I was goal umpiring U16s once and a kid snapped a shot on goal that was touched by one of the players nearest him, he momentarily reacted like he knew it was touched, then he threw his arms up in the air and charged off claiming it was a goal. I signalled touched and he complained to the central umpire, who came down to ask me what happened. By then this kid was charging towards his bench shouting loudly it was a goal, but it was clearly touched and everybody in the vicinity knew it, they even moved off quickly to setup for the kick in. The kid wouldn't give up and kept making smart-ar5e comments through the remainder of the game, which caused some spectators to confront me as I left the ground. But it was obviously touched and some of his own team stated as much.
Later that season in another game a talented footballer got pegged holding the ball as he tried to sprint clear the middle, he screamed an expletive out loudly which is not allowed in the Unders and he abused the umpire claiming he'd handballed which he of course hadn't, this caused a 50m penalty. His father started hurling abuse from the boundary line and jogged around the fence, the kid kept up the abuse egged on by his parent as he came back to the mark and the umpire gave him another 50m to the goal line. When the kid got to the mark on the goal line he grabbed the youngish central umpire by the head and threw a knee into the umpires face with a martial arts style action. Like snapping a branch over your knee. That kid was probably heading to the AFL, it ended his career and the young umpire never officiated again.
This is why umpiring abuse is not on, under any circumstance. The AFL is the custodian of the sport, it needs to act to ensure it's future.
I was very disappointed when Alistair The Angry Ant Clarkson got off so lightly for abusing the regional umpire, the AFL had an opportunity then to send a message and it whimped out. The AFL lives a double standard!
Later that season in another game a talented footballer got pegged holding the ball as he tried to sprint clear the middle, he screamed an expletive out loudly which is not allowed in the Unders and he abused the umpire claiming he'd handballed which he of course hadn't, this caused a 50m penalty. His father started hurling abuse from the boundary line and jogged around the fence, the kid kept up the abuse egged on by his parent as he came back to the mark and the umpire gave him another 50m to the goal line. When the kid got to the mark on the goal line he grabbed the youngish central umpire by the head and threw a knee into the umpires face with a martial arts style action. Like snapping a branch over your knee. That kid was probably heading to the AFL, it ended his career and the young umpire never officiated again.
This is why umpiring abuse is not on, under any circumstance. The AFL is the custodian of the sport, it needs to act to ensure it's future.
I was very disappointed when Alistair The Angry Ant Clarkson got off so lightly for abusing the regional umpire, the AFL had an opportunity then to send a message and it whimped out. The AFL lives a double standard!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"