TOPIC:

Thank goodness that we only have 2 more rounds until finals. I have had a gutfull of cheating club umpires and look forward to finals being umpired by neutrals.

surely there are only a few, but of course, a few too many!!!

Bring on the finals and get some half decent umpires

Interesting you say that, because having seen a bit of WAAFL footy across all grades I would suggest the standard has actually been pretty good. Maybe one umpire in every grade below the standard. But to have 90% that are average or better is the bigger story to me then the couple of shockers.

And to follow that, the bigger problem that I see is the fitness base across the board as opposed to actual decision making. Maybe i am naive but would have only seen one or two who I would say were outwardly biased. The bigger problem is fitness.

I think clubs voted against the pool because it is too hard to navigate. Some clubs use one, two or three umpires and no way that it could be easily coordinated. Simply put their are not enough umpires and not enough people interested improving umpiring for a change like this to happen. Most are happy to portray negative thoughts on umpires, few are prepared to offer support or put their hands up to add to umpire numbers.

Anyone game enough to call out bad club umpires clubs?

High Wycombes umpire woooo not a real good one there. Old Doug and him would be about par with the worst umpires I have ever seen

In the grade I go watch C2 the umpiring has been pretty good. Couple bad decisions here and there but you get that. Only had problem with the one umpire who I have mentioned

In footy the umpires can greatly influence the swing of a game and can ultimately give an indirect opportunity for teams to win games they probably otherwise wouldn't have, maybe not as much as say in soccer but none-the-less a bad umpire can change the game. This is known although it is not greatly accepted by everyone.

But, at the end of the day the day there is always going to be umpires and you're not always going to win. Adapt to it. Change the variables; your teams plan, rock up to training, put in an extra 10% to your season and that's going to make you go a lot further than any decision an umpire can make.

Carefull footylad25 the umpire you have referred to comes on here and gets a little upset when people mention his rather one sided displays. Good to see nothing has changed from the last few years with him then!!

Have seen the occasional poor umpire in E3 but no outright cheats as I have seen in the past. One mentioned already but another we ran into in 2013 was a real shocker and is still around. Neutral umpires in finals are great but perhaps it's the quality of them rather than their neutrality that improves things.