Free kicks count question

[Winmar7Fan]

There's a post on here about free kick counts and it raised something I have never been able to understand so I'm putting it out there to get other opinions.

Why is it expected that free kicks should always be around even and if not teams are being favoured or hard done by? Isn't it a simple case of awarding free kicks as they happen and if one team gives away a lot more so be it ? I'm sure EVERYONE (and I'm guilty too) raises an eyebrow at half time when free kick stats are fairly uneven even though i think it's quite possible for one side to give away a lot more.

At half time when the free kick stats come up everyone is stunned to see it lop sided and umpires are expected to even it up ? Which raises another question.

Are umpires aware and monitoring free kick stats between quarters and intentionally balancing it out in the end with free kicks that aren't there because it's not exceptable to have one team awarded a lot more free kicks than the other even if they were there ?

Of the thousands of games in my 43 years i can't remember a team EVER being awarded double the free kicks as the other which seems unrealistic.

[perfectionist]

Perhaps it's the Normal Distribution or is it the Binomial?. Or put another way, both teams have the same number of players on the ground and play by the same rules. There is no reason to suggest, that in the long run, the frees should not be roughly even - just like tossing a coin. It might come up heads five times in a row (one chance in 32) but in the long run, the number of heads and tails will be the same, unless the coin is biased - which brings us back to umpire Head.

[bigcarl]

Rather than at half time when the free kick stats come up everyone is stunned to see it lop sided and umpires are expected to even it up ?

so you might as well instruct your players to be as dirty as they like and hope the umpires will try to even up the count anyway? interesting thought.

[GrumpyOne]

Rather than at half time when the free kick stats come up everyone is stunned to see it lop sided and umpires are expected to even it up ?

so you might as well instruct your players to be as dirty as they like and hope the umpires will try to even up the count anyway? interesting thought.

One would expect free kicks against to be higher for a side that plays with more physicality towards the opposition, and accordingly free kicks for to be greater for a side that continually gets its players first to the ball.

[happy feet]

It is not how many free kicks you get in a game, but where you get them. Obviously a free kick in the forward 50 that give opportunity to score a goal is worth more.

I think that some teams get a dream run with free kicks in the forward 50 and others get virtually nothing. I consider that over the years we have been very poorly treated by the umpires in this area.

Some other clubs seem to be blessed. Essendon was/is the case. If Plugger had recieved as many free kicks as Matthew Lloyd, he would have kicked another 500 goals ( a big statement). Similarly, some of our brownlow medallists get a good deal from the umpires. I think Kosi has been on the receiving end of some shocking "no-whistles" of late.

[Mr Magic]

I sonetimes wonder if umpires get 'embarrassed' if a player gets too many frees?

I remember Sheedy going off at the umpires 2 or 3 years ago (in his inimitable style) about the number of frees Rooey was receiving.

If the umpires were umpiring to the letter of the rule than Roo should receive a free kick just about every time he's in a contest. I reckon he gets about 1 in 4 or 5 of the ones he's entitled to (according to the rules) and it really irks me when our defenders get pinged for doing exactly what the opposition does to Roo that he doesn't receive a free for.

The actual numbers of frees awarded mean nothing to me.

A free kick is a free kick, immaterial if teh count is lopsided or not.

[happy feet]

I'll bet Sheedy never went off about the amount of frees Lloyd and Hird received. Protected species.

[bigcarl]

A free kick is a free kick, immaterial if the count is lopsided or not.

i agree but i suspect the umpires have a look at the stats and try to even them up a bit

[CURLY]

A free kick is a free kick, immaterial if the count is lopsided or not.

i agree but i suspect the umpires have a look at the stats and try to even them up a bit

As they did against Collingwood last year in the last quarter.