Hawthorn gun James Sicily has admitted he has no idea what constitutes umpire disrespect after his AFL side copped a dubious 50-metre penalty in their upset win against Geelong.
Cats forward Tom Hawkins went flying in the third quarter of the MCG clash after a minor push from his Hawks opponent, with his effort to possibly draw attention from the AFL’s match review officer for staging.
Hawks pair Tom Mitchell and Jack Gunston were seen talking to an umpire after the decision and raising their arms as they protested, resulting in a 50m penalty being awarded.
Hawthorn were penalised with a dubious 50-metre penalty in their upset win against Geelong
‘You both looked at the [big] screen [for the replay],’ the umpire was heard saying on TV coverage.
‘And then you had your arms out […] it’s umpire respect, OK?”
Sicily said he was not clear what the umpires’ interpretation was regarding interactions with players and what represents disrespect.
Tom Mitchell (left) was spotted speaking to an umpire after Geelong won a soft penalty and raised his arm as he protested, resulting in a 50m penalty being awarded
‘It’s a difficult one, I feel like if it’s not demonstrative […] sometimes it’s just a reflex, it’s been that way for so long,’ he told Fox Footy.
‘The rule is there to implement what they’re trying to implement, we’ve got to try and respect it as much as possible.
‘But it’s definitely hard when games get as tight as they do, emotions are high.’
Former AFL great Garry Lyon called for umpires to be more consistent
The incident came just hours after Melbourne great Garry Lyon labelled the umpiring a disgrace and said AFL football operations boss Brad Scott must sort it out immediately.
‘What we’ve seen over the course of the weekend suggests there’s a crisis that Brad Scott’s got to sort out,’ Lyon told Fox Footy.
‘He sorts it out [on Monday] morning otherwise it’s a disgrace […] right now it’s embarrassing our professional competition is run like this.’
On Thursday night, Brisbane player Harris Andrews gave away a 50-metre free kick in the Lions’ clash with Collingwood for questioning an umpire’s decision with his arms held out.
There has been confusion following a 50-metre free kick against Brisbane’s Harris Andrews for putting his arms out while arguing against an umpire’s call
While the crackdown was announced and enforced during the pre-season, it fell away in the opening rounds until the Andrews incident. Then, bizarrely, a number of players escaped punishment despite doing the exact same thing.
‘[The crackdown on dissension] went from zero tolerance to five per cent then to about 15 per cent and now they go back to zero tolerance,’ Lyon said on Fox Footy.
‘That‘s why players and fans get annoyed. If you keep it at zero tolerance, Harris Andrews doesn’t go there.’
However, a number of other players weren’t penalised for similar actions throughout round five.
Max King kicked a controversial goal against the Suns after appearing to push Jy Farrar away from the contest. He put his arms out at the umpires but didn’t give away a free kick
There was little doubt that Hewett was remonstrating with the officials after being ruled to be holding the man. If he surrendered a 50, Port could have kicked the match-winning goal.
Suns player Jy Farrar looked to have received a push in the back from St Kilda forward Max King and walked right up to the umpire with his hands out, yet there was no whistle.
Carlton’s George Hewett also marched toward the umpire with his arms out after he attracted a whistle for holding the man on Dan Houston, but no 50 was issued.
Brisbane Lions legend Jonathan Brown said there cannot be ‘any room for interpretation’ in the ‘black and white’ rule, which should be moved back towards zero tolerance for umpire dissent.
But Geelong coach Chris Scott said direction from umpires should be clear at this point of the season, although he admitted players might struggle to adhere.
Geelong coach Chris Scott said direction from umpires should be clear at this point of the season, but admitted players struggled to adhere to them
‘It’s incumbent on us to say to the players, “This is the way the game’s being interpreted, your opinion does not matter, my opinion does not matter, let’s just be as good as we can at understanding it”,’ Scott said.
‘It’s been communicated over a long period of time really clearly and we understand it.
‘Does that mean we won’t transgress? I suspect we will because it’s a highly emotional game.’
The number of 50-metres penalty has skyrocketed this season as the AFL has told umpires to clamp down on players’ dissent
Scott said the stricter interpretation had TV viewers in mind, particularly young footballers.
‘The important thing for the players is dissent is going to be interpreted as what can be seen on the TV screen,’ he told Fox Footy.
‘You can say something that’s really nice, if it looks like it’s aggressive, demonstrative is the word they like, then you make yourself vulnerable.
‘This is a pattern that happens every time there’s a rule tweak, there’s an overcorrection.’