D Mitchell
11-07-2023, 02:58 PM
There was a chopping of the hands in the third which gave them a goal. It something that happens throughout a game, ie both players, hands in the air and trying to mark. A joke of a free.
Chopping of arms came in as a rule to stop defenders purposely chopping at arms and preventing forwards from marking, but like many rules (like sliding rule), are now interpreted a different way. Two players going for a mark and one touches the arms of the other player should never be a free unless it is obviously a chopping motion. The players are not robots, arms are going to tangle.
So many rules require judgment of intention. The umpire has to work that out from his observations, where the player was looking, positioning before contact etc. Sitting in the stands, 100 metres or more away, whilst the umpire is trained, fit, on the move and 10 - 20 metres away, objectively it's far more likely that the close up umpire got it right rather than the distant, partisan supporter. Your Two players going for a mark and one touches the arms of the other player should never be a free unless it is obviously a chopping motion is correct. However what looks like touching the arm to an emotionally involved supporter from 100 metres plus away, of a lighting fast action, probably looks very different to a neutral, trained professional on the spot.
Chopping of arms came in as a rule to stop defenders purposely chopping at arms and preventing forwards from marking, but like many rules (like sliding rule), are now interpreted a different way. Two players going for a mark and one touches the arms of the other player should never be a free unless it is obviously a chopping motion. The players are not robots, arms are going to tangle.
So many rules require judgment of intention. The umpire has to work that out from his observations, where the player was looking, positioning before contact etc. Sitting in the stands, 100 metres or more away, whilst the umpire is trained, fit, on the move and 10 - 20 metres away, objectively it's far more likely that the close up umpire got it right rather than the distant, partisan supporter. Your Two players going for a mark and one touches the arms of the other player should never be a free unless it is obviously a chopping motion is correct. However what looks like touching the arm to an emotionally involved supporter from 100 metres plus away, of a lighting fast action, probably looks very different to a neutral, trained professional on the spot.