50 metre Penalties are too harsh - DaVe’s Soapbox | Thebigtip

Like many, I am so infuriated with 50 metre penalties. I was at the Richmond and Fremantle game on the weekend, and the 50 metre penalty for the interchange infringement killed the Dockers. You can’t blame it for the loss, but it did swing the momentum back to Richmond.

Over the past 5 years, the 50 metre penalty has been a small price to pay. This is because most teams were flooding numbers back, and were conceding the first half of the ground anyway. So getting a 50 was not a big deal as getting the ball to the midfield was not an issue.

This year, the trend is zoning. Therefore, teams are focussing on locking the ball inside their forward 50 and forcing turnovers. In fact, turnovers have been Collingwood’s main avenue to goal this year. Therefore, if you concede a 50 in your back half, it is a massive advantage to the opposition.

But of what is of most concern is the fact the umpires are more than willing to pay the 50 in front of goal. Melbourne scored way too many goals from 50’s on the weekend. I counted at least 6. Again, Melbourne were clearly the better side on the day, but any chance the Bombers had of gaining momentum was destroyed by a number of 50’s, many I thought were quite soft.

Umpires are no longer warning players to get back on their marks. If they creep over, it’s 50. This is tough because ultimately the mark is an imaginary spot on the ground which you can never exactly know.

The other issue is that players play on far more quickly these days. Umpires can often be slow to call play on. This means a player is not allowed to tackle, which gives his opponent the break. If the player does go to tackle, it’s 50.

And finally, surely a player is allowed to say a few curse words in the heat of the moment. We don’t want to see terrible abuse hurled at the umpires, but a player can surely express discontent or a bit of emotion.

50 metres should only be for the most serious of crimes on the footy field. Seeing ten 50’s a game is not a good spectacle. Perhaps it is time to re-introduce the 15 metre penalty for minor infringements, and leave the 50 for the obvious ones.

In terms of interchange infringements, I just shook my head in disbelief that such a crucial passage of play was determined by a 50 metre penalty. Perhaps it should just be a turnover, or a 50 if your side has the ball. The price was too high to pay for Freo last week.