewilderment. I was never one to complain that much
about umpires but these days when I find myself frequently disagreeing with so many
umpiring decisions I know something is wrong. The game’s changed. There was
always the odd ‘howler’ – it’s a hard game to umpire - but now every game has
several howlers because of stupid new rules and interpretations that aren’t
needed. It is not the umpires’ fault – they are being instructed by people at
AFL house to over umpire the game and award free kicks for minor inconsequential
infringements. Consequently, the game is getting harder to watch and enjoy.
I like what
Kane Cornes recently suggested as one step forward: unless an umpire is 100%
sure there’s a free kick, then it’s play on. Too many free kicks ruin otherwise
good games. Less free kicks means a better and more satisfying spectacle. Let
the players play! Stop interrupting the game.
