Collingwood escapes penalty over umpire talk

COLLINGWOOD will not be punished for comments made last weekend in relation to umpires.

Magpies officials, including senior coach Mick Malthouse and president Eddie McGuire, met with the AFL on Wednesday morning after the League had issued the club with a ‘please explain’ earlier in the week.

Collingwood had initially set up the meeting to seek clarification on some umpiring decisions. However the League was also eager to talk in light of recent events it believed may have cast a blight on the role of umpires.
 
But both parties left talks on Wednesday with the answers they wanted, while the Magpies escaped without penalty.

“It was a good, frank discussion,” AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson told afl.com.au.

“We raised a number of concerns and received an explanation concerning the ‘please explain’.

“We won’t be applying a sanction in the circumstances of this case, but we made clear some concerns that we have arising from the weekend.”

The League was also concerned about Malthouse’s demonstrative manner during the quarter-time break of his team’s win over the Brisbane Lions last Friday night.

The Collingwood coach had appeared to vent his displeasure at a 50m penalty paid to the Lions on the siren, which cost his team a goal.

“Michael informed us he was making his way down from the coaches box just before the siren rang and did not see the 50m penalty that was paid against Shane O’Bree for going over the mark,” Anderson said.

“He was not aware that O’Bree had been told the reason for the 50m penalty by the umpire at least twice.

“At the break, Michael asked his players, including O’Bree, what had occurred, but was told they did not know. Malthouse explained that he expressed frustration at this time, but that this was not deliberately directed at the umpires.”

During the meeting the AFL also raised comments Malthouse had made during his post-match media conference in relation to the 50m penalty, as well as comments made by other Collingwood officials over the weekend regarding contact between umpire Scott McLaren and O’Bree.

Anderson said that while no further action was warranted, he did stress the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship between clubs, players and umpires.

“The AFL remains of the view that all players and senior club officials have a duty towards how their behaviour is seen towards umpires, as recruitment and retention of umpires throughout Australia is a major ongoing issue for the game,” he said.

Earlier in the day, McGuire said the meeting had “opened up a communication pathway”.

“We had some robust discussions and we were able to clear the air. We were able to walk out as the Collingwood Football Club feeling a lot better about our relationship with the AFL operations and the umpires,” McGuire said at AFL House.

“We walk out of here having no issue with the umpires as far as the rest of the season is concerned.”