THERE were only 21 free kicks warranted in the Queen's Birthday game between Melbourne and Collingwood, according to umpires boss Wayne Campbell.
Eighteen free kicks were awarded in the game (13 to Collingwood and five to Melbourne) but the umpires' review of the game found that two free kicks were unwarranted while five were missed.
Melbourne coach Paul Roos was incredulous that just five free kicks could be paid to one team in a game of football, but Campbell said the style of the game was the reason for the low free kick count.
Malthouse wants new umpire-player relationship
In response to recent criticism, Campbell said the umpires were doing a terrific job of umpiring the game consistently.
The current average after 12 rounds is 33.8 free kicks per game, down about three per game from 2013.
“Free kick numbers per round are really consistent and that provides the basis for the laws of the game [committee] to tell us 'we think you're being too hard on this, too lenient or whatever' but I think the consistency of the umpiring has been pretty good," Campbell said on Wednesday.
He said umpires made on average seven or eight errors per game but considering the number of decisions (and decisions not to pay free kicks) made during a game, mistakes were a fact of life.
"We'd love it to be zero. It will never be zero. We'd love it to be three [and] in some games it is, but we do make errors and while we don't want that to be the case…[it's] human beings umpiring a really, really hard game," Campbell said.
Campbell also responded to comments from Carlton coach Mick Malthouse that respect between players and umpires was falling.
Campbell said free kicks for abuse were way down this year and he believed that there was a great deal of respect between players and umpires.
"The consistent message given to the umpires by the coaches is to be unobtrusive," Campbell said.
He said the message around communication was to pay the free kick to the team, and if a player wanted clarity to explain the decision.
Malthouse complained about a free kick not being paid in the goalsquare to Carlton's Troy Menzel in the last minute of Friday night's game against Geelong, when the Blues were five points down.
Campbell said on the weekend that a free kick to Menzel had been warranted but that the umpire had been unsighted.
