Umpires say the AFL’s abuse crackdown is doing more bad than good

There are fears the controversial crackdown on dissent in the AFL’s top flight is opening up community umpires to more abuse.

The AFL’s crackdown on abuse towards umpires is having the opposite effect of its intention according to match officials.

VAFA umpire Brian Clarke, who has over 20 years’ experience, said it’s becoming even harder for umpires to remain as “invisible as possible” in their roles, with the new dissent rules making them a target for crowd abuse.

The crackdown reached boiling point at the top on the weekend when 50m penalties were handed out for players having their “arms out” in response to umpiring decisions.

Clarke said he understood the push to reduce abuse but said the AFL have “yet again, gone too far.”

He said local footballers would soon be calling for 50s when an opposition players “waves their arms around”.

“At a community level, if I umpired the way they do in the AFL, I would be shot so I don’t officiate that way,” he said.

“Our role is to be as invisible as possible and the AFL have not helped us at all with the constant changing of rules.

“Many people work hard during the week – they come down to the footy to not only barrack for their team but also let off a bit of steam.

“In this role I believe we play an important community function.

“It’s great for individual and community mental health to not keep life’s pressures bottled up inside you.

“So if a supporter or player is giving me some feedback during the games, and offering some unsolicited advice, then fair enough.

“None of us – the players, supporters or umpires – are robots.

“We all love footy because of the passion and emotion involved, and long may this continue.

“Where would our game be without it?”

Brian Clarke says the game at community level is becoming much more difficult to umpire. Photo: Supplied.

AFL field umpire Darren Goldspink spoke on radio SEN station on Tuesday morning saying there was now “more pressure on umpires”.

In February, the AFL had written to clubs about the need for more respect towards officials.

“In isolation what the AFL has tried to do is fair enough and we all know the reasons why they do that,” Goldspink said.

“To me it seems like it’s had the opposite effect at the moment.”

The veteran of six AFL grand finals said officiating was “bleeding” at community level where some umpires are watching over up to five games a weekend.

“How is that any good for anybody? The guys who are doing five games are old guys like me who aren’t in any physical condition to do five games,” he said.

“What’ll happen, and this might be over the top, but one of them is going to have some sort of serious medical episode on the ground and then we’ll all stand up and say, ‘Oh sh*t that shouldn’t have happened’.

“It just riles me.”

There has been plenty of confusion surrounding the abuse rules. Photo: AFL Photos/Getty Images

Former AFL umpire Michael Vozzo said the crackdown on abuse at AFL level served to create a safe environment for those at local level.

Vozzo, who umpired 281 AFL matches between 1999-2011, previously held the head of umpiring post at the Eastern league.

“To be honest, I used to laugh a little bit … we were sort of the first crop of umpires that started clamping down on it (abuse) and I remember commentators were saying ‘The umpires need to be a bit bigger than that’ because they (thought) we should accept it and put up with it,” he said.

“They’re doing it to create an environment at local level for umpires to go out and do their job without the threat of abuse. I’ve coached umpires and I’ve seen the abuse where it’s easy for someone to get at an umpire in local football, whereas in the AFL, they’re protected. It’s quite rare at AFL that it hurts an umpire, but we do it to ensure that local level umpires aren’t subjected to it.

“I’ve seen a grown man threaten a 15-year-old umpire … and his mum sitting up in the grandstands crying. If people are going to get all huffy and puffy over umpires trying to clamp down on player abuse, they’ve got to think about that mum that’s put themselves in that position where if it was their child out in the middle of the ground, what would they think when a player’s going up to them, pointing in their face and threatening to bash them after the game?

“I think people would have a bit better understanding if it was their kid.”

Former AFL umpire Michael Vozzo.

AFL general manager of football operations Brad Scott said dissent towards umpires had been “accepted for far too long. You can be surprised at a decision but you can’t show dissent towards an umpire”.

“Seeing 12, 13, 14, 15-year- old boys and girls umpiring and copping abuse on the field from players and supporters alike is not acceptable. What happens at elite level flows through to community level,” he said.