Drag that Ump! Making AFL Umpires more accountable

A NEW push has begun to make umpires more accountable. The organisers say it's not about vilification, it's about getting the right umpires to make the right decision.

At SportsAustralia.com, we're calling for your feedback and we want to know whether you think this is a positive initiative, or whether it's just going to make a bad situation a whole lot worse. Make sure you head to the feedback page and have your say.

Here's what they've got to say:

The time has come to make AFL umpires more accountable. www.dragthatump.com is making this possible. Two very keen footy fans, Darcy Maine and Jason Tutty (JT) have decided enough is enough and have set up a website that will allow AFL supporters to have their say about umpiring decisions. Players get dragged from the ground for poor performance, why not umpires?

Dragthatump.com is all about giving the common man a say in the umpiring of our great game. It is not about vilification of umpires. The guys believe they are providing a viable outlet for fan frustration with umpiring and importantly, "by giving fans an outlet to vent their frustration this possibly reduce the vilification of umpires at the game itself."

Dragthatump.com is also an online community and forum for supporters of the game, discussing footy related topics with other supporters and registered users can even create their own unique polls.

So how does it work?

At any time during the 2006 AFL FINALS fans can SMS the shirt number of the umpire who makes a bad decision to 1999 DRAG (1999 3724). They can be at the game, watching it on TV or on a replay. Anyone can use the SMS number. The cost is $1 with proceeds going to help fund the site.

Stats will be compiled on the dragthatump.com website over the weekend and will be available on Monday mornings. Fans will be able to see the breakdown of votes for each game and umpire and discuss.

The polling feature is awesome. A fan may want to raise the issue of using video footage as the third umpire. They can set up a question like "Should video footage be accepted as the third umpire?", create their own tick box answers such as "yes", "no", "only when determining goal issues" or whatever else they feel is relevant.

Others using the site 'vote' their response, results are immediately updated in pie graph format. It's instant feedback. Registered users can only vote once in any one poll, ensuring credible results. Importantly if you click on the polling pie charts, you can get the breakdown of team supporters and their voting patterns.

Foul and aggressive language is not tolerated on the site. Many safeguards and filters have been put in place to avoid this happening and the public is asked to monitor and report bad online behavior, using the "report abuse" button which instantly refers the comment to moderators.

On the night before the 2007 Brownlow Medal award ceremony, a DTU awards ceremony will broadcast on the internet for the best and worst umpires as voted by the people during the season. The 2007 season will also see the dragthatump.com stats become available in real time. This means that the broadcasters of the games will be able to check out and report on the stats during the game.

So the time has come. Log onto www.dragthatump.com and get registered to have your say online and the next time you see a terrible umpiring decision during the 2006 AFL finals, text the umpire's shirt number to 1999 DRAG, then sit back and enjoy the game with the knowledge that your protest has been recorded. Together let's make the umpiring of our great game ACCOUNTABLE.

•  Have a view on this story? Send us your feedback!