{"id":649994,"date":"2026-05-04T23:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/649994\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T23:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:37:12","slug":"gerard-whateley-launches-passionate-plea-for-arc-to-stop-interfering-with-tight-goal-umpire-calls-on-afl-360","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/649994\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerard Whateley launches passionate plea for ARC to stop interfering with tight goal umpire calls on AFL 360"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fox Footy broadcaster Gerard Whateley has launched a passionate plea for the ARC to stop interfering with close calls as he laid out his frustration on behalf of goal umpires.<\/p>\n<p>It comes after the latest AFL score review controversy from Friday night\u2019s Showdown, which saw<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/afl\/afl-2026-score-review-controversy-in-adelaide-crows-vs-port-adelaide-jake-soligo-goal-overturned-video\/news-story\/8b7004335bcbfca1cfca1865a0828147\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> the ARC overturn the goal umpire\u2019s \u2018goal\u2019 call to a behind<\/a> \u2013 just days after AFL executive football performance boss Greg Swann declared the ARC wouldn\u2019t \u201ccome and override\u201d a goal umpire\u2019s call.<\/p>\n<p>Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/afl?pg=default&amp;extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkafl-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-afl-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra&amp;voucher=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776909012_441_poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnless the goal umpire or the field umpire calls for a review, the ARC isn\u2019t going to come and override like they did in this instance,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/afl\/afl-2026-greg-swann-rejects-andrew-bassat-claim-new-draft-bidding-rules-changes-compensation-video\/news-story\/a1f3ca390bbe6f98b77a66642c4b0a53\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Swann said on AFL 360 last Wednesday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a backstop, to be honest, so we\u2019ve now put it back on the umpires \u2013 they make the calls, they ask for the reviews.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That approach didn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n<p>Halfway through the third quarter on Friday night, Crow Jake Soligo appeared to snap a high-arching goal from just outside the goalsquare on a slight angle.<\/p>\n<p>The adjudicating goal umpire didn\u2019t need any time trying to decide on his decision, almost immediately signalling a goal.<\/p>\n<p>Boos erupt after ARC overturn call | 02:33<\/p>\n<p>But as the ball went back to the centre for the next ball-up, the ARC called for a delayed score review \u2013 and ultimately deemed the ball had crossed the line \u201cover the top of the goalpost\u201d, therefore changing the score to a behind.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 on Monday night, Whateley struggled to hide his frustration over the series of events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you cast your mind back to Wednesday night and Greg Swann said he had told his goal umpires: \u2018If you are confident, go with your call and we will back you. We will not come over the top and second guess.\u2019 And then this happened,\u201d Whateley told AFL 360.<\/p>\n<p>As vision of the Soligo\u2019s snap and subsequent review played. Whateley said: \u201cWatch the goal umpire\u2019s position against the goalpost and how he gets himself directly underneath the flight of the ball. He knows. There\u2019s no second-guessing.<\/p>\n<p>Lyon grills Swann over stand rule | 02:21<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne minute and forty seconds later, the voice of god intervened on that evidence and said \u2018no, no, no, that ball went over the top of the goalpost\u2019 and changed it to a behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whateley, with tongue slightly in cheek, suggested \u201cthe kids can\u2019t be trusted with the technology\u201d before pleading with ARC assessors to stop intervening unnecessarily.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is trampling all over the game. It\u2019s meddling where you are not required,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat goal umpire was told by his coaches \u2013 who were told by Greg Swann \u2013 \u2018if you are certain of it, we will back you\u2019. It didn\u2019t last two days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so disappointing and it\u2019s really damaging the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fox Footy broadcaster Gerard Whateley has launched a passionate plea for the ARC to stop interfering with close&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[311191,638,64,63,55,639,3423,314331,314326,314329,107302,61,61427,311192,6278,314328,314327,314330,85],"class_list":["post-649994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-adjudicating-goal-umpire","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-close-calls","tag-crow-jake-soligo","tag-executive-football-performance","tag-gary-lyon","tag-gerard-whateley","tag-goal-umpire","tag-goal-umpires","tag-greg-swann","tag-passionate-plea","tag-promising-change","tag-review-controversy","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}