Should the Umpires Wear Microphones?

[Beaussie]

James Hird sees them as an instrusion. As a fan watching on tv, I like to hear the ump's calls. What about you? Do you agree with Hird's comments below?

Umps' mikes an intrusion: Hird
By Melissa Ryan
May 11, 2005
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/
articles/2005/05/10/1115584958117.html

Essendon captain James Hird has backed sledging as a legitimate form of intimidation in football, but believed the Mark Johnson incident highlighted why umpires should not be miked for broadcast during games.

Hird said Johnson, whose verbal abuse in the match against Sydney was made public in the debate surrounding umpire Martin Ellis' decision to pay a 50-metre penalty, had been "hung out to dry" in the resulting furore.

While Hird said sledging was not a tactic he employed - "I don't say much on the ground and I really could not care less what is said to me" - he argued that it was valid as the stakes in football were so high that any advantage had to be sought.

But he believed the words a footballer chooses to exploit weakness in an opponent should be left on the field, and that the game had become too intrusive through umpires' microphones.

"This week we had Mark Johnson's comments being highlighted by the media. I know it was in the context of whether or not the umpiring decision was wrong but his comments were still splashed all over the paper," Hird said in his weekly column on Essendon's website.

"I don't think that helps anyone and it certainly doesn't do Mark any favours. He is no worse than many players running around in the competition but he has now been hung out to dry.

"This would not have come to a head if umpires were not miked up and I don't think they should be. I don't imagine it adds that much to the coverage of games and it also puts umpires under unnecessary pressure.

"Let the players play the game and the umpires do their job. The game has become intrusive enough without having comments such as those on the weekend beamed into lounge rooms and subsequently splashed all over papers."

New AFL umpire Mark Fraser said yesterday that umpires became "a bit more guarded" in what they said when miked.

"The hard thing is if the umpire has heard something and thought it was directed at him," Fraser said. "It will be interesting to actually hear, when we do go through it at training on Wednesday night, what was said and how it was looked at afterwards."

Umpires are not miked up for every game. Fraser noted that there were some concerns held by umpires about the use of microphones, but there were also advantages for the umpiring department.

"We discuss Brownlow votes, and with mikes you don't know whether they're supposed to be switched off," Fraser said.

"If they're still left on at quarter-time or half-time or whenever we're discussing things like that, then it obviously gives people a bit of an idea with how you're going to vote so you have to be very careful with the microphones.

"Having said that, they're a great tool for us because when you do have the earpieces in, you know what's going on with the other umpires.

"I don't know if they're still using the earpieces or not, but in the past you could hear what the other umpires were doing or saying so you could get switched on to things a lot quicker, and it was a valuable tool in that regard.

"And of course, the public likes to hear what's going on, too, so it's good in that regard."