Hearing And Heeding The Siren's Call

The Age

Thursday May 4, 2006

THE longest game in AFL history finally ended yesterday. St Kilda and Fremantle began playing on Sunday afternoon in Launceston and walked off the field, metaphorically, yesterday evening in Melbourne. Fremantle took the four points, which took it above St Kilda on the ladder. A match that ended in farce on the ground has been resolved by the AFL Commission, which listened to arguments from both teams' QCs before ruling that a confirmed draw was officially to become a victory.

St Kilda argued that the result should have stayed a draw because that's what rule 10.4.2 says: play ends when a field umpire signals he has heard the siren. When he did, the scores were level. Fremantle argued that under rule 10.4.1, the timekeeper did not do his job properly because he did not keep sounding the siren until the umpire heard. When time had expired, they were in front.

This may be sound commonsense, but there was a problem in acting on it. On a matter of sporting life and death for clubs and fans, there should be no margin for error or interpretation. A precedent has been set for overturning a result - agencies that paid out bets also have cause for complaint - but this ought not open the door to future protests merely on the basis of an umpiring or match official's error. In ruling on "extraordinary circumstances" for which the AFL itself took full responsibility, the commission has delivered a fair result that acknowledged Fremantle had a just claim to victory.

That it came to this is evidence that the AFL must tackle the circumstances in which the controversy arose and ensure it never happens again. The AFL says it will review the sirens at venues and look into the technology to ensure umpires are alerted to a siren. As for the Dockers who were so unhappily distracted by the siren's call, in a twist on mythology they can now go on to the next battle with the win at their backs.

© 2006 The Age

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