The Bounce to stay for 2018 (afl site)

[one-eyed]

THE AFL will keep the bounce for the 2018 season.

The AFL Commission met today to discuss the future of the bounce, with chairman Richard Goyder and football boss Steve Hocking announcing the decision.

Umpires have lobbied for the league to scrap the bounce, citing injury and anxiety issues around the technique.

But the AFL Commission today considered and then endorsed the recommendation from Hocking and the league executive to retain the bounce.

It ruled the bounce is “here to stay”.

“We are delighted that that was the recommendation and delighted to endorse it today,” Goyder said.

“It is great that the bounce will kick-off AFL football games, there’s nothing like the roar of the crowd and the expectation that the bounce will start our great game.”

Hocking said the decision to retain the bounce is a “long-term decision” that was made after consultation with a “range of stakeholders”.

Read more at: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-to-retain-the-bounce-for-season-2018/news-story/0615eb6559e4673efafa90f1040903d3

[Diocletian]

 ...and rightly stuffin' so....should never have even been a discussion....

[tony_montana]

meh - give me a quality decision maker over someone who can bounce a footy. Are the best decision makers we have umpiring AFL or are they missing out bc they cant execute a pointless skill?

[Muscles]

meh - give me a quality decision maker over someone who can bounce a footy. Are the best decision makers we have umpiring AFL or are they missing out bc they cant execute a pointless skill?

Seems like we may need a designated bouncer, sort like the designated kicker in the NFL

[JP Tiger]

Yes, keep the bounce, but please do away with this recall thing if the bounce doesn't go straight up!  There is no bigger let down in football than the umpire stopping the game again to recall the bounce because it wasn't perfect.  Who cares if the bounce goes sideways?  That's the result, the game is played with an odd-shaped ball for a reason, PLAY ON! 
Also, if that stupid line across the centre circle was removed we wouldn't actually need the bounce to be perfect anyway!  Let the big boys wrestle & fight to get to a bad bounce for a hit out instead of having a pathetically sterile basketball style tip off ....       

[WilliamPowell]

meh - give me a quality decision maker over someone who can bounce a footy. Are the best decision makers we have umpiring AFL or are they missing out bc they cant execute a pointless skill?

Some can do both

Rosebury - best ump in the business and can bounce

The 3 that did the GF all good decision makers and can bounce. Granted there was 1 recall I can remember but overall they did both well

Then you have DeBoy - bad at both 

[mightytiges]

Yes, keep the bounce, but please do away with this recall thing if the bounce doesn't go straight up!  There is no bigger let down in football than the umpire stopping the game again to recall the bounce because it wasn't perfect.  Who cares if the bounce goes sideways?  That's the result, the game is played with an odd-shaped ball for a reason, PLAY ON! 
Also, if that stupid line across the centre circle was removed we wouldn't actually need the bounce to be perfect anyway!  Let the big boys wrestle & fight to get to a bad bounce for a hit out instead of having a pathetically sterile basketball style tip off ....   

The line across the centre circle was brought in to stop a ruckman from blocking his opponent's run at the bounce. In the old days (1960s), there was just a small circle; no centre line nor centre square. Coaches and their rucks & midfielders however came up with tactics that caused the introduction of the centre line and square. The more things change the more they remain the same.

I wouldn't mind the 'play on' idea if the 'bad' bounces ended up truly random. In the past though, you'd get an ump who when bounced the ball badly, the ball would continually go in one direction which favoured one team and resulted in easy goals. Nothing worse than a bad centrebounce gifting the opposition a goal  .