By: Steve Fleay

Steve Fleay — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:11:44 +0000

It is interesting that many critics of todays rules and interpretations forget why the changes have been made. One only has to think back a decade when a defender was under pressure he just dived on the ball and held it in tight waiting for his mates to have time to turn up in the ensuing ball-up. Very boring football. Not long ago we were witnessing coaches instructing their players to cheat by giving an opponent who had already completed a mark in front of them a good shove or bump off balance to stop them moving the ball on immediately. The rule committee actually took years too long to pick up on that one. Or the defenders that haven’t the skill to compete so they dont play the ball, a primary essence of the game, instead targeting the players arms, just as illegal in a marking contest as a hit to the head.
As with the greater scrutiny of the doubtful methods used by those most negative of players taggers, many of the changes in the current game are to protect the skillful. The modern use of “professional fouling” to see what they can get away with has put a lot of pressure on umpires and law makers.
Having said that perhaps 10 years for Jeff Gieschen is enough for some-one in any position and the hand in the back rule has maybe has gone a tad far in it’s current form.

By: John Ryan

John Ryan — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:31:05 +0000

Ye Gods what a waste of space,who gives a stuff what a halfwitted Victorian thinks at the best of times.
Who bloody cares,surely there was more going on in the world than this type of cretinous rubbish

Comments on: Why it’s time for AFL umpire boss Jeff Gieschen to go

By: Steve Fleay

By: John Ryan