27 May 2021
The week’s appointments – 29 May 2021:
Ports vs Kimba Districts at Arno Bay
Paul Trussell - Tim Ottens - Butch Pfitzner
Cowell V Eastern Ranges at Cowell
Andrew Buckham - Craig O'Brien - Spud Jenner
Unavailable
Daryl Thomas - Darryl Chester - Tristan Baldock - Matt Dunn
Good luck to Craig O'Brien who umpires his first Eastern Eyre A grade game at Cowell this weekend. Craig was a 400 game player for Central Eyre and had been umpiring A grade football in Mid West the last few seasons. I have umpired with Craig at Kinlough Cup and would gladly have him on the panel full time.
Spud Jenner needs no introduction, he is also a 400 game player and quite possibly our most experienced club umpire. Spud has done a couple of A grade games over the years and as he has done when he was a player, he steps up when the level rises.
Well done to these two blokes to come up to A grade to help us out and I expect nothing but the respect they deserve from players and supporters on Saturday.
I have received a bit of feedback telling me that we have been letting a few high tackles go without penalty. Let's sharpen up on this area, we have told the clubs “The head is sacrosanct”. We need to continue to protect the player with his head over the ball and send a reminder to the tackler that they have a duty of care. If a player ducks his head then there needs to be a loud call of 'Ducked your head, Play on'. Of course this doesn't give the tackler a green light to take his head off. I realise some of these high tackles may seem a bit soft but they are the rules and we have all agreed to play under them. Let captain/coaches know before the game that we have been a lax in this area but will be clamping down on it this week and for the future.
When the 'Last disposal out of bounds' rule came in I thought it would eliminate the deliberate out of bounds rule and be easy to administer as it was 'black & white'. However like every other rule it has become open to interpretation. Let's keep it simple a kick or a handball out of bounds is a free kick, everything else throw it in. In the game at Kimba last week a Cowell player attacked the ball and it shot off his boot involuntary and went out on the full 30 metres away. However, a chat between the central and boundary umpires decided that it was a 'bump ball' and was not out on the full but was still paid as a last disposal. If that kick had been kicked on the full it would have been paid as such, if it had gone through for a goal it would have been paid as a goal. Therefore, it has to be paid as a disposal and penalised. One thing to remember though is all rules can be administered with 'common sense' and I believe it is something our panel does excel in.
Cheers
Peter Lines
Umpires Director
Last Modified on 29/05/2021 00:59