Lynden Dunn Reported Twice for ‘Striking’ Boomer Harvey
July 28, 2008 by Tristan Heffernan
First of all – Scott McLaren – what were you thinking?
Before I go any further – check out the footage below for the two incidents and the commotion that ensued…
Confused yet?
If you haven’t heard of Scott McLaren – you might remember Jimmy Hird having a dip at an umpire on the Footy Show a few years back. Yep that was McLaren.
Hirdy – I think you were onto something.
Let’s forget about how soft these two incidents are. Ok let’s not totally – the second incident McLaren must not have seen because Dunn made contact no where near the head of Harvey, yet he got booked again.
But then what is the go with this conversation as McLaren tries to calm things down?
Walk away, walk away, I’ve got him twice. Walk away Lynden, you’ve lost it mate
McLaren’s job as an umpire is to diffuse these sort of situations … not inflame them. Bruce is spot on in his commentary – Dunn was mighty close to going McLaren. Of course he would be totally in the wrong to do so – but McLaren’s conduct is totally unprofessional.
People do not pay their money to come and see Scott McLaren. They don’t even want to notice you out there Scott. The truth is – the best form of recognition for an umpire is to not be recognised at all. The only time you’re going to get noticed is when you make a decision bad enough that someone bothers to look your name up in the book.
So send the fans home oblivious to who umpired that day – the mark of a great umpiring display. Unfortunately, pretty much everyone knew of Scott McLaren on Sunday.
As for Dunn – he can accept a reprimand with a guilty plea for the first whack in the guts … and surprisingly – the 2nd charge was thrown out …
Meh. Umpires have ALWAYS said stuff like that- the only difference is that now we can hear it, and the sooner they stop wiring up the umpires the sooner we’ll stop getting claims that the umpires are trying to make themselves stars.
McLaren probably thought that telling Dunn he’d lost it was a way to make Dunn step back and calm down, and whether or not it was smart I don’t see how it’s unprofessional.
McLaren actually didn’t overumpire that game for once (the commentators even kept joking about how he was trying to avoid stopping the clock so he could leave early). Yeah, the second report was silly. Shock horror, umpire makes silly match day report. That only happens a couple of times per round….
Seriously, you’ve done a Sheehan TH and made a big beatup of something incredibly insignificant because there’s no real controversies to talk about this week!
I agree with Raf on this one TH. Obv the report was a joke, but there were several this weekend.
Regarding the umpire comments, def true that being miked up has just made everyone aware and things haven’t really changed. But it has also shown some umps are a lot worse at managing players with how they talk to them than others. McLaren being a prime example.
Ouch … ‘you’ve done a Sheehan’
Way to get me where it hurts Raf!
Whether this was the best incident to incite my rant or not, I still stand by my comments regarding McLaren. Him and Chamberlain are the two most recognisable umpires in the league, and unlike they seem to think, I don’t think it’s a good thing.
Chamberlain I completely agree with you. First rate idiot that bloke. McLaren, like most of the umps, has got on my bad side a few times but I always forget within a few weeks exactly which ump screwed NM over. I only remember McLaren particularly because of the Hird incident, and I think that’s made him a bit more prone to being picked on, because people know who he is due to the Hird incident. Chamberlain I know who he is because he really does try and make it all about him, and the umpiring panel should make him stop.
Reminds me of my Dad. For whatever reason, he remembered Goldspink as an umpire who had screwed over Essendon, and from then on he would always rant about Goldspink being out to get Essendon… even when Goldspink didn’t make the decision, and in many cases when Goldspink didn’t actually umpire the game in question, but since my Dad knew his name he would pin everything he hated about umpires on poor old Goldspink. He probably still does. I should tell him that Goldspink has retired.
Haha Raf – personally I don’t have a problem with your Dad pinning everything on Goldspink – I reckon Chamberlain grew up with Goldspink posters on his wall…