Way to precious umpires.

[Jacosh]

Can anyone explain to me the sanctity of the AFL umpires? 
I can understand the players not being able to criticize them, the umpires are there to do the job of controlling the game and should be held in a higher regard than the players. What I cant understand is the coaches or club board members (CEO or President etc) being able to voice concerns .
Some games are an absolute farce yet the umpires remain protected.

I really can’t fathom the media being to scared to say anything, occasionally they will make a quick comment on an umpiring decision and move on just as quick.  On the Sunday Footy show today Billy Brownless was making comments about a boundary umpire getting involved in a goal decision, James Brayshaw couldn’t move him on quick enough. 

These people are not volunteers and are paid for the job they do.  Therefore they should be open to all scrutiny from the media and public as the players and clubs are.  Anyone employed to do a job is under some kind of review. If you are in the private sector it is usually for your direct supervisor.  Anyone in the public sector ranging from our prime minister to the checkout chick at your local supermarket or even the Telstra guy coming to connect your phone is open to public expectations and review.  This includes the media.

This leads me back to my initial question.  Why are the AFL umpires a protected species?

[mightytiges]

The excuse is they want to protect umpires from abuse at lower levels which does have some merit given the way some parents/family members carry on and take junior footy way too seriously.

The problem as I see it is there's no communation from the umpires in particular Geischen with the players, coaches and supporters midweek. Take this weekend where after the criticism over Baker/Johnson incident and then pulling out 50m penalties anywhere. There we 32 paid this week compared to just 14 the week before and the first 3 games of the round had 23 of them. So obviously Giesch has said midweek to get tough and then mid-round when they went overboard he's told the umps to lighten off again. It's a farce when these decisions are sprung blind on the rest of us who follow footy. If Geisch had a midweek press conference to announce what they planned and why so everyone is aware of any changes to interpretation and understood why they were made then at least we aren't sitting there watching going 'WTF was that for!'. This silence treatment doesn't help the umpires as far as criticism and is an insult to the players, coaches or supporters.