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Eddie McGuire wants to ban centre bounces and pay umpires $300,000 a year under plan to fix the game
Former Collingwood boss Eddie McGuire has released a stunning plan to revolutionise the AFL’s officiating system that includes banning centre bounces and getting rid of boundary and goal umpires.
Under his proposal to make match officials the league’s ’19th team’, umpires would be paid at least $300,000 a year to attract the best people for the job, with four of them placed around the ground for every game in a grid pattern.
Four more officials would be placed around the goals to ensure scores are given correctly, and also award free kicks, with steps taken to stop umpires and players talking to each other as much as they currently do.
Umpires would be paid $300,000 a year, have their clothes modernised to look more professional and be treated like the AFL’s 19th team if McGuire’s proposal becomes reality
Centre bounces would be a thing of the past under the radical plan, which would also get rid of goal and boundary umpires
McGuire’s radical plan has already been put to the AFL and comes during huge controversy about 50-metre penalties being given for umpire dissent.
‘If we are fair dinkum about showing respect, let’s make umpires like the 19th team and make them a bigger part of this competition,’ McGuire told the Herald Sun.
‘Let’s pay them accordingly, and then let’s demand the output that someone on $300,000 needs to produce.’
Getting rid of centre bounces – possibly the most divisive move – is designed to remove the element of chance bouncing the ball produces, resulting in fewer injuries and more predictability for umpires and players.
McGuire said all the players and umpires he has spoken to back the bounce ban.
McGuire’s proposal comes during an avalanche of criticism about the way the umpire dissent rule is being enforced, especially after a 50-metre penalty in round six’s Hawthorn vs Geelong match (pictured) saw big-name experts brand the situation a crisis
He added that the league uses 99 umpires each round, but only 27 of them can pay free kicks – a number which would be greatly increased if his system is adopted.
Even the officials’ clothes would be changed if McGuire gets his way – he wants their gear to be updated so they look more professional.
Round five prompted an avalanche of criticism of the way umpires are enforcing the dissent rule this year, especially when it comes to players holding their arms out as they question a ruling.
Leading commentator Mark Robinson was so incensed by a 50-metre penalty given against Hawthorn when two players made the gesture as they looked at a big-screen replay that he said the game may as well be played by ‘robots’ because all the emotion has been taken out of the sport.
Some players who approach umpires about dubious decisions with their arms out (pictured) are being penalised while others are getting off scot free
‘This is disgraceful. This is the worst comment I’ve ever heard an umpire make in my time in football – even before my time because I’ve watched a lot of TV and football: “Arms out, 50metres,”‘ Robinson said.
He was joined in slamming both the rule and its application by other top footy minds like Garry Lyon, Cameron Ling and Jonathan Brown, who are calling for more consistency around enforcement.
‘We’re sitting here at Fox Footy and I counted up about 1800 games of experience and I went around and asked everyone and they all had steam coming out of their ears. There is a crisis,’ Lyon said.