This afternoon the AFL announced a raft of rule changes that will (initially) be implemented in the 2011 NAB Cup competition.

The most important and logical one is the provision for umpires to refer to a video replay in the case of contentious scoring decisions.

To quote directly from the AFL’s website, “Under the trial rule any official unsure of a scoring decision will have the ability to consult with the game’s official scorer.”

While I applaud the fact the league is finally looking to integrate technology with umpiring, I can’t help but think there are going to be loopholes and grey areas throughout the course of this period (although I guess that goes for any significant rule change).

Presumably, “scoring decision” refers to any instance where the ball is crossing the plane of the goal and umpires must determine whether or not it was touched, which side of the post it travelled, whether it even crossed the line or another anomaly that impacts a score.

But what about the many other decisions that can occur in a team’s attacking area that can directly lead to a score?

For instance: A defensive player clears the ball by foot and it goes out on the full by a few centimetres, however the umpire has failed to see this. Rather than a throw-in, the attacking team should be awarded a free kick, which by definition should be a “scoring decision”. Will umpires be able to refer to technology in this instance? Presumably not.

I don’t envy the AFL rules committee (although heaven knows they should leave the game alone 99% of the time),  but I can’t help but feel this innovation needs to be expanded and it probably will be with time.

Umpires are human will make mistakes like all of us. But if the AFL is introducing video technology to decide contentious scoring decisions, ANY action that would result in a scoring shot should fit the criteria and not just ones where the ball is already on its way across the goal line.

I know what you’re thinking.

“What about when Buddy/Pav/Brown are pushed in the goal square, but it’s not given?”

“What about when Chappy/Lenny/Judd are held without the ball  and it’s not seen?”

*sigh* and this is where the grey areas start to kick in (and make it so hard for the AFL to decide how far to go).

But at the end of the day, most umpiring decisions are discretionary.  What some deem a push/high contact/holding the ball, others won’t. It’s the nature of the beast.

But a ball crossing the goal line, being touched or travelling out of bounds on the full is as black and white as it comes. This is why the AFL must go to the video for any of these tangibles that will impact the scoreboard and not just deciding after the fact whether a goal or a point has been scored.