Remove home town biased umpiring.
Have an independent review the video. If biased is found, suspend the ump.
Right now there is no disincentive for bias umpiring. In fact there is reward as the local fans don't criticism them.
They can create a new rule that will stop grubby green expose his studs.
Wild speculation, unsubstantiated rumours, silly jokes and opposition delight in another's failures is what makes an internet forum fun.
Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones who let in the light.
Funny how I haven't heard anything about the rolling maul in the finals or the standard of footy in the finals. Our game was rubbish and the GWS v Pies was an average game at best. It clearly suits the agendas of the footy journos to keep the the kettle boiling during the season. This 18 metre goal rectangle looks quite ridiculous. So all the bulldust that went on, to the point where a committee was set up to look at basic changes to the game has come to what?
The Age reckons the commission wants to abolish hands-in-the-back, penalising only for a push.
I always thought the point of the rule was that an umpire can't judge the force from a distance, so the simplest solution was to penalise any contact.
And that's the issue with these rule changes right there. The reasoning behind many of them seems to be poorly-communicated at best and non-existent at worst.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/...17-p504c1.html
Everything old is truly new again. I didn't mind the old rule, but yet again its a case of putting grey into an area that, in the broader scheme of things, is surely not what is needed.
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
The hands in the back rule, which was originally brought in under the leadership of former AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick in 2006, has been a large area of frustration for footy fans and players, in particular forwards.
Has it? I reckon that it's a rule players adapted to quite quickly. I doubt there are more than a couple of HIB (non-pushing) frees paid each week. Maybe fewer. On the other hand, the competition does have a problem with players (from all clubs) accentuating contact and making no effort to stand their ground, in an attempt to get a free kick.
From that Age article:
“Incorrect disposal, deliberate out of bounds, the protected area 50m penalty, contact below the knees and contact in ruck contests are the other five areas that the committee want changed for 2019.”
Contact below the knees is a contentious one, but absolutely required to prevent serious injury.
Also, the pay the "hands in the back " consistently, but most people think it's "push in the back", and say where was the push?. So it's a terminology problem.
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