One would hope the country’s biggest football code could get the basics right

If there is to be any legal action, one would suggest Laura Kane and the AFL would be at the heart of it.

It’s a case The Castle’s Dennis Denuto would baulk at, but right now four AFL umpires say they are seriously considering suing three footy commentators for defamation, claiming their integrity and professionalism was impugned by false allegations, never mind that the commentary in question was inspired by the AFL’s own press release and statements by its executive general manager of football operations, Laura Kane.

Talk about misdirected rage.

One would think the four umps, Simon Meredith, Justin Power, Craig Fleer and Martin Rodger, would be directing their justifiable anger at the league rather than Channel 7’s Kane Cornes, Luke Hodge and Dale Thomas.

Justin Power is one of the four umpires considering suing for defamation. Picture: Michael Klein

After all, it was the AFL that issued contradictory and erroneous statements, including one that painted the umpires as deeply dishonest and perhaps involved in a cover-up after Collingwood’s Lachie Schultz suffered concussion in last month’s clash against Fremantle at Perth Stadium.

Are the media now expected to treat official AFL statements and comments from football boss Kane as inherently unreliable?

Given that Hodge, Cornes and Thomas’s commentary was based on official AFL communications, one can argue everything they said was entirely justified.

It was the AFL that stuffed up, not the former players.

Umpires are considering taking legal action against Luke Hodge, Dale Thomas and Kane Cornes.

One would hope the country’s biggest football code could get the basics right and not be forced to issue multiple clarifications and corrections concerning a rather simple matter.

Kane has apologised for the debacle, but if there is to be any legal action, one would suggest she and the AFL would be at the heart of it, not three blokes operating on dud information from league headquarters.

The controversy began when umpires failed to stop the game when Schultz was hurt, which drew considerable criticism including from Collingwood captain Darcy Moore.

Then began a comedy of errors with the AFL releasing a statement explaining that umpires did not stop play because they were unaware the Magpie was lying injured on the turf.

Collingwood’s Lachie Schultz suffered concussion in last month’s clash against Fremantle. Picture: Getty

The statement said: “The play can be stopped by the umpires, who are instructed to stop play as soon as they are aware there is an injured player in the vicinity of play. In last night’s match the umpires did not see the injured player at the time, so play continued … Upon review, if umpires were aware, play would have been stopped when (Nick) Daicos had possession in the middle of the ground.”

However, a few days later Channel 7 played matchday audio of the umpires’ microphones that proved they were aware Schultz was injured.

They missed the incident that left Schultz concussed but were aware he was hurt, one ump saying: “We have got an injured player in the middle.”

To make matters worse, Kane released another ill-advised, error-filled statement that painted the umpires in a poor light.

She threw the umps under the bus, telling Channel 7: “The statement we released was incorrect, but we were given the wrong information from the umpires. It’s inconsistent with the vision. They were going off memory and not the vision, and we should always look at the vision. All the field umpires from the game have been coached this afternoon that they should have stopped the game.”

Laura Kane threw the umps under the bus. Picture: Getty

The words of criticism that followed from Hodge, Cornes and Thomas were based on official AFL communications.

Cornes has since apologised unreservedly but his comments calling for the umpires to be rested for a month for “essentially misleading the AFL” would have been reasonable if AFL statements were accurate.

As would Thomas saying that “the umpires have certainly failed the players” and had tried to “cover up” the incident.

Hodge’s strongest condemnation was to say that the umpires had either lied or were inept in failing to remember a major incident.

Again, that comment is unfair only because we now know that the ineptitude was from the AFL, not the umps.

The Castle lawyer Dennis Denuto would baulk at taking on the case.

The AFL then released yet another statement clarifying that the “miscommunication” came from the umpiring department not the four field umpires.

This week AFL Umpires Association boss Rob Kerr said the criticism the umpires received harmed their personal and professional standing.

“The umpires involved in the Fremantle v Collingwood game have been advised as to their legal rights in relation to some of the commentary that followed the Lachlan Schultz concussion issue,” he said.

“Being falsely accused of lying and misleading the AFL goes beyond simply questioning the management of the actual incident. Public commentary that casts aspersions on an individual’s integrity and professional competence, particularly when that is core to the role they perform, harms their personal and professional standing, and it is reasonable to consider how that can be rectified.”

Fair enough, but the fault lies entirely with their employer, not commentators given false information by the AFL.

Originally published as One would hope the country’s biggest football code could get the basics right