The AFL has made another failure of common sense. It’s time for us to arc up |
The AFL has made another failure of common sense. It’s time for us to arc up
April 28, 2026 — 9:45am
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It wasn’t technology that failed the game on Sunday when the ARC stopped play to overrule a goal umpiring decision in the St Kilda v West Coast match.
And that failure of common sense continued on Monday when the decision was made to remove from the ARC the power to call the ball back if a goal umpiring error occurs.
The ARC must retain that power to be used at its discretion – with discretion.
It is a useful, break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option that should be retained.
The time to use the power was not with more than nine minutes remaining in the second quarter of a round seven match, when a line-ball decision had been made by two umpires in the correct position. That was an overreach.
The time the call back was needed – and still might be needed – is with 70 seconds remaining in a round 23 match with finals up for grabs........