Line judges?

Those of you who are on the afda-hp mailing list would have seen the online donnybrook just before Nationals about the trialling of line judges. I think the problem with that was the short notice of having them at semis and the finals or whatever was planned.

The idea itself isn't a terrible one - someone dedicated to watching the line to advise (not rule) on in/out calls.

So at ECC I decided to try it out in one game. On the last game of the Tuesday it was UNSW versus University of Sydney. High stakes game as the result and margin affected the final standings. I approached both captains and asked if they agreed to the trial - both were fine, as long as we were advising, not ruling.

I recruited Nick Dowle to be my co-line judge for the game since he was injured. He was positioned on the home sideline at the front corner of the right side endzone. I was diagonally opposite (away sideline, left side endzone). We had basic hand signals - point to the field if they're in, away from the field if they're out. Same with the endzone.

So was it worth the effort? Not really.

We were called upon once each - I was asked if a pull landed out (which it did), and Nick was asked if someone's first ground contact was over the goal line (which it was). But on both occasions there were participating players much closer to the disc than we were who also advised on the outcome (both occasions they agreed with Nick and I). So it wasn't a bad exercise and it's certainly not a terrible idea.

However, if you consider having to find volunteers for each game, and having those volunteers concentrate on the entire game (I was guilty of not watching for long periods, and I'm sure Nick was too), and at Nationals each team is going to have a dozen or more players on the sideline anyway, then it seems to be that the effort far outweighs the benefit.


Oh, and while you're reading, Vintage and Flying High won the Geelong League semi finals tonight. Final is next Tuesday night. Spectators welcome.