A Free Kick Against You, For Being Barry Hall
Sydney Swans player, Barry Hall, is in a tough situation. He has a reputation of being the bad boy that precedes him into games. It seems impossible for umpires to view him in even a neutral way. This is unfair, and opposition players take full advantage by coxing him into random acts of frustration.
Hall is the most picked on player in the AFL. He is able to be wrestled like WWE Smackdown and receive no free kicks yet the glamour full forwards like Lance Franklin and Matthew Lloyd only need a finger nail to grace their shoulder for a free kick to be awarded.
He is now giving away free kicks and 50 metre penalties on the suspicion that he has done something wrong. Such as the momentum shifting incident with Jarryd Roughead, when it appeared Roughead ran into Hall’s outstretched arms for a second 50-metre penalty to be awarded and a certain goal the result. Also, once giving away the first 50-metre penalty no less than six Hawks players got into his face egging him on. Of course he is going to push and shove.
Barry is hard done by, although he does himself no favours in his remonstrations no matter how justified he may be. Umpires tend to not change their minds and go on to adjudicate more harshly on the remonstrators.
I feel for Barry. But to a large degree he created this and now he has to live with it.
Hall is the most picked on player in the AFL. He is able to be wrestled like WWE Smackdown and receive no free kicks yet the glamour full forwards like Lance Franklin and Matthew Lloyd only need a finger nail to grace their shoulder for a free kick to be awarded.
He is now giving away free kicks and 50 metre penalties on the suspicion that he has done something wrong. Such as the momentum shifting incident with Jarryd Roughead, when it appeared Roughead ran into Hall’s outstretched arms for a second 50-metre penalty to be awarded and a certain goal the result. Also, once giving away the first 50-metre penalty no less than six Hawks players got into his face egging him on. Of course he is going to push and shove.
Barry is hard done by, although he does himself no favours in his remonstrations no matter how justified he may be. Umpires tend to not change their minds and go on to adjudicate more harshly on the remonstrators.
I feel for Barry. But to a large degree he created this and now he has to live with it.
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Sydney Swans
4 comments:
You're right Tim. Barry has developed a reputation and that reputation precedes him into games. Umpires are only human and they have pre-conceived notions (from experience and/or reputation) of what a player is going to do and they tend to see what they are looking for.
Along similar lines, it's probably not a bad strategy to develop a reputation as a clean player, because more 50/50 decisions are likely to go your way.
It's only reasonable to allow players a certain number of brain snaps per year.
I agree that Barry has created a definite reputation for himself but I'm still a bit bewildered by how he was penalised THREE 50m penalties, even after watching the footage.
With so much concern for how players behave off the field, there should be more consistent concern by the AFL for how they behave on the field.
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