AFL siren controversy
The AFL siren controversy of 2006 (dubbed Sirengate) surrounded the conclusion and result of an Australian rules football match played on 30 April 2006 during Round 5 of the Australian Football League's 2006 season. The match was played between the St Kilda Saints and the Fremantle Dockers at Aurora Stadium (sponsor name of York Park) in Launceston, Tasmania.
When the final siren sounded, Fremantle were leading by one point but the umpires did not hear the siren and play continued for around 20 seconds, during which time St Kilda scored a point to tie the match. Four days later the AFL commission determined that the match should have been ended when the first siren sounded. As a result of this St Kilda were stripped of the last behind and the two competition points for a draw that they had received. The victory and the full four points for a win were awarded to Fremantle.
It was only the second time in VFL/AFL history that the score and result of a game was changed on protest, with the first occurring 106 years previously.
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[edit] Fixture and venue
The match was played between St Kilda and Fremantle at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, Tasmania. Both teams went into the match with two wins and two losses and many media commentators had commented on the importance of the match to both teams.
The two teams had developed an intense rivalry in recent seasons, with a number of controversial games between the two teams ending in very close margins. The previous match between the clubs, at Subiaco Oval, had been highly controversial with Fremantle coming from behind to win by five points after Justin Longmuir took a mark with seconds left in the match and then kicked a goal after the siren. Numerous contentious free kicks in the match had angered Saints fans and the anger was intensified by the subsequent "Whispers in the Sky" controversy. The match before that, held at Aurora Stadium, was won by St Kilda by one behind, scored by Aaron Hamill in the final minute following a contentious holding the ball decision.[1]
Aurora Stadium was not a regular venue for AFL matches, having previously hosted only 16 regular season AFL matches. Although officially a home game for St Kilda, the venue is over 400 kilometres from the club's home city of Melbourne and St Kilda had previously played only six matches there for three wins and three losses. Fremantle had played there five times previously, losing each time, including a 22-point defeat to Hawthorn just four weeks earlier.
The crowd numbered 15,282 (the maximum capacity and record attendance for the venue being around 20,000)[citation needed].
In previous matches the low sound level of York Park's siren had been the topic of some discussion in the media, with some commentators calling for it to be replaced.
[edit] Teams
[edit] St Kilda Saints
[edit] Fremantle Dockers
Brownlow Medal votes:
3. Matthew Pavlich
2. Josh Carr
1. Brett Voss
[edit] Match
Fremantle were leading by 27 points midway through the third quarter when St Kilda full forward Fraser Gehrig conceded five consecutive free kicks during a scuffle with a number of Fremantle defenders. Three of the free kicks were converted to consecutive 50 metre penalties, with the result that Fremantle fullback Michael Johnson walked the length of the ground to kick a goal that gave Fremantle a 33 point lead.
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas responded by benching the angry Gehrig. Shortly afterwards he benched tall forward Nick Riewoldt, replacing the forward line with smaller targets in Stephen Milne and Brett Voss. St Kilda then kicked seven of the next nine goals to move to within one point of the Dockers with less than a minute to play in the final quarter. This momentum shift came at a point where Fremantle were "killing the clock" and with eight minutes remaining took to chipping the ball around to prevent St Kilda scoring. They were aiming to defend rather than attack and this let St Kilda back into the match.
[edit] Scorecard
| Round 5, 2006 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 30 April 2006 | St Kilda | def. by | Fremantle | York Park (Crowd: 15,282) | |
| 2.5 (17) 6.7 (43) 9.9 (63) 13.15 (93) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
5.2 (32) 10.5 (65) 12.7 (79) 14.10 (94) |
Umpires: Vozzo, Kennedy, Nicholls Television broadcast: Nine Network |
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| Gehrig 3, Milne 2, Voss, Blake, Dal Santo, Montagna, Murray, Riewoldt | Goals | Pavlich 6, Farmer 3, McPharlin 2, Gilmore, Headland, Johnson | |||
| Blake, Dal Santo, Ball, Fisher, Voss, Harvey | Best | Pavlich, Johnson, Farmer, Bell, J. Carr | |||
| Hudghton (hand) | Injuries | McManus (leg) | |||
| Gehrig for striking J. Carr in the first quarter, Hudghton for spitting at McPharlin in the first quarter, Hayes for attempting to strike Dodd in the first quarter | Reports | Farmer for striking Harvey in the first quarter | |||
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[edit] Reports
Four reports were made during the clash all during a spiteful first quarter. Three Saints and one Docker were cited:
- Max Hudghton (St Kilda) for spitting at Luke McPharlin (Fremantle) in the first quarter.
- Fraser Gehrig (St Kilda) for striking Josh Carr (Fremantle) in the first quarter.
- Jeff Farmer (Fremantle) for striking Robert Harvey (St Kilda) in the first quarter.
- Lenny Hayes (St Kilda) for attempting to strike Steven Dodd (Fremantle) in the first quarter.
[edit] Final minute controversy
With 37 seconds remaining in the game, St Kilda's Leigh Montagna scored a goal to bring the Saints within one point of Fremantle. Following the centre bounce St Kilda moved the ball into their forward line where a pack formed about 45 metres from goal and a ball-up was called by the umpire with eight seconds remaining.
Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda) knocked the ball across the field and another pack formed as the official time-keeper's clock reached 0:00 (the time-keeper's clock is displayed on the television broadcast). The umpire, Matthew Nicholls, signalled his intention to bounce the ball to restart play, oblivious to the siren which was barely audible over the vocal crowd. A number of Fremantle players, particularly Scott Thornton, appeared to have either heard the siren or reacted to other players hearing the siren.
At this point the Fremantle players began to celebrate what they thought was a one-point victory. Nicholls, however, did not hear the siren and refused to listen to the claims of Fremantle players, particularly Byron Schammer, that the siren had sounded. He also did not confer with the other two umpires as to whether the siren had sounded. Nicholls bounced the ball to restart play and the Fremantle players, who believed the game to be over, defended the stoppage poorly.
The ball was cleared to St Kilda defender Steven Baker, who kicked a behind from about 35 metres out to tie the game. While this kick was in motion the time-keeper sounded the siren again and, this time, it was heard by one of the other field umpires, Hayden Kennedy. The rules of Australian football allow for kicks for goal to be counted if they are in the air when the umpire hears the siren.
Fremantle's Daniel Gilmore chased down Baker and managed to bump him just after the kick. Confusion reigned at this point. The three field umpires and goal umpire conferred to discuss the result. Nicholls ruled that Baker's shot had been within game time and that Gilmore's bump was illegal and a free kick was awarded. This would usually result in a downfield free kick, but since the kick had resulted in a score, it meant that Baker was given the option of letting the point stand or cancelling the point and shooting for goal from set shot at the spot of the bump. Baker elected to take the second shot for goal after the siren.
A number of Fremantle players, particularly Des Headland, overheard Nicholls stating that the point would not stand and again began to celebrate in the belief that they had been awarded the match, not realising that Baker had received a free kick. At this time Fremantle coach Chris Connolly and CEO Cameron Schwab had stormed onto the ground. Saints' captain Lenny Hayes yelled at Connolly to leave the ground and former teammate Heath Black stepped in to separate the two.
Baker elected to take another shot at goal but again kicked a behind. After Baker's behind the two goal umpires then compared their score sheets and signalled that the scores on the scoreboard were correct and that the match was a draw.
It later emerged that the time keeper had believed that the first siren had been acknowledged when he saw the Fremantle players celebrating the win and the umpire calling for the ball. He then began to do paperwork, paying no attention to the continuing match, and was not made aware that play was continuing until a spectator got his attention by striking his window with an empty beer can. He then sounded the siren a second time.
[edit] Relevant rules
The relevant clauses of the official AFL rules are:
- "10.4.1 The timekeepers shall sound the siren to signal the end of a quarter until a field umpire acknowledges that the siren has been heard and brings play to an end."
and
- "10.4.2 Play in each quarter shall come to an end when any one of the field umpires hears the signal."
Most commentators agree that the timekeepers erred with respect to Rule 10.4.1; that is, the siren did not continue to sound until it was formally acknowledged by an umpire. Acknowledgement of the siren requires any one of the three field umpires to raise both arms into the air and blow the whistle. There remains some doubt as to whether any of the three umpires did hear the siren, but in any event, none chose to bring play to an end as required by Rule 10.4.2. This rule is not well known by football fans and clearly states that the umpires are the sole judge of when a quarter ends. However, generally this is in terms of a split second decision as to whether a mark or kick occurred before or after the siren sounded, rather than the 25 seconds difference in this case.
[edit] Aftermath
[edit] Initial result
Immediately after the match, Fremantle lodged an official protest, claiming to have won the game by a point. The AFL agreed to conduct a full investigation and did not rule out overturning the result and awarding the match to Fremantle. However, the AFL still released the official round results that listed the result of the match as a draw.
[edit] Betting
As a result of the official results being issued on Sunday afternoon, most betting agencies paid out on a draw. Some smaller agencies also announced (before the AFL awarded the victory to Fremantle) that they would voluntarily pay out for the Fremantle win as a goodwill gesture. The largest sports bookmaker in Australia, TAB Sportsbet, however, did not alter from the original decision, even after the AFL revised the official result, because their conditions of betting clearly state that they pay based on the league's official AFL match results sheet as received by fax shortly after each game.[2]
[edit] Media coverage and analysis
As the goal umpires were signalling that the scores were correct, Nine Network reporter Michael Roberts interviewed Chris Connolly on the ground. Connolly was adamant that the siren had gone and said that the emergency umpire had thought Hayden Kennedy had heard the siren, so the game had finished before the final ball-up. He said "The right thing has got to be done... I'm sure the AFL will make the right decision."
A few minutes later in the changerooms, Roberts conducted an interview with the St Kilda coach, Grant Thomas, who acknowledged that the Saints had played poorly and were happy to escape with a tie.
In his post-match conference, Connolly stubbornly described the match as "a great win by the boys" and stated that "the Fremantle Football Club will leave no stone unturned for our 35,000 supporters to get these four points."
Over the next few days the incident received widespread coverage in the Australian sports media, with the Australian Football League website describing the match as "one of the most controversial matches of the modern era". The West Australian and Nine Network's The Footy Show dubbed the incident Sirengate, the -gate suffix being a reference to the Watergate scandal.
Media analysis of the incident hinged on the interpretation of the relevant rules. Rule 10.4.2 implies that the match does not automatically end when the siren sounds, but rather continues until the umpire hears the siren and signals the end of the game. This would lead to the conclusion that the result must stand as a draw. However, Rule 10.4.1 requires the time-keeper to sound the siren continuously until an umpire acknowledges the siren and calls an end to play. This rule was not correctly observed by the time keeper. This leads to an argument that the match was not brought to an end according to the rules of the game and that the outcome of the game was determined not within the playing arena but rather by external governance matters that are the responsibility of the AFL: the quality of match facilities and the performance of time-keeping duties. This line of argument leads to the view that natural justice required the game to be awarded to Fremantle.
[edit] Investigation and ruling
The AFL football operations department commenced an investigation of the conclusion of this match, to be conducted by AFL Investigations Officers Allan Roberts and Bill Kneebone. After interviewing the umpires, timekeepers, AFL match manager and a spectator and reviewing the television replay they concluded that "It would appear that the timekeeper(s) have not complied with (Law 10.4.1 End of Quarter)."[3]
During a four hour hearing on Wednesday, 3 May, the AFL Commission heard submissions from representatives of both teams and the AFL investigating officer. The result of the hearing was that Fremantle was awarded victory and four competition points, with the official final score reading St Kilda - 13. 15. 93, Fremantle - 14. 10. 94. On 4 May, St Kilda ruled out a legal challenge to the outcome, ending any further uncertainty.
The commission stressed that this decision was in response to a unique set of circumstances external to the game, rather than overruling an onfield umpiring decision; hence no precedent was set for the overturning of results decided by controversial umpiring decisions, errors by goal umpires, etc.. The key factor was that the timekeeper had not fulfilled his duties by failing to sound the siren continuously until the umpires acknowledged the end of the game. This prevented the umpires from being able to end the game at the correct time.[4]
An upgrade of the York Park siren was implemented by grounds manager, former Western Bulldogs player, Robert Groenewegen, in May 2006, in anticipation of the Round 12 game at the venue.
[edit] Chris Connolly on the arena
A secondary point for discussion was Chris Connolly's angry march onto the ground. According to the rules of the game, the coach is not allowed onto the playing arena during the game. Because Connolly had walked onto the ground before the umpires had officially ended the game (after Steven Baker's secondary kick), he had contravened the rule, which would usually result in a fine and a "please explain" from the AFL, but no other penalty. Commentators had pointed out that a fine was not mandatory but applied to a case on its merits and that, in the prevailing confusion of the game, it would be reasonable for the AFL to waive the fine in favour of a simple "please explain".
Ultimately, because the commission changed the result of the game, it meant that the game was retrospectively declared over when Connolly entered the arena. As such, Connolly was no longer guilty of any infraction and the AFL had no grounds to issue any fine.
[edit] End of season
The result proved important when determining the ladder placings at the conclusion of the home-and-away season. Fremantle finished with a record of 15-7 in third place, and St Kilda finished with a record of 14-8 in sixth place, with Sydney and Collingwood finishing fourth and fifth with 14-8 records. If the draw and all other results had stood (an unreasonable assumption, but yielding an interesting result), Fremantle and St Kilda would have been level on 14-7-1; St Kilda's superior percentage would have seen them finish third, with Fremantle fourth, Sydney fifth and Collingwood sixth. This would have affected all four games in the first week of the finals, and would have given St Kilda a double chance.
There had been ongoing speculation that failure to reach the finals in 2006 would cost Fremantle coach Chris Connolly his job at the club, and that the two points potentially lost by the siren mistake could be the difference between making or missing the finals. Ironically, however, it was St Kilda coach Grant Thomas who was dismissed at the end of the season after (but not necessarily because) the club was eliminated in the first week of the finals which would not have happened if St Kilda had finished third and claimed a double-chance.
[edit] Similar incidents
- Round 1, 1900 saw the only precedent of a VFL/AFL match result being overturned on a similar appeal. St Kilda and Melbourne were level 10.8.68 drew 9.14.68 at the end of play. St Kilda then successfully claimed that Melbourne scored one of their behinds after the three-quarter time siren, and the score was amended such that St Kilda won by one point. This was St Kilda's first ever VFL win after 48 losses from 1897–1899; it would not be until its seventy-seventh match (Round 12, 1901 versus Carlton) that St Kilda would celebrate a win on the day.[5]
- The 1980 Night Grand Final between North Melbourne and Collingwood at Waverley Park, ended in similar circumstances: the siren sounded, but the umpires were unable to hear it. In the ensuing play, North Melbourne's Kerry Good marked and goaled after the siren to win the game for North Melbourne by three points. Collingwood did not appeal, and the result stands as official.[6]
- A 2002 NRL match between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Canberra Raiders ended in controversy, with the final siren going with Canberra a point ahead 21-20. Referee Paul Simpkins stopped the clock and restarted play with a second remaining. In this time, a kick by Canberra's Brett Finch was smothered and bounced back into play. A penalty was awarded in the Dragons' favour and took the quick tap. With no time left, Dragons captain Trent Barrett kicked a field goal to equal scores.[7]
- A 2006 NTFL match a mere two weeks after Sirengate between Latrobe and Penguin ended in controversy, with a Penguin player kicking a goal directly on the final siren. The umpires conferred and rejected the goal, with Latrobe winning by five points. Penguin protested but it was dismissed due to lack of evidence. The key difference was that the AFL incident was caused by a major timekeeping error, while this incident was caused by a dispute over the umpires' assessment of whether the ball was kicked immediately before or after the siren.[8]
- On 26 August 2007, the Southern Tasmanian Junior FL Under 14 grand final ended in uproar. The siren at North Hobart sounded with Sorell three points ahead of Lauderdale, but the umpires failed to hear it and the timekeepers failed to keep the siren going. At this moment a Lauderdale player was having a shot on the siren but missed it all and was marked by another Lauderdale player ten metres out on a difficult angle. While the Sorell coach and staff ran onto the ground celebrating, the umpire paid the mark and Sorell protested to the umpire. Meanwhile Lauderdale scored a goal and won the game and were presented with the premiership. Sorell protested, and the STJFL declared the match a draw, awarding the premiership to both teams.[9][10][11]
- In the 2011 E.J. Whitten Legends Game, the siren failed to sound on the right time while the All-Stars claimed to have marked but the umpires insisted to ball up. The ball was then tapped out to Fitzy and kicked the ball though the goalposts on the siren. While he was celebrating, the match adjudicators calculated that it would be a Victoria win and Fitzy's goal was cancelled out.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Herald Sun
- ABC Sport - Commission Set to Rule (3 May 2006)
- Investigation Report to Adrian Anderson
- Podcast about the incident
- Podcast about the Commissions decision
[edit] References
- ^ realfooty.theage.com.au
- ^ foxsports.news.com.au
- ^ afl.com.au
- ^ theage.com.au
- ^ Saints' first win – round one 1900
- ^ Sutherland, David. "Magpie Malaise". 150years.com. http://150years.com.au/Home/Article/tabid/11376/Default.aspx?newsId=64296.
- ^ Gouveia, Mike (May 12, 2002). "Bizarre refereeing decision cost Raiders victory @ WIN". rleague.com. http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=11307.
- ^ Stevens, Mark (May 16, 2006). "Penguin protests for points". Foxsports. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,19151391-23211,00.html.
- ^ Video of STJFL Final
- ^ Bresnehan, James (2007) "Siren Row sparks U-14s' fury", The Mercury, Thursday 30 August 2007, p. 1.
- ^ Martain, Tim (2007) "Siren sides share spoils", The Mercury, Friday 31 August 2007, p. 3.
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