‘No one saw it’: AFL legends stunned by rare interference
An extremely rare sight during the clash between the Swans and Collingwood left AFL legends stunned and fans having a chuckle.
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The bizarre perils of sports broadcasting in 2024 were on show during the first half of Collingwood’s AFL clash with the Sydney Swans at the MCG on Friday night.
Early in the second quarter, Sydney ruckman Brodie Grundy tapped the ball down to Errol Gulden from a boundary throw in on the wing and the Swans young gun kicked the ball high inside 50.
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As the ball flew high, it stopped mid-trajectory and fell to the ground because it hit the TV broadcaster’s spidercam, which was hovering after the 50m arc.
Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard tried to mark the ball and the Magpies eventually scrambled to clear it out of their defence.
“Dropped short,” Brian Taylor said in commentary on Channel 7 as the ball fell from the air.
Luke Hodge explained it “hit the camera”.
Taylor replied: “Hit the camera in the air, did it really? Is it supposed to be a dead ball or not?”
The umpires allowed play to continue and after several frantic passages of play in the middle of the MCG, Sydney’s James Rowbottom eventually collected the ball and booted a goal from 50m out.
Viewers were surprised play wasn’t stopped for a ball-up, with many joking the spidercam should have been credited on the stat sheet.
AFL pretending that the ball hitting the camera didn’t happen pic.twitter.com/PWfwK9AzyS
— Daniel Gorringe (@GorringeDaniel) March 15, 2024
SEN’s Nic Negrepontis wrote on X: “Sky Cam with an effective smother and rebound 50. Nice.”
Sports reporter Andrew Wu said: “Sky cam’s been the most effective Collingwood defender this quarter. They’ve been cut to bits by the Swans.”
The aflratingsPete account joked: “Does spider cam get a stat for that?
Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph explained on X: “The AFL actually changed their guidelines over summer given the skycam was to be used more at games.
“The official rule is that if the umpires see the ball hit the skycam they will stop play and throw the ball up.
“No one saw it hit the camera tonight so play proceeded. The AFL happy with how it played out.”
Garry Lyon said on Fox Footy: “In cricket we’ve got a rule if it hits the roof, what do we do when it hits the Flying Fox?
He joked: “Surely that’s got to be a 10-pointer.”
Jonathan Brown replied: “I don’t mind it. Just play on boys! Play on, just to see who’s reacting and got their heads in the game.”
Nathan Buckley asked: “If Maynard took that would that be paid as a mark?”
At halftime Channel 7’s James Brayshaw explained: “We have spoken to the AFL and got a 100 per cent understanding of what should happen in that situation.
“If the umpire sees the ball hitting the camera, or the cord that is attached to the camera, it should immediately be a ball up. If the umpire doesn’t pick up that the ball hit the camera or the quarter, it is play on.
“In this instance the umpire had no idea the ball had hit the cord, so rightly he called for play on and that is what happened.”
Collingwood wunderkind Nick Daicos continued where he left off last season, kicking his side’s first goal of the game from outside 50.
But the Swans dominated the first half across the ground, with Collingwood only taking two marks inside 50.
The Swans led 7.8 (50) to 5.2 (32) at halftime but the margin could have been far greater had Jake Lloyd fumbled in the goalsquare and Joel Amartey missed an easy chance from short range.
Sydney kicked eight goals in the second half to cruise to a 15.12 (102) to 10.9 (69) victory.
The Swans have won their first two games of the season, but reigning premiers Collingwood will go back to the drawing board after going 0-2 to start the season.
Originally published as ‘No one saw it’: AFL legends stunned by rare interference
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