Leigh Matthews has labelled the recent criticism of and conversation surrounding umpiring as “lunacy”.
In the wake of the Semi Finals last weekend, there was much chat regarding the match officials for paying too many free kicks.
There seems to be a ‘let it go’ philosophy from many football watchers who would prefer that the umpires only pay those that are obvious.
Collingwood and Brisbane premiership coach Matthews certainly does not agree with that stance and has urged the umpiring fraternity to continue calling the game as they see it.
“This annoys me,” he said on Sportsday.
“Geelong and the Giants there were 41 free kicks, Lions and Bulldogs there were 47 free kicks. I hear this commentary, ‘Oh, we don’t want that many free kicks in finals’.
“This is lunacy.
“Is the game going to be better with no free kicks? In 1989 in the best Grand Final probably ever played (between Hawthorn and Geelong), there were 50 free kicks.
“Football is better when the umpires are prepared to blow the whistle.
“It will create controversy because you can disagree with the decision, but this thought that, ‘Let it go, let it go, let it go’, so the umpires don’t blow the whistle is total lunacy.
“I cannot understand that philosophy that some commentators seem to espouse.”
Would the umpiring regime be ordering a ‘put the whistle away’ philosophy this week in order to minimise the criticism?
Matthews believes the game simply needs to be officiated within the guidelines set out so that both umpires and players are on the same page.
“A missed free kick is not as bad as an incorrect paid free kick,” he added.
“When you think of it, if the free kick is there it should be paid. If you don’t pay a free kick, that’s just as bad as paying one that you might look back on as wrong in retrospect.
“There’s always going to be a couple of wrong ones, but I reckon it’s keeping the players honest. If the umpires are prepared to blow the whistle, the players know that and they play to the rules more so because they know they’ll be penalised if they don’t.
“If the umpires are sloppy and don’t blow the whistle, the players get sloppy in the way they play the rules themselves. That’s always been my view of footy.”