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Now that the Matildas have run their World Cup course, having briefly brought Australians to their TV sets and a short-lived semblance of togetherness, it’s safe to admit being nonplussed and perhaps completely baffled by a game that goes 90 minutes without a score and whose result is determined by a shootout. It’s the equivalent when all is said and done of tossing a coin. Why much of the world is so enthused must remain for many a mystery.
Mind you, it’s not as if our homegrown code doesn’t have its quirks, as Quadrant contributor and aggrieved Adelaide Crows devotee Daryl McCann writes:
The AFL wallahs are good at opining on constitutional matters, Indigene oppression and green initiatives (while jetting hither and yon to play under floodlights). What they’re not good at is administering our game. Hardly a moment goes by in a match without one of the squad of umpires blowing the whistle for some infringement or another, the interpretation of which seems to ‘evolve’ from week to week.
Though umpires call for goal reviews time and time again, when it really counted – as in the disallowed goal scored by Ben Keays that, with just 78 seconds left to play, would almost certainly have secured a Crows’ victory over the the Swans – they failed to make the call. That’s it for the Crow boys this season, unjustly denied a chance to play finals football by a goal umpire’s ruling that a clear and righteous six-pointer was a mere behind.
Despite later conceding the obvious – that Keays did indeed kick a goal – the AFL’s Gillon McLachlan released the following illogical statement:
The result from last night’s match stands and the AFL will not pursue any further avenues regarding changing the result.
McLachlan, like so many PC warriors, refused to look injustice in the face and fix it. Instead, he offered the erring goal umpire as a scapegoat to assuage public outrage, suspending him for the remainder of the year. And, of course, the AFL CEO called on the public to consider the feelings of the umpire – the very same umpire he had just stood down! For latter-day corporate clowns the buck always stops elsewhere. Maybe you need to be terminally woke for that to make sense.
After the match, Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks said he “trusted the process”, which might be interpreted as an appeal for the AFL to do the right thing and order a belated goal review. Good luck with that, I thought, given that the AFL’s powers-that-be are never wrong about anything (including constitutional matters, the Voice and appeasing Gaia). And so it has turned out: they have no intention of rectifying the mistake.
That said, Nicks was gracious enough to observe that the Crows didn’t lose the game with that last disallowed goal but in their inaccurate kicking in match’s first half, which left them with a 44-point deficit before their (almost) miraculous comeback.
Sport should be about good sportsmanship and Nicks, a one-time star of the Sydney Swans, has plenty of that. If only we could say the same about the wokeists who have commandeered our beloved game for their own political and financial purposes.
More justice and less social justice, p-l-e-a-s-e.
Fat chance of that, Daryl, especially with Four Corners tonight (August 21) taking the AFL to task for having no out-and-proud gay poster boys. The reporter is Louise Milligan, so you know what to expect. -rf
It’s a ridiculous rule. If it goes in,
between the posts, it should be a goal regardless of if it scrapes the post or not. The rule adds nothing but anger to the game.
Not at all, it’s one of the lovable quirks of the game. You don’t get it through the middle cleanly, you don’t get the points.
Agree!
Mr Nicks has the right attitude. Make sure you are good enough to win even if a few decisions go against you. And, if a player missed a goal by a centimetre, he/she wouldn’t be dropped for the rest of the season as the match official was. Strangely, as supporters, we don’t seem to decry the good results that came from an official’s error.
Always remember Kipling’s ‘If’.
I sat behind the goals when the Saints were playing the Roos a few weeks ago. Apart from being the most dismal game in the history of Aussie Rules, the Kangas had one shot at goal that clearly went about two feet into behind territory. The goal ump cheerily wandered up to the line and throw out two fingers, even though he was standing directly underneath the flight of the ball. I wonder if it was the same bloke?
I actually agree with McLachlan in this instance however – the umpire’s decision has to be the final word without interference from up top. Sack him afterwards.
As for that pride nonsense, I cancelled my membership because of it – it was the last straw. I am pleased to note that this year the Saints ditched it as a silly dalliance that was only costing money and diverting attention from improving the football department (enter Ross Lyon, Lenny Hayes, Rob Harvey, and Brendon Goddard). The decision has paid dividends already.
Anyway, I enjoy our local games much, much more than the footy-for-tv game.
I too am surprised that something so momentous as a world cup game can be decided by a ‘shoot out’. It’s taking the soccer out of soccer. Far better, if there’s a draw is to do a count back on the number of passes that went directly to the opposite side. That would be a test of skill and teamwork. A shoot out is not.
I played “keepings-off” at primary school and high school. I have no interest in watching a highly skilled adult version of this game.
Long suffering Crows fan here , and this just re-iterates my assessment of them as being the Greg Norman of the AFL – either choking , or the victim of desperately bad luck . Nicks was all class , but many have said that if happened to Collingwood, Eddie McGuire would not have tolerated it . No doubt true . I’m only glad that were were out celebrating my wife’s , and my father’s respective birthdays on Saturday night (not far from AO !) and my sister showed me the result on her phone – another heartbreaking loss this season. Mind you, the direction the AFL is headed in may see me stop watching altogether. Regarding the women’s soccer , I watched barely 5 mins , not wanting to support a bunch of whining , flag/Australia hating brats who complain about pay, sexism , the date , and push their lgbtq politics onto the nation at taxpayer cost .