AFL head of umpiring Steve McBurney at heart of Lachie Schultz fiasco
Pressure is mounting on league bosses in the wake of the botched investigation into Lachie Schultz’s on-field concussion and the senior AFL staffers at the heart of the error can be revealed.
AFL
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AFL head of umpiring Steve McBurney was at the heart of the Lachie Schultz concussion debacle which has heaped pressure on league chiefs.
But the former highly-respected whistle blower won’t be penalised for the miscommunication as the red-faced league failed to check the tape of the incident.
The Herald Sun can reveal the key breakdown in the umpires’ mess occurred when McBurney and field umpires coach Michael Jennings sought to find out whether the four umpires had seen Schultz in distress after a head knock in Collingwood’s win over Fremantle last Thursday in Perth.
The umpires told Jennings and McBurney they did not see the initial bump on Schultz, but did witness the Magpies’ forward struggle to his feet and show concussion symptoms in the immediate aftermath.
Crucially, that information was misinterpreted and triggered a damaging chain reaction when the umpire’s boss McBurney spoke to football boss Laura Kane last Friday.
McBurney told Kane the umpires did not see it – which referred to the initial bump from Docker Jordan Clark - rather than Schultz’s concussion symptoms.
The AFL then incorrectly released a statement on Friday saying the umpires did not see Schultz at all in the belief the information was accurate.
The league confirmed play should have been stopped due to Schultz’s concussion.
But the league’s statement was exposed as inaccurate on Channel 7 on Tuesday night when the broadcaster released video and audio which proved the umpires had seen Schultz struggling with concussion symptoms as trainers helped him from the ground.
On Tuesday night, a disappointed Kane attempted to explain the audio, saying the umpires initially said they had not seen the Schultz incident because they were “going off memory”.
But it made matters worse and prompted a savage response from Hawthorn and Brisbane champion Luke Hodge on ‘Agenda Setters’ who wrongly said the umpires - - Justin Power, Simon Meredith, Craig Fleer and Martin Rodger - were “pedalling lies” in an attempt to mislead the league about the incident.
The whistle blowers - who were furious with the false accusations - strongly defended themselves in talks with the AFL on Wednesday which uncovered the truth and the initial miscommunication from McBurney.
Follow-up discussions confirmed the umpires had not seen the bump from Clark, but did clearly see Schultz look unwell in the aftermath of the head knock.
The incident continued a terrible fortnight for the league following the Willie Rioli saga and has prompted a major review of the league’s umpiring review processes which will include a vision and audio check of major incidents.
Kane has taken full responsibility for the saga saying it was the league’s fault, and not the four field umpires from the Collingwood win over Fremantle.
The four umpires will all be in action in AFL games across the weekend.
“We have determined there was a miscommunication from members of the umpiring department, not the field umpires, which formed the basis of our initial public statement on Friday,” Kane said.
“Those team members have been counselled and reminded of the importance of ensuring our process is fully followed regarding these types of incidents and in this instance it was not.”
‘STOCK-STANDARD PROCESS’ SHOULD HAVE CLEARED UMPS IN 10 MINUTES
- Jon Ralph
Former AFL umpire Matt Head has called for the AFL’s senior umpires to have a voice to explain controversies like the Lachie Schultz fiasco, adamant the AFL should have cleared umpiring ‘GOAT’ Simon Meredith and his colleagues in 10 minutes.
And he says the AFL should have made clearer in its Tuesday statement that the umpires were not at fault for the miscommunication that saw the league initially accuse them of changing their story over Schultz’ concussion.
The AFL’s umpires were furious to be thrown under a bus by the AFL amid accusations they had “blatantly lied” over their version of events over Schultz’s concussion last Thursday night.
Former umpire Head was in 2008 cleared by the AFL over accusations from Roos coach Dani Laidley he had barracked for opponent Hawthorn, with the entire match audio played to North Melbourne to ensure he was above reproach.
Head said on Thursday morning he was shocked the league had not followed an identical process to clear the four umpires including eight-time Grand Final whistleblower Simon Meredith.
The league blamed a “miscommunication” from the umpires department but Head told this masthead he was mystified why the league hadn’t checked match audio before putting out its Friday statement that the umpires had not seen Schultz concussed.
“The match audio has been around for at least 20 years and it’s always been the first line of defence. It is a known process and it would be used in most games in some way. For it to be missed in this case, it’s a known miss. It’s the equivalent of the Kosi (Kysaiah Pickett) trip,” he said.
“It is a stock-standard process. Let’s listen to the audio and watch the tape and check the vision. You could look at it within 10-20 minutes. The umpires are used to having everything analysed and coached. That is their way of life. Having everything ‘slow-mo’d’ recorded, checked on tape.
“The umpires would have known about it. They would have put it forward if they were asked (about seeing Schultz concussed). They would say go and look at the tapes. Simon Meredith is one of the GOATs of umpires. Five hundred games. Eight Grand Finals, he knows what he is doing.
“The umpires would have put their case forward and it should have been end of story.
The AFL rarely or never puts its umpires up to defend contentious incidents and Head believes it means confusion can at times reign supreme.
“I think where this has fallen down is it’s gone to a match manager or umpiring observer and it has been missed in translation,” he said.
“It comes down from Laura Kane and there is an umpires coach, a match observer, (umpires coach) Steve McBurney, Josh Mahoney in the middle of it. There are a lot of communication channels there. I am a big advocate of the umpires having a voice in big moments and them being spokespeople on what happens.”
Originally published as AFL head of umpiring Steve McBurney at heart of Lachie Schultz fiasco
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