Originally Posted by
dejavoodoo44
I was agreeing with you; up until then. That is, if the ball goes through, it's a goal, and it doesn't matter if it's been touched or hit the post. But to me, if it hits the big stick and doesn't go through, then it should be a behind. My reasoning concerns player safety. I can easily imagine a ball thudding into the fat bit and only rebounding a metre or so. With desperate players trying to gather the ball, there seems to me, too much potential for them to do themselves an injury, through hitting the post at high speed.
In regards to perceptions of unfair umpiring, I think one of the problems, certainly from the point of view of non-Victorian fans, is that the structures are Victorian dominated. Most of the game's administrators are in Melbourne. Most of the AFL media are Melbourne based. And most of the umpires live in Victoria. So, when a non-Victorian side travels to play in Victoria and a lopsided free kick count ensues, it's easy for supporters to make a case, that the Victorian umpires are being influenced by Victorian fans, the Victorian media and the Victorian administrators, to give an unfair advantage to the Victorian teams.
Personally, I would like to see a long term plan to address that. Which would be for the AFL to do much more to develop umpires from outside of Victoria, in order to eventually have a system of neutral umpires. For instance, if a South Australian team plays a Victorian team in Melbourne, then the umpires would come from any other state or territory. Much the same way that international level cricket umpires, don't officiate tests in their own country, or overseas tests involving their own nation. I think that system would cut down on the perceptions of bias. I also believe that it would cut down on actual bias: but to discuss that, it would have to be a much longer post.
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